For most people, COVID-19 is one of the most challenging crises experienced in their lifetime. People throughout the world came to realize that they are vulnerable to infectious disease. This unprecedented pandemic brought misfortune to lives, properties, businesses and countless opportunities to many if not all. It has hampered the growing economies of most countries and has inflicted the health systems and even the lives of the medical workers and frontliners.
The world has seen how fast a single strain of virus can propagate and multiply. If not handled properly, it can devour an entire country in a matter of days. Thanks to our men and women in the frontline, who risk their own lives just to save others’.
Burden as it may seem for most people, COVID-19 has brought light and hope to people employed as contact tracers. To contain the spread of the virus, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) employed 50,000 contact tracers all over the country. These contacts tracers were deployed across the Regions to further strengthen the government’s effort to mitigate the effects of the virus.
One of those brave contact tracers is a 24-year old and single mom Anne Natividad. She is among the qualified CTs detailed in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro last October 15. As a contact tracer, Anne has to report to work daily to do interviews, through phone call and in-person to contacts of every confirmed case.
“As a CT you must always be polite, good entertainer, and good listener to establish good rapport and inform the people well to report if they felt any kind of symptoms related to COVID,” she said.
Prior to her employment as a contact tracer, Anne worked as a freelance online seller to sustain the needs of her 5-year old son who was caught in a tragic car accident three years ago that affected her son’s ability to walk.
Because of the pandemic, she wasn’t able to find a stable job. Until one day, she came across an online post from DILG MIMAROPA page urgently looking for contact tracers in the area. Clinging to the hope that it might be her chance to help the community battle with the pandemic and earn a living to support her family, she wasted no time, and sent her application at once. Good enough, after a couple of days, the DILG Occidental Mindoro Provincial Office called her to inform that she was one of those qualified for the position.
“Noong nagpandemic, sobrang daming naapektuhan na mga nagtatrabaho. Dahil sa DILG, nakapagbukas ng panibagong pag-asa para sa mga nawalan ng trabaho. Thank you kase nagbigay kayo ng trabaho para sa amin na alam n’yong makakaya namin harapin ang ganitong kabigat na trabaho,” she added.
As contact tracer, Anne shared that she must employ dynamic communication and interpersonal skills, cultural competency/sensitivity, tactful language, and empathetic interviewing skills to maintain trust with patients of varied backgrounds.
When asked on how she handles contacts, she said, “Hindi mo kailangan makipag sabayan sa galit, inis, at init ng ulo ng tao. As a CT, ikaw mismo galing sa puso mo ang pag-implement ng tamang asal para maintindihan at makinig sa’yo ang mga tao. Maging mapagkumbaba ka para maging mahinahon ang taong nakakausap mo.”
On an average, 30% of the contacts they traced were found to be positive with the virus. The strict enforcement of health protocols in the communities greatly helped them in containing the virus.
With their contracts ended last December 31, Anne hopes that the Department would still continue the program considering that the battle against the virus is still on and vaccine is yet to come.
“The program itself is a very wonderful innovation which provided big help to the municipalities as well as CTs. Since COVID-19 is still on the loose, I believe that the service of Contact Tracers is still in need. With that, they should be rehired for a longer contract,” said Anne.
For a single mom like Anne, there is no fulfilling moment than seeing herself being part of the solution and making sure that her family’s needs are sustained. ##
By: Whalee Ferrera