Philippine doctors shield families with "quarantent", safe spaces

By Eloisa Lopez
MANILA, June 30 (Reuters) - After taking a job in a
hospital's COVID-19 emergency room, Philippine doctor Jan Claire
Dorado planned to move out of the family home to protect
relatives from the risk of infection.
But Dorado's parents insisted the 30-year-old keep living at
home, so her father constructed a makeshift isolation area in a
storage room there.
Now, when she returns from work at one of the country's main
hospitals treating coronavirus patients, her dinner is placed
outside the room's door on a stool.
"The hardest part is being away from them. I miss them a
lot," said Dorado, who greets family members from behind a
plastic window on a wall covered in foil.
Her parents are considered high-risk for COVID-19 because of
preexisting conditions, and Dorado said she once painfully
refused her mother's request for a hug.
Hundreds of Philippine medical workers have been infected by
the coronavirus and more than 30 have died.
Safekeeping loved ones is also a high priority for
paediatrician Mica Bastillo, even as she confronts COVID-19 head
on.
The 38-year-old took on a new role at a children's hospital
in another part of Manila after it became a COVID-19 referral
facility in April.
"My family thought about asking me to resign, but anywhere
I go I would still have to face COVID," she said.
With her father and sister battling medical conditions, the
family built a makeshift tent next to their home for Bastillo,
which they dubbed a "quarantent".
Made out of plastic sheets to keep out the rain, it allows
Bastillo to be with her family at a safe distance.
"My mother put the curtains and the table cloth to make it
look like home... And my brother added the plastic sheet. It was
a real family effort," said Bastillo, who still joins her family
for nightly prayers seated beside the front door wearing a mask.