The elderly of Barcelona’s working-class Poble Sec neighborhood, the generation who survived widespread hunger after the Spanish Civil War, started out vulnerable.
Drawn to Spain’s industrial heartland a generation ago, they relied in retirement on free lunches from neighborhood social centers. Many received medical care from the local clinic, where doctors and nurses made house calls. Social workers brought them groceries.
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The elderly of Barcelona’s working-class Poble Sec neighborhood, the generation who survived widespread hunger after the Spanish Civil War, started out vulnerable.
For two weeks, an Associated Press photographer accompanied Barcelona’s visiting health care workers and emergency medical personnel as they tended to Spain’s home-bound elderly.
As in similarly hard-hit Italy, Spain’s elderly aren’t usually being tested for COVID-19. They also aren’t being admitted to hospital intensive care units, where coveted beds and breathing machines are prioritized for younger, healthier patients with a better chance of survival. Nationwide, only 3.4% of Spain's ICU patients are over 80.
Before the virus struck, Ribas’ nurses would be accompanied by social workers during their weekly visits to treat her bedsores. But those workers have stopped coming, either because they got sick, are observing stay-at-home orders or are themselves caring for loved ones.
Alba Rodriguez is a pediatric nurse by profession but shifted gears to care for Barcelona’s elderly who are confined to their homes. She has had to get creative to protect herself, fashioning hazmat suits out of giant yellow garbage bags that she and her fellow nurses wear over their scrubs.
Maria Perez Gomez, 70, reluctantly called emergency medical services when she started having trouble breathing and developed a cough and fever. When the medics arrived, she begged them to tell her she wasn’t positive, though she suspected she was.
“I’m drowning. I’m drowning. I can’t breathe,” he told the medic who arrived to check his lungs as he heaved on the living room sofa. All Garcia could manage was a raspy whisper.
Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
Gonzalo Garcia, 61, is examined by emergency medical workers after he suffered severe respiratory problems at his home in Barcelona, Spain, April 6, 2020. Garcia had been hospitalized with COVID-19 but was discharged after he improved, only to deteriorate in recent days. He is terrified that his second hospitalization will again leave his 91-year-old mother home alone. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Pepita Jove Puiggros, 92, holds the hand of home care nurse Laura Valdes during a visit in Barcelona, Spain, April 2, 2020. Puiggros lives alone and receives food deliveries from a social service agency three days a week, but the deliveries have become more unpredictable amid the coronavirus pandemic. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Leopoldo Roman, 85, lies in bed wearing a face mask as he waits for doctors during a home medical visit in Barcelona, Spain, April 3, 2020. Roman, whose leg was amputated years ago, has to pay for daily care out of his pension since the public system only provides for a social worker to come for an hour a day, three days a week. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Home care doctors, nurses and health staff take part in the morning meeting at a clinic in Barcelona, Spain, March 31, 2020. Many elderly residents of Barcelona's Poble Sec neighborhood rely on the clinic for their health care, even more now during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Josefa Ribas, 86, who is bedridden and suffers from dementia, is attended to by nurse Laura Valdes during a home care visit in Barcelona, Spain, April 7, 2020. Ribas' husband, Jose Marcos, fears what will happen if the virus enters their home and infects them. "I survived the post-war period (of mass hunger). I hope I survive this pandemic," he said. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Vicente Lopez, 65, sits at his house waiting to be examined by a doctor during a home care visit in Barcelona, Spain, March 31, 2020. Lopez is under quarantine, because his partner tested positive for COVID-19 and is in the hospital. Lopez relies on a neighbor to deliver groceries and basic supplies. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Medical workers making an emergency home visit walk away from a man, moments after they confirmed he died of severe respiratory problems in Barcelona, Spain, April 6, 2020. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Jose Marcos, 89, waits at his front door for the nurses who tend to his bedridden wife once a week, in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, April 7, 2020. Marcos' son drops off food at the gate, but Marcos doesn't dare go outside on his own for fear he will be infected with the coronavirus. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Home care nurse Laura Valdes, 55, leaves an apartment after attending to her patient Emilio Casas, 86, during a home care visit in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, April 2, 2020. Casas receives a visit from nurses once a week and pays out of pocket for the help since he cannot stand up alone. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
But the coronavirus pandemic has heightened their fragility, stripping away the safety nets that kept them fed and healthy and exposing them to a daily threat of infection that they know could kill them.
