Items

• 
  2021-03-12

  Life in a Needle

  Throughout medical history vaccinations have been imperative in order to fight diseases and viruses. As a child these vaccinations start at two months and tend to continue through our lives. Most vaccines are mandatory but there are some that are voluntary which leaves us contemplating our decision. The contemplation on getting a vaccine is why I chose a picture of my COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card to be submitted as my primary source. When COVID first hit the United States, we weren’t really prepared for the devastation that it brought right along with it. When I first heard about COVID it still hadn’t reached the United States and that was around January but then around March New York started going into lockdown. The lockdown period was pretty difficult to deal with as the way of life completely changed. Mentally, emotionally and physically it took a toll on me. As a person that was barely at home because of school and work the lock down caused great anxiety. From the moment the world heard about the first case it went into creating a vaccine that could prevent the number of cases of deaths and hospitalizations from increasing. As pharmaceutical companies started the research to create a vaccine, I was pretty skeptical about it. I was refusing to get the vaccine if they succeeded in creating it because there was just so much doubt going through my head. I was unsure what the vaccine contained and if it would work in the prevention of catching COVID. But long behold a vaccine was created but of course there were so many side effects that came with the shot. With everything that was going wrong with the vaccine during the experimentation period it just strengthened my decision to decline the shot. My views started to change once I started to hear that many people weren’t getting any symptoms from the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. These vaccines required the person to receive two doses in order to be “immune” to COVID. Another reason that caused me to change my views on receiving the shot was the fact that I wanted to travel, and the government was requiring a vaccination passport in order to do so. The first dose of vaccines was only available to the elderly and to the healthcare workers who were risking their lives coming into contact with COVID patients. Then they started extending the qualifications needed for someone to receive the shot which included: preexisting conditions, obesity, high risk conditions, and many other qualifications. These are just of the few qualifications that was asked for in order for someone to be eligible to receive a vaccination. Because I have a preexisting condition, I was eligible to receive the COVID 19 vaccine. It was pretty difficult trying to get an appointment due to the high volume of people who wanted to receive the shot. After multiple attempts in trying to secure my appointment, I succeed with Walmart. I received my first Moderna vaccination on March 12, 2021 and my second vaccination on April 23, 2021. I was content on receiving the Moderna vaccine because it wasn’t recalled for causing health problems like the rest of the vaccinations from other pharmaceutical companies were causing. After a few hours of receiving my first shot I started to feel dizzy and very lightheaded to the point that I couldn’t drive at work. With the second shot my symptoms were: dizziness, fever, body aches, chills, change of smell and taste and nausea. The second shot was stronger than the first one but I’m glad that those were the only symptoms I experienced. But the one thing that both shots had in common after receiving them was the soreness of the arm for multiple days. Now that is has been almost a month that I received my second shot almost all the symptoms have vanished except for my change of smell and taste. Because the shot as altered my sense of smell and taste it has made it unbearable for me to smell or eat meat but I’m hoping that it will subside soon. The decision on receiving the COVID 19 vaccine is a daunting one to make as there can be many factors that can influence you. I received the vaccine as a precaution to myself and others. I also took it in order to travel and not worry about being prevented from boarding a flight because I can’t provide proof of the vaccination record card. I think this new vaccine is going to be a lot like the Flu shot as it comes in seasons and its up to the person to decide whether or not they’re going to get it. I’m just happy that the government hasn’t made it mandatory because there is still a lot of people who are pretty skeptical about it. The decision of our life is in a needle.
• 
  2021-02-28

  Me Versus covid

  This is a short written by myself, it expresses the pain and emotion that emerged since the beginning of COVID-19. Although the poem contains a lot of humorism it captures raw expressions, raw emotions all the same time.
• 
  06/01/2020

