Tough Woman Volunteers For Retrieval Of Corpses Of COVID-19 Patients

INDRAMAYU - Hari Nuryani sometimes can only go home at dawn if she has to handle many COVID-19 patients in a day.

"If the number of deaths increases, we can bury four to six people a day. And when the location is far away, we also have to go home at dawn," said Hari Nuryani, a volunteer for the burial of the bodies of COVID-19 patients in Indramayu Regency, West Java, quoted by Antara.

As a volunteer for the burial of the bodies of people with COVID-19, the 49-year-old woman who is usually called Yani must also be on standby 24 hours.

At any time he could receive a call to take care of the patient's body. Sometimes he received a call to work when he was going to bed at night.

Together with his team, Yani is tasked with taking care of the bodies of COVID-19 patients, starting from bathing, shrouding, and wrapping the bodies using plastic and putting them in the coffin to burying them.

As a member of the Rapid Response Unit of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Indramayu Regency, Yani is actually used to taking care of corpses.

However, the bodies of people with COVID-19 require different handling.

Officers must apply special protocols in the relocation and burial of the bodies of patients with diseases caused by infection with the SARS-CoV-2 type of corona virus. The process also takes a longer time compared to ordinary recitations and funerals.

In addition, officers also face the risk of contracting the corona virus while working.

In order to minimize the risk of contracting the virus, Yani tries to maintain body resistance and implement health protocols set by the government.

In order to maintain the safety of herself and her family waiting at home, the mother of three always wears complete personal protective equipment while on duty. She also rests when she feels tired so that her body condition is maintained.

"Alhamdulillah, until now (never been infected with COVID-19). We must be able to protect ourselves, if the body is not feeling well, it is better to rest," he said.

Yani also always prays to the creator to always be protected when carrying out his duties. Prayers have strengthened Yani, who has been a volunteer for the burial of the bodies of COVID-19 patients since November 2020.

Yani became a volunteer for the burial of the bodies of COVID-19 patients when several hospitals in Indramayu were overwhelmed by the increasing number of deaths in patients with corona virus infection and asked for help from the Indramayu BPBD.

He immediately expressed his ability when the Indramayu BPBD leader assigned him to be a volunteer for the burial of the bodies of COVID-19 patients.

Yani is in charge of handling the burial of the bodies of COVID-19 patients at two hospitals in Indramayu Regency and sometimes helping to handle funerals for residents in the area where he lives.

As a volunteer for funeral parlors, he sometimes gets unfavorable treatment or rejection from the families of the deceased and the surrounding residents.

However, this treatment did not break Yani's spirit to carry out her duties and help others.

"We don't expect anything, actually, if there are families who say thank you, that's enough," said Yani.

He also hoped that all residents would try to maintain the health of themselves and their families by being disciplined in implementing health protocols so that cases of COVID-19 transmission could be suppressed and patients with corona virus infections who died continued to decrease.

If people ignore health protocols, the transmission of the corona virus will be difficult to control and hospitals and funeral workers can be overwhelmed.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 until Thursday (29/7) afternoon, the cumulative number of residents affected by COVID-19 in Indramayu Regency was 14,972 people with details of 1,122 people still undergoing treatment, 13,166 people have recovered, and 684 people have died.

The head of the Indramayu District Health Office, Deden Bonni Koswara, said that the government was continuing to try to suppress the transmission of COVID-19 and reduce the number of deaths from the disease.

In addition to implementing restrictions on community activities to control the transmission of the corona virus, the government is running a vaccination program to increase the citizens' resistance to COVID-19 and reduce morbidity and mortality from the disease.

At the end of June to mid-July 2021, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Indramayu Regency was still above 10 in a day. Even on July 8, 2021, the number of COVID-19 sufferers who died in a day reached 22 people.

"But now the death rate has dropped, which was above 10 cases per day yesterday, now there are only four cases," said Deden.

He hopes that residents will increase discipline in carrying out health protocols and follow the government's vaccination program so that cases of COVID-19 transmission and the death rate from the disease continue to decline.

If residents still ignore the COVID-19 prevention and control efforts carried out by the government, the burden on health workers who carry out examinations to detect transmission of the corona virus will be even heavier, officers who track disease transmission, medical personnel who work to treat patients, officers who take care of and eat. the bodies of COVID-19 patients, and volunteers involved in tackling the disease.

If residents are not disciplined in carrying out health protocols and do not follow the vaccination program run by the government, then the time to wait for the end of the pandemic which causes various restrictions on community activities can also be longer.