CORDILLERANS based in the Northeast USA are also affected by the crisis caused by the pandemic Covid-19.
BIBAK Northeast USA president Clifford Killip said New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other places in the Northeast are also in the same situation like in the Philippines wherein the stay at home policy is being implemented. Business establishments are closed except for the groceries, pharmacies, and basic services providers.
The only difference with them is that they are not required to secure a quarantine pass to go to places to purchase what they need.
“We are in the same boat as you guys in this fight against Covid-19. We also have the stay at home order from our governors but mostly it is voluntary,” Killip said.
Most members of BIBAK Northeast are working in essential services and frontline nurses. One of them is Brenda Lamsis, an ER nurse in Urban Community Hospital in New Jersey.
Lamsis had witnessed cases such Ebola, SARS, swine flu and others but nothing is compared to Covid-19 she said.
“These past three weeks has been horror to us like any emergency room at this time. Volume surges, critical patient after another, ER holding at its peak, and patients dropping dead like flies. And because of no visitor policy they are dying alone which makes it more painful and unbearable for the family and the nurse as to what happened to our very own Auntie Inez,” she narrated.
Inez Saley, a wife, mother, grandmother, and one of the founders of BIBAK Northeast USA was one of the first Cordillerans who succumbed to Covid-19.
Two members of their group who also became a victim of the deadly virus were 45year old Jenniclaire Sucdad Bartolome and 69- year old Romeo Valdez who were both from New Jersey.
Regular campus classes are also suspended. Student KC Killip of North Carolina State University said that motivation is one big challenge she is experiencing through online classes.
Just like anyone else, Clifford Killip also hopes and prays that the crisis on covid-19 will end soon.
“We don’t know how and when this will end. Let us keep on praying and hoping that everything will be back into normal. There is light at the end of the tunnel,” he added.
Let us be one in the battle against covid-19 by adhering to the precautionary measures and complying to the orders of the concerned authorities.
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