  COVID-19 Has No Boundaries for Those That Mourn

  February 2020, Covid-19 was a drop in the bucket, it’s coming to the U.S. from China. What is it? Where did it come from? How will it reach us? Do we close our boarders? Stop international travel? Who is to blame? The first of the infected to arrive, from China, landed at Kelly Field San Antonio TX, and were set into quarantine. Fast forward about a month (end of March), and I am picking my dad up from BAMC (Brook Army Medical Center), he had been dropped off by his wife, and she was not allowed to stay at the hospital. He was seen at the ER because of stomach pain and continuous vomiting. What was different and a little strange to me was the fact that the hospital would not allow his wife to enter the building, even if she was the only means of his being. Because of strict city, state, and national orders to covid-19, no one other that the patient was allowed to enter the hospital. After two months of going in and out of the hospital, military doctors had discovered a cancerous tumor growing in his liver, it was putting pressure against his bile duct not allowing his liver to function properly. An emergency procedure was scheduled, but without notice, it was cancelled before he was operated on. A second procedure (Y90) was scheduled, but part 1 of a two-part procedure failed and three days later we said goodbye to Art Reyes Sr. Planning for his services were difficult. We could only invite 10 people to the church and 20 people to the funeral home, but after gathering information about my dad’s services, my heart went out to those that had lost family and friends due to the Covid virus. Their services were completely canceled. If a person had died in a hospital of Covid-19, they were to be transported from the hospital, cremated, and buried without any type of service Had it not been for Covid-19, I think that Art Reyes would have had the rapid medical attention that he deserved. Doctors would have been “on the spot” in treating him for his condition, and not meeting just once a month to discuss someone’s condition with cancer. Many times, I felt that he was dismissed because of the covid-rules in place, but there also did not have to be poor/no communication between family and doctors. Funeral services would have been normal for more than 20 people to celebrate his death, and many family members that could not travel from out of town, could have celebrates with us also. The bottom line was his cancer inevitably was the cause for his death, but it wasn’t immediate. His death was due to his failing organs that were secondary to the tumor growth, and medical doctors on a “Corona19 Vacation.”
• 
  2020-08

  COVID-19 AND THE ESCALATING MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS AMONG BIPOC AND IMMIGRANTS

  The purpose of “COVID-19 and the Escalating Mental Health Crisis among BIPOC and Immigrants” is to analyze the already existing socioeconomic conditions in BIPOC and immigrant communities that perpetuate mental health stigma and are also causes for the rising mental health crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research project aims to investigate generational trauma and its correlation to the pressurizing notion of the ‘essential worker,’ how the silence of trauma creates stigma, and the lack of representation and affordable mental health resources for low-income BIPOC and immigrants.
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  2020-05-27

  Dreaming Again

  Ms. Lea Salonga launched a campaign, #LSdreamagain regarding the things we miss or dreams we crave while on lockdown. One of the things I miss is the brush of the wind on my face. Even before the pandemic, I am what you call a treehugger, so I crave hugs. Hugging my niece and nephew is one of the things I am looking forward to after this "period". Savouring the simple pleasures of life.
• 
  2020-08-10

  The life of a HCW testing positive for coronavirus

  I wrote this article for my internship and I've always wanted to see it published given that it gives us a perspective of a health care worker that became a patient for coronavirus. In the months that the Philippines has been on lockdown and cases continue to rise up, it's very telling that those who are vulnerable to the virus still aren't secured and compensated for the work they have done so far.
• 
  2020-08-15

  Our youth is yours

  Turning twelve is a toast to tweens. To the parents, it’s a wistful goodbye to childhood. Before the March 16, 2020 enhanced community quarantine, two mommy friends and I were happily hatching a surprise party for our tweens. Our kids were childhood friends who shared the same birth month. Secret Viber invites were sent to the parents of their classmates and to close family. Then the news of the Covid-19 pandemic took over the headlines. Metro Manila was going to be on lockdown. The viber chat was shutdown with the cancellation of the party. The chicken nuggets and fries celebration was shelved. Michelle, Mika and Maddie would mark their memorable 12th year on this earth witnessing a global pandemic that would rock the world.
• 
  2020-08-13

  In my room

  This written material tells about a personal narrative of a Covid-19 PUM [Persons Under Monitoring]
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  2020-05-19

  Sunset of the Workers

  On May 19, while Metro Manila was already on its 4th day under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), our neighborhood (Barangay 156, Caloocan City) was enduring the 7th day of our 8-day total lockdown. From our 3rd floor terrace, at the close of day, I chanced upon these construction workers atop the Skyway Stage 3, still keeping their noses to the grindstone, despite the risk of getting COVID-19.
• 
  2020-03-22

