As early as February 2020, alarm bells have been rung regarding a strange, new coronavirus disease that originated in Wuhan, China and reported to have been spreading rapidly to neighboring countries and even as far as Europe. In Western Visayas, particularly in the Province and City of Iloilo, the fear and anxiety about this mysterious and randomly fatal viral disease was palpable and visible, prompting local residents to hoard disinfectants and purchase copious amounts of disposable and washable face masks. As weeks progressed, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. This generated a quick but highly calculated response from local government officials to address the looming public health crisis. Executive orders were promptly penned, directing the Ilonggo populace to comply with measures such as travel restrictions, minimum health protocols, physical distancing and limited work hours to control the spread of the disease. Last March 16, 2020, the Philippine government formally imposed community quarantine measures for large swathes of the country’s population. The City and Province of Iloilo were placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) restricting the movement of a combined population of nearly 2.5 million Ilonggos. One of the immediate economic effects felt by vulnerable and affected sectors was the loss or reduction in income brought about by job cuts, business closures and loss of livelihood opportunities.
Despite the dim socio- economic scenario painted by the pandemic, local government officials faced the COVID-19 threat heads-on, confident in the remarkable ability of the Ilonggos to come together to ride out and survive a crisis. Contingency plans were drawn, strategies were plotted and mapped out, resources were prudently allocated, and various public and private entities were mobilized to collectively support vulnerable groups especially medical frontliners who will be putting their lives at stake to combat the pandemic. One of the sectors that were actively involved in supporting medical frontliners was State Universities and Colleges (SUCs). In their own way, these SUCs raised funds, initiated the donation of personal protective equipment (PPE) and even sourced materials and manpower to produce PPEs to fill in the dearth of basic protective gears for medical and non-medical frontliners. As COVID-19 cases were rising worldwide, PPEs were greatly in demand and difficult to procure.
With the quarantine in effect, hospitals and medical frontliners were mostly the recipients of much of the public’s collective COVID-19 bayanihan efforts. Protecting frontliners from being infected by the highly transmissible SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 was first step to stemming the spread of the disease. Last March 25, 2020, West Visayas State University Medical Center (WVSU-MC) was designated as a non-COVID public health hospital facility for service patients. Consequently, if severe COVID-19 hospitalization cases continue to rise and COVID-19 designated Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) can no longer accommodate the influx, WVSU-MC shall become a spill-over hospital for COVID-19 patients. In preparation for the worst-case scenario, the Medical Education and Research (WVSU) Foundation, Inc. rallied for support from the WVSU community and the general public. At the forefront was Dr. Noe Bataga, chairman of the donation committee who called for cash donations, donations in kind, raw materials and even people with sewing skills who can fabricate PPEs such as hazmat (hazardous material) suits.
The quarantine became an opportunity for West Visayas State University to renew ties with Gawad Kalinga (GK), particularly the Good Samaritan GK Village based in Janiuay, Iloilo. Mrs. Sally Ramos, Project Director for GK Janiuay initially gathered women folk volunteers collectively known as Good Samaritan Gawad Kalinga Nanays Group to sew face masks to be donated to local barangay health workers and local government frontliners. Mrs. Ramos also sought the assistance of West Visayas State University’s extension arm, the University Extension and Development Center (UEDC) in selling the face masks in order to help the women volunteers earn a bit of income during the quarantine period as most of them are displaced ambulant vendors or household helpers whose husbands have temporarily lost their jobs as jeepney, tricycle or pedicab drivers.
While the WVSU community was looking for able volunteers to sew local PPEs and hazmat suits, GK Janiuay was also looking for an opportunity to put the sewing skills of its women folk to good use. Hence, a partnership was born out of the pandemic. The hazmat sewing team buckled down to work and UEDC provided a starter kit and prerequisite training on COVID-19 and production standards for sewing PPEs. In the said training, the GK sewing team was able to learn medical acronyms such as PPE (personal protective equipment) and hazmat (hazardous materials) suits. They also learned how to do bound seam garment construction, a stronger way of stitching together the fabric to make the hazmat suits air-tight and impermeable when worn by health workers in infectious or bio hazardous conditions. Before the sewing team embarked on hazmat mass production, the fabric materials were carefully selected to conform to safety standards and the sample output was also checked by WVSU’s hospital team for occupational safety worthiness.
The sewing team was able to produce 239 pieces of hazmat suits which were donated to the WVSU-Medical Center. WVSU also referred the services of the sewing team to clients or hospitals needing made-to-order hazmat suits. Before the production started, WVSU also coordinated with other medical practitioners and local fashion designers for the design and pattern to be used. UEDC closely monitored the production process for continuous product improvement.
The WVSU- GK Janiuay collaboration was forged during the height of the pandemic and during those critical times, the benefits of the partnership were greatly felt by the members of the Good Samaritan Gawad Kalinga Nanays Group. On the other hand, WVSU was also assured of hazmat suit supply for its medical center in case COVID-19 cases increase.
The Project Director of GK Janiuay also shared stories of how the hazmat sewing project greatly helped ease the anxiety of the sewing team and their families on not having a daily income stream during the difficult months. She observed that the sewing nanays maintained a joyful and hopeful disposition while working. She highlighted how positivity, resourcefulness and hope about the future helped GK Janiuay members overcome undercurrents of fear and uncertainty borne by the pandemic.
One of the members, Rosemarie used to sell atsara (Filipino pickled green papaya) and ube jam (purple yam) for a living but she stopped selling after the enhanced community quarantine was declared. The hazmat sewing project was able to ease her financial worries since it helped provide for her family’s needs. Meanwhile, Alda May, a young mother tearfully narrated that the project was able to feed her family in desperate times. Meanwhile, Lilibeth, a 44-year old housewife shared that ever since her tricycle driver husband lost his job and daily wage income, she was often anxiety ridden. Sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night to sweep around the house worrying about how she would feed her family the next day. Thankfully through the sewing project, she was able to earn some money to buy food and even pay for electricity bills.
The hazmat sewing project was able to provide for the daily needs of 14 GK Janiuay Villagers and their families while the 239 hazmat suits will be able to protect the medical frontliners of WVSU-Medical Center. Labor costs for the hazmat suits were shouldered by cash donations coming from the WVSU community, mostly from faculty members. A three hundred peso per hazmat suit labor fee payment arrangement enabled the GK sewing team members to immediately receive wages while the community quarantine was in progress. Aside from sewing hazmat suits, the sewing team also produced pillow and bed sheet sets for sale that the WVSU community also patronizes. Given that the gloomy economic outlook from the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted to be long and uncertain, GK Janiuay Villagers have expressed interest in the Lifelong Learning for Self-Sufficiency Program (LLSSP) offered by UEDC. In response, the extension arm of WVSU has scheduled a series of skills and livelihood trainings for the remaining months of the year. This training opportunity will hopefully open the door for GK Janiuay to explore other livelihood skills aside from sewing and pave the way for other income-generating possibilities.
With COVID-19 pandemic still in the picture, the future looks uncertain and bleak. However, with communities and institutions working together for mutual good and benefit, communities can survive and even thrive under dire circumstances. (MCBA)
Posts