Nurse Isabel Solis, 46, wearing a converted garbage bag apron for protection, walks along a corridor lined with paintings made by Enrique Pastor, 86, during a home visit in Barcelona, Spain, April 1, 2020. Pastor's full-time caregiver tested positive for the virus, leaving his wife to care for the bedridden Pastor without knowing if either of them has COVID-19. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
For two weeks, an Associated Press photographer accompanied Barcelona’s visiting health care workers and emergency medical personnel as they tended to Spain’s home-bound elderly.
“All the misery is coming to light,” said visiting nurse Laura Valdes after a day of house calls up and down the narrow stairwells of Poble Sec’s apartment blocks.
The autonomous region of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital, ranks only second to Madrid in Spain’s official count of virus infections and deaths, with nearly 30,000 cases and more than 3,000 dead.
A home care doctor performs a physical exam on Felicidad while her son, Joan, holds her arm at her home in Barcelona, Spain, March 31, 2020. Felicidad had been admitted to the hospital after suffering a stroke but was sent home within a day and soon developed respiratory symptoms. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
As in similarly hard-hit Italy, Spain’s elderly aren’t usually being tested for COVID-19. They also aren’t being admitted to hospital intensive care units, where coveted beds and breathing machines are prioritized for younger, healthier patients with a better chance of survival. Nationwide, only 3.4% of Spain's ICU patients are over 80.
As a result, Barcelona’s elderly are suffering at home, alone and more isolated than ever. Few know for sure if they have the virus, but the threat that they might catch it — even from the visiting medical teams they need — has only heightened their anxiety.
“If I get the virus, who will take care of my wife?” asked Jose Marcos, 89, as Valdes and other nurses checked on 86-year-old Josefa Ribas, who suffers from dementia and has been bedridden for two years.
Gonzalo Garcia, 61, says goodbye to his 91-year-old mother, Gloria, as he leaves for the hospital after suffering severe respiratory problems at their home in Barcelona, Spain, April 6, 2020. Garcia had been hospitalized with COVID-19 but was discharged when he improved, only to deteriorate a few days later. "I'm drowning, I'm drowning, I can't breathe." (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Before the virus struck, Ribas’ nurses would be accompanied by social workers during their weekly visits to treat her bedsores. But those workers have stopped coming, either because they got sick, are observing stay-at-home orders or are themselves caring for loved ones.
Marcos’ son drops off groceries at the gate, but Marcos doesn’t dare go outside on his own for fear of infection. He tells a visitor that he survived the mass hunger that marked Spain’s post-war period, but wonders if he’ll survive this pandemic.
The home care workers themselves feel similarly exposed.
Home care nurse Alba Rodriguez puts on protective gear before visiting a patient in the Poble Sec neighborhood of Barcelona, Spain, March 30, 2020. A pediatric nurse by profession, Rodriguez has gotten creative to try to protect herself, fashioning hazmat suits out of giant yellow garbage bags that she and fellow nurses wear over their scrubs as extra protection. "We're like onions," she says of the extra layers. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Alba Rodriguez is a pediatric nurse by profession but shifted gears to care for Barcelona’s elderly who are confined to their homes. She has had to get creative to protect herself, fashioning hazmat suits out of giant yellow garbage bags that she and her fellow nurses wear over their scrubs.
“We’re like onions,” Rodriguez said of the layers she wears. “Nothing is sufficient to protect you from the virus.”
The nurses know well there is a chance they might infect their patients during their visits, and they take all the precautions they can. Sometimes the elderly refuse medical care until it’s too late, because they fear visiting medics might bring the virus into their homes.