  Simple Pleasures of Life

  It was a reflection/realization when we Philippines was still on Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). Something I believe, that is a takeaway from all these crazy things we are going through, to savour these when things get back to "normal".
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  2020-04-22

  The 3Rs COVID-19 taught me

  COVID-19 pandemic shakes the entire human race and how the disease triggered the press button to let us all “slow-down” or “pause” to almost our entire usual goings remains an enigma to one and all
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  2020-03-21

  Faith over Fear

  The lockdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic banned religious gatherings, including hearing the mass. Determined not to deny the faithful a chance to venerate the Blessed Sacrament, the parish priest of Cubao, Quezon City conducted a motorcade that carried him and the Blessed Sacrament.
• 
  2020-07-23

  Keeper of Memories

  During the pandemic, I decided to reflect on the deaths and the tributes given to deceased friends and [well-known] personalities. This article is the output of this process.
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  2020-08-03

  Lost

  Lost in a maze of traffic a day before the second wave of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine takes effect..stuck in traffic..outside my car window is a man on the sidewalk intently reading a magazine...he mirrors the state of the city before lockdown ..lost in COVID 19 statistics..we are all at a loss on how the gov’t handles the pandemic.
• 
  2020-07-28

  Entry #072820

  I have been feeling a lot of things right now. The indifferent, numb self battered by how people are not prioritizing life over this health crisis has experienced some form of reawakening. And I've poured my raw thoughts over today's journal entry. a day fresh of the recent SONA, a day away from getting back to the hospital frontlines. I want the crisis to end soon. but I cannot do it alone. we should not do it alone
• 
  2020-07-07

  The Way to HOPE

  I wrote an account of the moment I knew I was positive of COVID-19 and my long and winding trip to the isolation facility. I want the readers to have a glimpse of it and understand what that felt like and not to be overcome by fear once they find themselves about to embark on the same journey.
• 
  2020-07-25

  Arras, Rehas, Oxygen Mask

  This describes another take on being a bride during a pandemic: a bride worried if she will walk down the aisle, or into a jail cell, or be wheeled into a hospital bed
• 
  2020-07-24

  A working mayor, an exhausted president, out-of-touch rich folk: Haikus during the community quarantine

  These poems document the quarantine adjustment period: the first fifteen days. They are news reports, coping methods, and dreams. They reflect the terrifying and the mundane. I began this project on Twitter, aware that we were entering into what would be an important historical event, and assuming that this project would be what would keep me sane. Soon, cabin fever got to me and I lost my motivation, so I set them aside, hoping that they would eventually contribute to the growing body of pandemic literature. If I don't make it through this pandemic, please remember me through these poems.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Batingaw - Kalagayan ng Health Workers

  Marami ang naglabas ng panawagan na tulungan natin ang mga fronliners natin sa iba’t ibang pagamutan dahil kapos na kapos na sila sa gamit at sila mismo’y naka salang na sa peligro ng COVID19. Maraming mga health workers ang napabalitang kinakikitaan na ng sintomas ng COVID19, ngunit patuloy pa rin sa pagganap sa kanilang tungkulin.
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  2020-04-29

  COVID-19 Community Service

  Covid-19 dramatically changed the life of every Filipinos, especially the Colubot people. Most of our Kababayans experienced lack of foods to be eaten and the like. Colubot Elementary School launched its COVID-19 Community Service to give help and philanthropic deeds to the people of Colubot, San Manuel, Tarlac amidst the pandemic.
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  2020-07-01

  House to House Graduation - Continuing the Educational Journey of the Children Amidst the Pandemic

  The photos want to convey the positivity and strong spirit of the youth and the teachers to continue educational schemes amidst the pandemic. It is the first time to launch HOUSE TO HOUSE GRADUATION. The teachers with my supervision as the School Principal, we visited their homes to give the credits and surprises for our Grade 6 graduating pupils. Because we appreciate their efforts for the whole school year as well as the double sacrifices of their parents, we realized our program "House to House Graduation Ceremony". We sent letter to the Barangay Captain and we talked to the Supervisor about this scheme. We strictly followed guidelines and protocols from IATF, DILG, LGU and DEPED so that everyone is safe. We really treasured these moments forever.
• 
  2020-04-10

