I-Witness: 'Ako si Patient 2828,' dokumentaryo ni Howie Severino | Full Episode (with subtitles)

The year began with a volcanic eruption. No one imagined that an even bigger catastrophe was on the horizon. This was just one of the crises that we’ve covered in the past several years. The Philippines has faced epic challenges in the last decade. In this job, we can't afford to get sick. And I've rarely gotten sick In February, we pursued a story in the city. Who would have thought that in just two weeks... we wouldn't be able to leave the capital? Starting at eight tonight, a few minutes from

now, until five in the morning, a curfew will be strictly imposed for everyone. A new crisis has emerged. I found myself in the middle of it, not just as a journalist but as part of the story. "I am Patient 2828" A documentary by Howie Severino While Filipinos were busy preparing for Christmas last year... a new disease began spreading in Wuhan, China: the Coronavirus disease or COVID-19. A deadly respiratory disease. After its rapid spread across the world, the World Health Organization declar

ed it a pandemic. By the end of January, the first case in the Philippines was recorded. The first known fatality outside China also occurred here. Order, please. Order, please. By March, Where's your ID? - Do you have a COE (certificate of employment)? - I don't, sir. the disease had begun to spread in the country... and I also started to feel a symptom: a high fever that wouldn't go down. I decided to get a check-up. They found a cloudy formation in my lungs. I had pneumonia. I had myself admi

tted immediately to a hospital. It took four days for the result of my COVID-19 test to come out. It was positive. [Nurse] I'll move this sir... 1,2,3. [Howie] Done? [Nurse] Yes, all okay. Because we’re highly contagious, COVID-19 patients cannot receive visitors. While there are many patients like myself fighting it... the truth is you face it alone. As of today, there are more than two million people infected by this disease. For the millions in quarantine around the world, they need to conte

nt themselves with just the view from their windows. This was my view from the hospital: still life that was deafening. [Howie] Have there been fatalities here? [Nurse] Yes. [Howie] From COVID? [Nurse] Yes. [Howie] How many? [Nurse] I don't know. [Howie] What happens to the fatalities here? [Nurse] I have no idea. [Howie] Can their family see their remains? [Nurse] They may get infected. [Howie] Even after they die? [Nurse] It's better to prevent the possibility. [Howie] That's really sad. [Howi

e] Who takes care of the body, nurses like you? [Nurse] We only attend to the body postmortem. We prepare it to be taken out. We wrap it, then bring it down. From there, the morgue takes care of it. [Howie] The morgue.. [Nurse] They forward it to the funeral parlor [Nurse] for further service. [Howie] That's why if you get COVID, the loss is double. [Nurse] You lose a loved one and you can't even mourn properly. What? [Nurse] You can't have a wake. [Howie] That's terrible. You can't even say goo

dbye. In my isolation, I thought that there was a chance I wouldn’t make it. [Howie's wife] I broke down after reading about the collapse of some patients by day 10. I was still fine when that day arrived for him. I was just closely monitoring. But on the 11th day, in the morning, I cried. On the night of that day, he called me. He was delirious. He was saying goodbye. He was telling me his passwords. The impact was so unexpected. It was probably because he was unable to sleep and he didn't know

what would happen next. He was still breathing well. He didn't have shortness of breath or cough. Maybe he started to fear that his body was going to give up after being unable to get rest. He was starting to feel the breakdown of his body. Most of the working world has been put on hold to prevent the spread of the disease. But there are those who need to keep working. [Nurse] I'm here in the hospital. [Nurse] Before we put on our PPEs (personal protective equipment), [Nurse] we need to wash ou

r hands first. [Nurse] I'm going to check on my patient next. You know him. I decided to make a documentary about frontliners so that you can see the daily experience of a frontliner. You’ll know who he is. I have permission to record him on video. Let's go. I soon realized that I am not alone in facing this disease after all. A male nurse was assigned to me: Gabriel Lazaro or Gab. [Howie] Hi Gab. How are you? [Nurse] I'm okay. [Howie] Where did you come from? [Nurse] From out there. [Howie] Goo

d to see you. [Nurse] Thank you. [Nurse] How are you feeling? [Howie] I'm okay. [Nurse] Any trouble breathing? [Howie] None. My biggest problem is being alone – [Howie] the isolation. I know this is for the good of my family and for other people. But it's still hard. Good thing you're here. Nurse: Thank you. You are welcome. Gab is not an employee of the hospital. He works for a manpower agency. When the call came for nurses to sign up to care for COVID-19 patients, he didn't hesitate to volunte

er. [Howie] How were you assigned to me? [Nurse] In our agency, available nurses are assigned by our boss. I was willing and I'd rather volunteer than stay at home. I feel this job is a calling. This is a unique crisis and it's an opportunity for me to help. I’ll only walk on this earth once, and I want it to have purpose. I do have some fears. But I have a child and I want my child to be proud of me some day, to say that her father served during this time. It gives me joy to help. It makes me h

appy to know I’ve been true to my oath. This is Gabrielle, Gab's daughter. In a way, our situation is the same. We're both in a hospital, separated from our families. Since the increase of COVID-19 patients, health workers face exhaustion every day... a shortage of equipment... a lack of transportation... and worst of all, discrimination. [Some landlords] fear that [tenants] who are medical staff in hospitals may bring home the COVID virus. But we also don't want our health care workers who are

making a great sacrifice to suffer. Fortunately, Gab does not have that problem at home. But he is having difficulty with transportation. He depends on his barangay’s free rides while public transportation is suspended. But one night, the assigned vehicle was unable to take him home. [Gab] I've just passed Sgt. Rivera Street and 5th Avenue. He walked home from the hospital on Banawe Street in Quezon City all the way to Valenzuela City. He walked for an hour and a half. A lonely home awaited him.

