Since the end of March, José Martínez Ramírez could not continue with his usual work as a teacher of physical culture in the Julio Antonio Mella sports center in this eastern Cuban city. However, he continues to go out on the streets for an important reason. It depends on him that Mirtha Hechavarría Yanes, 74 years old, receives daily lunch and dinner.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Since the measures of physical distancing were indicated to avoid the spread of the new coronavirus, something had to be done with the social assistance who usually went to the establishments of the System of Attention to the Family (SAF in Spanish). This network of canteens, which provide lunch and dinner at subsidized prices, is attended by those who are economically disadvantaged, and whose health or age conditions now make them vulnerable to COVID-19.
Through the defense zones, in coordination with the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC in Spanish), the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (known as CDR by its Spanish acronyms), the workers of Education, Sports and those of the Ministry of Labor, the most vulnerable people have been protected: the elderly, the physically handicapped, pregnant women who are alone; taking the food to the SAF or to their homes, explains Rafael Torres Rivero, secretary of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power in the territorial capital.
He adds that they promote the My Safe House movement, through which they encourage families to take all preventive measures against the pandemic.
EVERYONE CAN HELP
The contribution of sports professors and teachers is also key in the work of active research on people with respiratory symptoms, says Juan Carlos Delgado Calixto, president of the Defense Council 19 of the capital city.
Only in this area, 190 families are being taken care of, among which almost 50 elderly people stand out, who are occasionally taking their food home. We have stressed that if there are other people in the home, a relative or a neighbor who can do it, the elderly should not go out; where there is no one, then we take care of them, insists Delgado Calixto. He admits that it is not an easy task, since some of the long-lived ones persist in going out. We have to talk to them so that they understand that we are in an exceptional situation, he says.
Mirtha Hechavarría Yanes is not one of those cases. She smiles every midday when she sees Joseito, as he is known in the neighborhood. This boy doesn't feel he's doing anything extraordinary and maybe that's the wonderful thing about his actions when he says as he says goodbye: It's just helping society and feeling good about yourself. We are all heroes. I'm just a person who has feelings.