  Lockdown 101

  My story is simple. It is about lessons learned while doing Lockdown 101, a crash course in life, in death, and everything in between.
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  2020-07-17

  A Warm Meal Shared

  It's my story in how something mundane like cooking a meal and the community of sharing a meal is affected severely by COVID 19. Since I live alone at present, it is difficult, let alone near impossible to share a meal with anyone else and the disconnect I feel affects me and possibly some people who have to live alone and no one to communicate with. It's also a story of longing forward to see my fiancée again and trying to live life with a semblance of normalcy in an uncertain world.
• 
  2020-07-07

  Rhymin' COVID-19

  Observations and reactions to the virus' effects on everyday life
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  2020-07-17

  Food for the Family & for the Soul

  The Covid contagion found us without access to our usual weekend grocery trips. Luckily a Viber food community group we were invited to started posting restaurant suppliers in our area who were selling restaurant sizes cuts of meat, bakery wholesale suppliers started selling flour, sugar etc. Our pantry wasn’t going to go bare after all. With restaurant quality ingredients and more time to prepare food our family found special time to be in the kitchen. Not only was it therapeutic to prepare the meals, mealtime became even more meaningful. Dressing up the dinner table and exploring different dishes to cook felt like we were experiencing private dining everyday. We realized that this experience was even better than going out to dine in restaurants. This was the blessing of Covid-19. It brought us back to the sacredness of the home and the family table!
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  2020-07-15

  Mangá Tulang Lockdown ni Adíng Kiko, dps

  [Lockdown Poetry by Ading Kiko, dps]
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  2020-04-30

  A Silver Lining amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

  I always look for the good despite the bleakness of what is happening.
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  2020-04-29

  Of Autism and Surviving Quarantine

  It tells about How we as a family is dealing with the Pandemic and how Gab, my son with ASD is surviving and even thriving
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  2020-05-01

  Home cooking, eating and surviving a health crisis

  Now more than ever, we cherish the value of a well-planted garden and a well-stock pantry or kitchen. This global health crisis prompted us to plant, cook and eat together.
• 
  2020-05-14

  Embracing New Normal on Extension Delivery

  Our experience in delivering our extension services to clients
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  2020-04-27

  What it's Like to Suspect Yourself of Having COVID-19 but Unable to Have a Confirmation Test: Notes from the Early days of Pandemic Announcement

  This account tells my own experiences of COVID-19 symptoms in the early days of pandemic announcement and my pursuit to get COVID-19 testing.
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  2020-07-10

  Payapa lang

  I took this picture of me - a selfie if you will - while enjoying an old Filipino music in my study room. I envisioned July as the month where lockdowns are lifted and everything is in control, but it was not the case as the government [continuously] reports spiking increases of active cases. Because of the news of increasing cases, government inaction and the recent battle of a media giant, I was having an anxiety and panic attacks. I realized that my hands were shaking, I have cold sweats and my body is trembling I [couldn't] breathe, I decided to play the song "Mabagal". All throughout I was enjoying the song, it gives me comfort, I decided to take a picture of my self enjoying the breeze behind the windows while the music play, this is the only time I felt peace in times of uncertainty. A picture of me at peace while there is fear of unknown and uncertainty behind me.
• 
  2020-07-11

  Mga Lagusan

  This pandemic made me miss everything about traveling, my friends and family around the world. I created "lagusan" hoping that when I look at my porch, window, or shelves everything will just be a frame away from the people I love most. Despite all these, I am hopeful. The photos shows that the thin screen that separates me from the people I love is the same screen that connects me to them. The photos I submitted are important to me since most of my family members are in abroad, we rely so much to internet for communication. The photos are actually a collage of 2 different places, the window becomes the "lagusan" or gateway to the other place. It speaks of hope, pag-asa at lagusan.
• 
  2020-04-16