His family is elsewhere while he serves as a frontliner. For now, only happy memories keep us company... while we both fight for my life. COVID-19 is a new disease. There is a still a lot unknown about it. One of the tests I had to undergo daily was an ECG or an Electrocardiogram. It measures the electrical activity of the heart to determine if it's beating normally. One of the drugs given to me was chloroquine which could cause cardiac arrest. Let's repeat, sir. How's your appetite? Is it okay

? My appetite is weak because my tongue still feels numb. One of the effects of COVID-19 is loss of taste After a week in bed, my body ached. So I needed help to soothe my soreness. I told myself, I would not allow myself to be pitied and to remain idle. I’ve long documented my experiences. So even while sick, I pushed myself to produce something. So I met with my team. Hi Sir H. How are you? How are you? How are you doing? Better, much better. Now, I know most patients with this disease guard t

heir privacy. They don't want others to know, not even their friends. I understand that because there's so much discrimination. But I realized that I have a responsibility to others. Number one, they need to know that I was infected. Even after the virus has left my body, the people I interacted with while I was infected need to know. Second, there are many lessons from this experience that I can share. This crisis is far from over. If I can share something that will prompt others to be more car

eful, our story could save lives. I was fortunate because my lungs did not give up. COVID-19 could have much worse effects... like the difficulty in breathing experienced by Iza Calzado. [Iza] This oxygen always has to be attached to me beause... I can't breathe. Physically, the hardest part for me was – well I did not feel out of breath when I had an oxygen mask. But during the times that I did not have the mask, I had trouble breathing. That was hard. Another hard part was my allergic reaction

to one of the antibiotics given to me for the bacteria. That was the first time in my life I've ever had that reaction. I could not feel my face, my tongue, my mouth, everything. The worst feeling was I did not expect that at my age of 37, I would face my mortality, life and death. I never expected that I could suddenly die. COVID-19 brought on the most difficult days of my life. With God's mercy, after 11 days, I no longer had one foot in the grave. [Howie] How's the billing? Is it okay? [Nurs

e] It's okay. [Nurse] PhilHealth will take care of everything. [Howie] Even the doctor's fees? [Nurse] Everything. [Howie] It’s done? [Nurse] Yes. [Howie] Thank you. I was expecting it to be more painful. [Howie] But I barely felt you pulling it out. [Nurse] What took long was removing the tape. [Howie] I see. [Nurse] Yes. [Howie] I thought you were slowly pulling out the needle. During my confinement, an I-Witness colleague chatted with me. [Atom] What was the hardest part of going through this

? [Howie] Oh boy. [Howie] Well, [Howie] the first few days, [Howie] because that's when I couldn’t sleep, probably because of the disease and the medication. I was awake for two nights, sleep deprivation. My body felt very weak and you know, I'm not that young. I was asking myself, can my heart survive this? I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep and I had this terrible disease. So I thought I was really dying. And then I called my wife to say goodbye. [Atom] Gosh [Howie] Yeah it got to that point, ma

n. And she said, 'No, no, no, no, you're not going to die. Your vital signs are still good. You just can't sleep. It's all mental. You'll recover'. So she boosted by confidence… you know, reminding me when we first met, when I proposed. Our memories. Because at that time – that night – I was starting to be delirious. I was seeing visions of death. I survived that night. [Gab] Patients have recovered. Old, young – all have a chance. What really makes a difference is prevention. Prevention is bett

er than cure. [Howie] Has anyone recovered here? [Gab] Yes, a lot. [Howie] Like how old? [Gab] I had a patient who was 82. [Howie] 82! [Gab] Yes. He was discharged last Thursday. Now, I'm eager to go home and see the world again. The day I've been waiting for has finally arrived. [Howie] Goodbye, bed. After 11 days, I was given clearance by my doctors to go home. “To the nurses who took care of me, I will never forget your courage.” I am now out of danger but I still need to undergo COVID-19 tes

ts. I can't be considered safe until I test negative twice. Meanwhile, a fellow survivor has already tested negative twice and is considered cured. [Howie] You said you want to give blood or plasma. [Iza] Yes blood or plasma. [Howie] To save other patients. [Iza] I have an obligation to help others and society because I've been given a second chance to live. It's my obligation to help save the lives of others. [Howie] What can you say about the frontliners who took care of you? [Iza] I'm gettin

g emotional again. It happens when I remember my doctors and nurses. I am eternally grateful. I'm sorry. Goodness. I will be grateful to them for the rest of my life because they gave me my life. They put aside their own lives to do that because they could be infected too, even die from this. They never made me feel like they were afraid of me or were repulsed by me. We as survivors, we've been blessed so nothing should be taken for granted from hereon forward. Every breath is a blessing. It's t

rue what they say and now I have a full appreciation of it. Value each breath. Only patients like us can truly know the depth of sacrifices and compassion of those who took care of us. [Howie] These are a lot of floors. Thanks to you, we're alive. I'm alive [Howie] Thank you. [Howie] This makes my heart swell. [Nurse] They're my colleagues, sir. [Howie] They're so kind. [Howie] Bye. [Howie] Wow, the sun! Such joy! Reporting from the Fe del Mundo Medical Center, I am Howie Severino, survivor.