Enrique Pastor, 86, lies in bed surrounded by the oil paintings he created as he waits for the doctor to examine him during a home medical visit in Barcelona, Spain, April 1, 2020. Pastor's usual caregiver tested positive for the virus, leaving the bedridden retired port worker home alone with his wife. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Maria Perez Gomez, 70, reluctantly called emergency medical services when she started having trouble breathing and developed a cough and fever. When the medics arrived, she begged them to tell her she wasn’t positive, though she suspected she was.
“Please leave me here at home, don’t take me to the hospital,” she pleaded. “Tell me doctor that I don’t have the virus.”
Gonzalo Garcia, 61, does have the virus and was hospitalized for it. He was discharged after he improved, and immediately went back home — to his waiting 91-year-old mother, Gloria. After a few days, he took a turn for the worse and had to call emergency services again.
Religious elements decorate a bedroom at Joan Olmedillo's home in Barcelona, Spain, April 2, 2020. Olmedillo received a house call from visiting nurse Laura Valdes during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
“I’m drowning. I’m drowning. I can’t breathe,” he told the medic who arrived to check his lungs as he heaved on the living room sofa. All Garcia could manage was a raspy whisper.
The ambulance took him away. His mother was left alone.
Nicole Winfield contributed from Rome.
Maria Perez Gomez, 70, reacts to medical workers arriving at her home in Barcelona, Spain, April 1, 2020. She reluctantly called them after suffering breathing problems, a cough and a fever. "Please leave me here at home, don't take me to the hospital," she begged the doctor. "Tell me, doctor, that I don't have the virus." (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
Paramedics tend to a patient who doesn't have COVID-19 inside an ambulance in Barcelona, Spain, April 6, 2020. Medical crews have been doing extra duty during the coronavirus pandemic, checking on patients who are positive and not. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Gonzalo Garcia, 61, is examined by emergency medical workers after he suffered severe respiratory problems at his home in Barcelona, Spain, April 6, 2020. Garcia had been hospitalized with COVID-19 but was discharged after he improved, only to deteriorate in recent days. He is terrified that his second hospitalization will again leave his 91-year-old mother home alone. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Pepita Jove Puiggros, 92, holds the hand of home care nurse Laura Valdes during a visit in Barcelona, Spain, April 2, 2020. Puiggros lives alone and receives food deliveries from a social service agency three days a week, but the deliveries have become more unpredictable amid the coronavirus pandemic. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Leopoldo Roman, 85, lies in bed wearing a face mask as he waits for doctors during a home medical visit in Barcelona, Spain, April 3, 2020. Roman, whose leg was amputated years ago, has to pay for daily care out of his pension since the public system only provides for a social worker to come for an hour a day, three days a week. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Home care doctors, nurses and health staff take part in the morning meeting at a clinic in Barcelona, Spain, March 31, 2020. Many elderly residents of Barcelona's Poble Sec neighborhood rely on the clinic for their health care, even more now during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Josefa Ribas, 86, who is bedridden and suffers from dementia, is attended to by nurse Laura Valdes during a home care visit in Barcelona, Spain, April 7, 2020. Ribas' husband, Jose Marcos, fears what will happen if the virus enters their home and infects them. "I survived the post-war period (of mass hunger). I hope I survive this pandemic," he said. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Vicente Lopez, 65, sits at his house waiting to be examined by a doctor during a home care visit in Barcelona, Spain, March 31, 2020. Lopez is under quarantine, because his partner tested positive for COVID-19 and is in the hospital. Lopez relies on a neighbor to deliver groceries and basic supplies. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Medical workers making an emergency home visit walk away from a man, moments after they confirmed he died of severe respiratory problems in Barcelona, Spain, April 6, 2020. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Jose Marcos, 89, waits at his front door for the nurses who tend to his bedridden wife once a week, in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, April 7, 2020. Marcos' son drops off food at the gate, but Marcos doesn't dare go outside on his own for fear he will be infected with the coronavirus. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)
Home care nurse Laura Valdes, 55, leaves an apartment after attending to her patient Emilio Casas, 86, during a home care visit in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, April 2, 2020. Casas receives a visit from nurses once a week and pays out of pocket for the help since he cannot stand up alone. (AP PhotoEmilio Morenatti)