"I have nothing but words of gratitude." This is how Elena Miguel, one of the 30 healthcare workers who have been awarded a vacation in the Canary Islands by the Government of the Canary Islands, in her case to Lanzarote, has expressed herself to thank her for her work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Elena Miguel has been a pulmonologist for 17 years and lives in Barcelona, where she says she experienced "some brutal weeks." "I don't remember anything like it. Seeing all the services completely collapsed, not only ours, but all of them...", said this doctor, who pointed out that it was a "hard" and "shocking" experience.
"Especially being called at night to attend to one of your colleagues there prostrate, awful. I have no words to describe that feeling, it's a shock. And I know that the colleagues in the ICU have had a very bad time", she added, who also looks to the future with "a certain concern".
"Because we all want to go out, but we talk about it with our colleagues and we are shocked when we see the terraces and nobody wears masks or the beach is opened and there is no room for a needle. So, what have we done all this for?", she asks.
"I tried my luck and it was all very fast"
Elena Miguel has been staying at the Hotel Sands Beach in Costa Teguise since Wednesday and will remain on the island until Sunday. "There are five of us here," explained the healthcare worker, who pointed out that there is also a couple from Murcia and a woman with her daughter from Tarragona on the island.
According to what she explained, she found out about the initiative of the Government of the Canary Islands "through a family doctor" who is from the archipelago. "I saw the message and said, look, I'm going to try to see if I get lucky. It was all very fast. I remember sending the message on Sunday, on Monday they announced the list of winners, on Tuesday I left home for Madrid and on Wednesday morning we were flying. It was a mixture of how cool and now let's see how I manage, the list of patients, talking to my boss...", she said.
On her first day visiting the island this Thursday, according to what she pointed out, they enjoyed Timanfaya, Los Hervideros, Los Charcones, Playa Blanca and Yaiza, where they say they ate "phenomenally". "And the hotel is behaving very well", the healthcare worker stressed.
A profession that she combines with writing and illustration
In addition to working as a pulmonologist, Elena Miguel has just self-published a book of children's stories under the title "Stories that are born from the heart". A publication that collects stories "to share in school or with the family, to manage emotions and learn in human values".
Likewise, Elena Miguel has collaborated as a writer and illustrator in the work "A leap in the memory" for the collection of funds for Alzheimer's research with the Fundació Alzheimer Catalunya, has illustrated the works "Essences. Collection of poems of life" and "Walking together through life. Two stories, a forest of emotions" and is co-author of the book "The connection of the circle".
