Between 2020 and 2023, I wrote a story each Sunday for the weekend section of La Tercera newspaper, covering different beats according to the week’s contingency. Here is a selection of one of my best journalistic pieces about health, which were published in the printed edition and the digital website of the newspaper.
06/06/2020:
Bed 19 and Bed 20: a couple connected at the same time.
Nobody knows how Luz Mendoza and Fernando González contracted the virus. The prognosis was far from promising: she battles chronic asthma and hypertension while he grapples with diabetes and heart failure. For over 20 days, this married couple was connected to mechanical ventilators in adjacent rooms at San José Hospital. The waiting period was an agonizing ordeal for their children, but after ups and downs, both managed to pull through. This is their story.
Click here to read the whole article.
Photo by La Tercera
Photo by La Tercera
12/11/2022
Twelve hours in a Psychiatric Urgent Care.
A frustrating reality in the Emergency Department of Dr. José Horwitz Barak Psychiatric Institute, located in Santiago, unfolds. After the pandemic, patients are arriving sicker than ever. This has taken a toll on the healthcare team that tends to them, resulting in 24-hour shifts due to a shortage of personnel, incidents of aggression, and emotional exhaustion. I spent twelve hours with them. Here's a glimpse into a typical shift at the Recoleta hospital.
Click here to read the whole article
06/18/2023
The Ministry of Health in the emergency room.
The departure of Fernando Araos, former Health Deputy Secretary, marked the end of a tumultuous chapter in the Health State Department. Political tensions between the cabinet teams and the two deputy secretariats - Socialist Democracy, Izkism, and Democratic Revolution - cast a shadow of mistrust and communication breakdowns that further complicated the hospital crisis management.
Illustration by La Tercera