Homeless in Madrid write letters of encouragement to coronavirus patients

CNA Staff, Mar 27, 2020 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- The residents of a homeless shelter in Madrid run by Diocesan Caritas have written letters of support to patients hospitalized with coronavirus at six hospitals in the region.

“Life puts us in difficult situations. You just have to stay calm and not lose faith, always after the dark tunnel comes the shining light, and even though it seems that we can’t find a way out, there’s always a solution. God can do anything,” says one of the letters of a shelter resident.

According to Madrid’s Diocesan Caritas, the residents empathize with the patients’ loneliness and fear and sent words of consolation for these difficult moments that many of them have gone through themselves.

In their letters, the homeless encourage the sick to leave “everything in God’s hands,” “He will sustain you and help you. Just trust in Him.” They also assure them of their support: “I know that all of us together we’re going to end this situation and everything is going to get better,” “Don’t fall back. Stay strong with dignity in the battle.”

The homeless being lodged at CEDIA 24 Horas are going through the coronavirus quarantine “like any other family,” and the shelter “is the home of those who at this time when they’re asking us to stay at home, have no home,” Diocesan Caritas said on their website.

Susana Hernández, who is in charge of projects at Diocesan Caritas to help the marginalized, said that “perhaps the most extreme measure that has been implemented is maintaining distance between people at a center where welcome and warmth are a sign, but we try to provide it with a surplus of smiles and gestures of encouragement.”

“At the beginning of the situation, we had an assembly with all the people housed at the center and explained to them all the measures that had to be taken with oneself and toward others and the measures that the center was also going to take to protect all of us. And every day a reminder is given on what to do and not to do,” she explained.

Like any other worker in contact with people, people working at CEDIA 24 Horas are at risk of infection and Hernandez stressed that while they regularly practice good hygiene at the center, at this time there is an even greater focus on it.

The state of emergency and accompanying measures have forced the cancellation of group and athletic activities as well as recreational outings they normally have at the center in order to give the people staying there a time to relax and relate to one other.

“We’re maintaining basic services, but we try to at least maintain the atmosphere of warmth and welcome. It’s hard sometimes to not be able to get together to do some activity for sharing, for mutual support, to do things that do us good and that we like, but in order to compensate we’re increasing how often we ask people individually ‘How are you doing? What can I do for you? Do you need something?’ Above all we try to make COVID-19 not separate us as people even though there’s two meters between us,” Hernandez said.