  Then and Now

  It was Day 30 of GCQ when I created this hoping that sometime soon I'll get to do the usual things that has been part of my system from the previous years. Few weeks ago, we were busy with our jobs, doing groceries, planning for the next [getaway] with friends and family. All of these are in the recent past. Imagining the new normal is quite visual. I realized that i took the conveniences for granted. These photos are important to me because this [was] my first travel for the year 2020 where I was able to celebrate New Year with family and friends, hoping that this year will be a great year for me. Unfortunately we are now on our Day 120 of being quarantined and my arms feels empty, missing the actual catch-up over good cup of coffee and few bottle of beers by the beach.
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  2020-07-12

  Graduating during the pandemic

  This personal journal tells what is it like for me, graduating during the pandemic. With ways of celebrating this milestone totally changing, and with my mother having to work at the health center on that day, this virtual graduation experience was really different.
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  2020-07-20

  How to Survive Your Homecoming

  The world practically shut down for 3 months, and we are just now beginning to learn how to travel within the harsh parameters set by Covid-19.
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  2020-07-02

  On Wheels Work From Home

  Being in the province during the community quarantine is both an advantage and a challenge. Advantage that I was able to be with my family during the pandemic, moreover, being in an island and rural area in this kind of crisis lessens the possibilities of exposure to the virus. Also because of the abundance of natural resources, food supply was not as horror as to those who are in the urban areas. It was then a challenge if you are working far from your head office especially in the times of following the work from home system. Mobile network provider isn't always present in all areas. Unfortunately we are located at the place where barriers are abundant. The low land area and trees are just among them and not to mention the congestion of the users in the area where a tower can supply. In situations like this, creativity is the key to fulfill the commitments you promised to your work. With my motorcycle, I was able to go to the places where there is a stable signal for a certain period of time and locate another place depending on factors affecting move such as heat, wind, rain and time. Finally, it is a beautiful dishevelment when time is your enemy. It compensates all your effort to reach the places you think are impossible to walk by the wheels. These photos are just a few of the many creative stories crafted by this pandemic.
• 
  2020-07-04

  Our long distance relationship made even more distant with the pandemic

  The pandemic has made long-distance relationships even more difficult to maintain -- for lack of a better word. I'm sure a lot of other people in long-distance relationships will be able to [relate to] me and my S.O.'s story. I want these people to know that they are not alone in their struggle of longing for their loved ones; and that even if things seem very bleak right now, sometimes, the only thing we can do to feel better is to hope.
• 
  2020-07-08

  Quarantine: Reminds me of my life in the convent

  It tells a story of how it is to live in the convent compare to the life I lived now with this pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-24

  Filipinos Coping With Covid - Series

  I am doing a series, Filipinos Coping With Covid, published in my blogs and some in Positively Filipino
• 
  2020-07-20

  The Road Home & the dust on my feet

  I returned to the Philippines from London in June, and I wanted to make sure that my experience was catalogued among others like it. I'm planning to add more entries, but this is the first. I wrote it out very like a report, and the succeeding entries will likely expound a little bit more about the experience, firsthand, of bureaucracy on the ground, and the people it most affects; how slowly the government response arrives, and who bears the brunt of this inefficiency.
• 
  2020-07-05

  Broadway and a Sense of Smell

  This story discusses the importance of the little known symptom of "anosmia" in screening for COVID-19, and specifically how this theater loving clinician came to realize that this was not a symptom to be overlooked.
• 
  2020-04-20

  COVID 19

  This is the final version of a poem serving as reflection on the nature of COVID as equated with biblical evil itself, and as it echoes another poem in the collection, Dis-Ease. This poem is a conundrum using wordplay and numerology from the Kaballah to present its idea that COVID and the demon are the same entity. As puzzled out, this piece represents contemplation on the source and nature of the Disease, seen in mythical/biblical terms.
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  2020-04-20

  Dis-ease: Poetry in the Period of the Pandemic

  Not a "story" in the traditional sense, these are a collection of poems that nonetheless implicitly serve as narrative/tell the story of how an aspiring writer uses the time to harness all the stress, turn it from distress into eustress to de-stress, and thereby find a strategy for survival through creative expression. In each poem, as annotation, the direct connection to COVID is described.
• 
  2020-06-05

