Fires: medical assistance arrives amid sacrifice and precariousness

Hammocks become stretchers for those who need to receive IVs and assistance in the midst of the fire that ravages the communities. Improvised seating and shade trees become care rooms to measure blood pressure and carry out medical check-ups. In hospitals, consultations for problems related to smoke are filling up the services.

​Residents receive serum even in hammocks that serve as stretchers

Firefighters and families constantly require attention, because there are places where the smoke makes them cry. Poisoningconjunctivitis and respiratory problems are the ailments that lead people to the doctor’s office.

Concepción is one of the hardest hit municipalities, which is why brigades work daily Doctors travel to the communities that are ravaged by flames.

Firefighters try to counteract fatigue and exhaustion. Photo: Concepción Hospital

Assistance is provided 24 hours a day, as firefighters on the front line need assistance. At night they use flashlights on their heads. to place eye drops and provide some quick care.

The will of the firefighters is inexhaustible, So they line up to nebulize, because they know they have to take care of themselves to continue fighting.

People come out to meet the brigades, so that from the same motorized the oxygen mask is extended.

Even the shadows of the trees serve as a care room. Photo: Concepción Hospital

The director of the Cesar Banzer hospital in Concepción, Jhonny Monje Tacana, reported that the brigades They move towards communities that are threatened by fire.

The arrival of the staff mobilizes the mothers who immediately take their children to have them treated. Children have to sit on bleachers or any environment to receive nebulization and relieve respiratory ailments that afflict them.

“The smoke affects everyone, especially children and the elderly. We have treated poisoning cases (due to smoke)moderate to severe dehydration, eye irritation and acute respiratory infections,” he said.

In the last month, more than 100,000 cases were made in the hospital. of 300 cases of conjunctivitisrespiratory infections and smoke poisoning.

“With our brigades we have exceeded a thousand services which are records day after day in the communities“, said the director.

Last week they were helped by a Sedes brigade and the Medical College, which also supplied medicines, But they need this support on a permanent basis, because the needs of the population are great.

This hospital treated the case of a property worker who ended up with second and third degree burns, and who had to be transferred to a hospital in the capital of Santa Cruz. This person was helping to fight the fire and was surprised by the sudden change in the wind.

The drama experienced by those on the front line. Photo: Concepción Hospital

They insist that the situation is critical in several communities. In Santa Monica, children and the elderly were evacuated to protect their health. Palestina, Villa Nueva, Río Blanco and others are in a state of emergency.

Fires and smoke also take their toll on health in San Ignacio de Velasco. Constant exposure to smoke and high temperatures have caused an increase respiratory problems and other conditions.

Dr. Daniel Avellaneda, a physician at the Julio Manuel Aramayo Hospital in San Ignacio, He reported that the number of people treated for respiratory and eye problems has tripled due to the smoke. “If before there were ten patients with bronchitis, now we have 30”he said, indicating that services in the urban area are full, but not yet overwhelmed, except at the sites of the fires. However, he warned that, if the fire continues, the capacity of the care will be exceeded.

At the hospital, outpatient consultations are at their limit. Currently, more than 50 daily queries related to smoke are made. “Before they arrived “There are one or two patients with smoke poisoning, because people tend to cook with firewood, but now a number of people with fire-related problems are taking up the attention,” the doctor explained. One person is in critical condition due to smoke inhalation.

People come to receive medical attention as the brigades pass by. Photo: Concepción Hospital

Although the southerly winds helped to clear the air somewhat, visibility in the urban area was barely 50 metres as of Wednesday. “The smoke concentration was extremely high and the air quality was dangerous. People with chronic diseases, Children, the elderly and pregnant women had to stay at home“, Avellaneda reported.

Firefighters, for their part, work in extreme conditions, exposed to heat and smoke. Masks and special equipment are in short supply, putting their health at risk“We are fighting with what we have, but it is getting harder every day,” said one of the firefighters in San Ignacio de Velasco.

From Concepción they sent to the Governorate the request for a departmental disaster declaration due to forest fires and drought, determined on Wednesday by an inter-institutional assembly.

The deputy governor of the province of Ñuflo de Chávez, Carlos David Yabeta, said that this was the unanimous request, Therefore the request was sent to the governor and the Departmental Legislative Assembly..

Similarly, in San Ignacio de Velasco they say that the solution is to control the fires, but the efforts are insufficient given the magnitude of the flames. Given this situation, local authorities have asked the acting governors to declare a departmental disaster, in order to open the doors to international aid and reinforce operations with air support.