Kids’ homemade cards spread hope, boost spirits of RITM patients, frontliners

SPECIAL DELIVERY It has been a bleak month for the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City, which for weeks has served as one of the battlegrounds for the war against COVID-19. So Dr. Nicole Perreras thought of something to cheer up the patients and medical front-liners: greeting cards with cheery messages made by children from all over the country. —Photo courtesy of Dr. Nicole Perreras

MANILA, Philippines — The lunch trays for novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients confined at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) came with a special treat on Saturday. Served alongside the hearty meals were homemade greeting cards with cheery messages.

“Get well soon,” one card read while another said: “Hope to see you home soon!”

The cards added a splash of color to an otherwise bleak month for the institution in Muntinlupa City, one of the front-line hospitals in the war against COVID-19, and to the patients who had been in isolation for weeks. “The current global trend for COVID-19 patients is that they’re mostly adult or aged,” Dr. Nicole Perreras, a medical specialist at RITM’s infectious disease unit, told the Inquirer in an interview. “If you’re alone, you’re likely to be lonely and anxious, and you might want a picker-upper to spur your mood.” Spur of the moment idea

So the 37-year-old pediatric infectious diseases doctor contacted two of her friends on Friday afternoon to ask if their kids could make greeting cards for the patients or the hospital’s front-liners. Those that couldn’t be dropped off at the hospital were to be sent to [email protected] for printing.

Her call immediately went viral on social media and soon, the email address was packed with 2,000 homemade cards containing uplifting messages for both patients and front-liners.

“On Sunday morning, when I got to work, there were already some cards delivered too,” Perreras said. “It was supposed to be just a small project, and super spur-of-the-moment, so it’s so exciting for us.”

Photo courtesy of Dr. Nicole Perreras

Creative output

Some of the cards were origami creations, others were colorful collages of stickers and cutouts. One of the more striking, which Perreras posted on Facebook, was a bright pink one with a band-aid plastered on it.

Its message read: “Wishing you a speedy recovery!”

“Who better to spread love and good vibes than the kids?” Perreras asked. “We’re pediatricians, so we know how hopeful they can get. It’s refreshing for us.”

The homemade cards kept on coming on Sunday, some of them crafted by the children of RITM doctors and other medical workers. These ended up on the patients’ food trays or with the doctors themselves.

“We don’t know when this will end, so as long as there are kids who want to send their little projects, we’ll accept them,” Perreras said. “There are so many so we’re also reaching out to other hospitals who might want them.”

To be clear, this isn’t a formal initiative by the RITM, whose official response against the virus is the actual treatment and testing of patients.

“Everyone is on their toes because we’re on Code Red, so we’re being supportive of each other,” Perreras said. “A pandemic happens once every 100 years; people are tired and need a boost. This is just our small contribution.”

Perreras lives with her parents and takes precautions to avoid bringing the virus home.

Unfazed

She doesn’t seem fazed, however, by her work at the hospital, now considered the epicenter of the fight against COVID-19. She describes the RITM infectious disease protocol as topnotch, especially since it is accustomed to handling such illnesses (rabies, tuberculosis, HIV) pre-coronavirus.

A graduate of psychology from the University of the Philippines Diliman, Perreras studied medicine at the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

After graduating in 2008, she took up her residency at Makati Medical Center until 2013, then started her practice at Philippine General Hospital until 2016. It was there that she met Dr. Sally Gatchalian, former president of the Philippine Pediatric Society, whom she regarded as “one of the best mentors you can ever ask for.”

Gatchalian became the ninth doctor to die of the virus. To her proteges, it was “depressing for everyone—like going to war with her at the head and she’s suddenly shot in front of you,” Perreras said.But according to her, what else can they do but carry on Gatchalian’s legacy?

“We understand the risks and we knew this day might happen,” Perreras said. “We’re just praying we won’t lose anyone else.”