  Hygiene Checkpoint: Hands Up

  This health policy brief emphasized the undeniable importance of observing and vigilantly practicing proper hand hygiene as part of the primary preventive health measure to combat the rapid spread of infections and other diseases, especially in this COVID-19 pandemic battle.
• 
  2020-07-03

  Tipsy Tales

  We spent 2 and a half years building the [Philippines'] first immersive theater on Filipino Folklore. We ran for an amazing six months serving thousands of locals and tourists alike. We had a lot of dreams for the company. We wanted to export multi-sensory interactive theatrical experiences on Filipino culture to the world. We wanted to make people happy. The pandemic had shut down both live entertainment and the tourism industry. We could no longer afford to keep it running in the new normal. When we had to close our production, it was heart breaking. Everyone knows how hard it is [to] open a business, but few people talk about he kind of grief that comes with closing one. For a while, it felt like I had a lost a child. So young and full of potential that died before it's time. There was a pain to losing something you've worked so hard to grow from the ground up. But at the end of the day, we are grateful for the chance to have brought a dream to life, even just for a short while. Dreams are our greatest rebellion against these uncertain times. My greatest hope is that we never forget that in the darkness, we can be our own light.
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  2020-04-15

  Twelve Families

  It was almost a month since the last one that I went out, to run for errands in a nearby grocery store. Upon passing by, I saw this sign in front of a gate going to a narrow pathway. On ordinary days, it is not noticeable because of the vendors that stayed to earn their living in a busy place like Baclaran, but knowing how many families were actually living in a small space is an alarming situation in the midst of a pandemic caused by a virus that can easily be transmitted from an infected individual through close contact. The ability to survive is [also a] continuous struggle during these times, as the pandemic limits the movement of people, including the capacity to work. Many people lost their jobs that were the source of their living, and has been dependent on the subsidies given by the government, either by cash or in-kind. But for most, it is not enough. The pandemic is teaching us how to be resourceful and resilient on what is available, just to meet our needs. It also pushes other people and the government to extend their help, with the efforts and hopes that one day, we may be able to help one another without prejudice, or loyalty that may only benefit a few. In these times, these twelve families were some of those who are calling out for help.
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  2020-04-08

  Frontline Heroes

  When the community quarantine kicked in, our outdoor media partner, HDI Admix, had a problem. They had all these massive LEDs as part of their inventory, but there's no one to see them with everyone staying home. What we did was reinvent a mass media touchpoint and turn it into a highly targeted one. We used the massive LEDs as a platform to share a message of strength to the only ones who'll be able to see the LEDs, the frontliners. We reimagined them as modern day superheroes fighting the battle against this pandemic. And these short videos aired in over 20 LED sites in Metro Manila for the remainder of ECQ, aside from being shared on social media.
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  2020-03-16

  Sign of Things to Come

  The images were all taken in the morning of March 16, the first working day after the community quarantine was announced. Lots of people were shocked at the sudden scarcity of public vehicles, since they had to comply with physical distancing rules. This caused people to find various ways to get to their places of employment or for some (like me), just went back home. I waited three hours for a bus to take me from Coastal Mall to Philcoa in QC, but can't find any. I was supposed to go to my place of work at UP Diliman to fetch as much documents as I can before I start working from home. Tried waiting for a bus at PITX but seeing the long queues outside, I decided to tell my supervisor that I can't make it because of the public transport situation, then flagged down a minibus back to my home in Cavite. Then the conductor told me that I have to wear a mask, else I would have to get off. Luckily I had one. Later when I arrived home (note: I did not pass through the supposed-to-be checkpoints to and from Cavite), I saw at the news that the government was surprised that this would happen, as if they never expected that reduced passenger capacity due to physical distancing measures would cause longer waiting times for commuters. Similar chaos for commuters later that day (now returning to their homes from work) would happen since they had to get home before the start of the stricter ECQ at midnight of March 17. This lack of foresight and preparation in implementing rules and mitigation measures, as well as the difficulties of the people would be seen a lot later during the ECQ up to this day.
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  2020-06-20

  Stories of Hope in the time of Quarantine

  Personal insights and experiences during the quarantine period in Cebu.