On a Thursday night, a Rock Ed Philippines volunteer dropped off a big pot of food at the emergency room (ER) driveway of The Medical City (TMC). Attached to the pot was a note: “To TMC front liners (doctors, nurses, guards and staff), maraming maraming salamat sa inyong serbisyo! Mula sa #RockEdRelief and friends.”

On a Friday morning, volunteers from #RockEdBatangas sent boxes of N95 masks for the COVID-19 team of the Makati Medical Center, also with notes thanking them for their service and reminding them to take care. These masks were leftovers from the group’s Taal rescue operations.

In the face of many crises in the country, Rock Ed Philippines, an alternative education group, has always been quick to jump into action. The group and its volunteers have brought assistance and relief to people in the aftermath of all kinds of calamities: typhoons, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions.

Different scenario

But this—dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic—is different, Rock Ed Philippines founder Gang Badoy Capati said. And despite that, Rock Ed has moved fast. “Since we are dealing with a very different scenario from the usual relief, we are trying new ways of assisting. It relies on the individual’s initiative. We are so logistically limited because we are being conscious of the nature of this contagion. Ibang-iba!”

Their focus? The emergency room personnel. Because while these front liners are putting themselves at risk by taking care of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients, someone also has to take care of them.

Rock Ed’s goal is to provide ER front liners with nutritious and freshly cooked meals to give them energy as they do their work.

Safety first

Because of the risk of contagion, they are doing this relief operation differently. They are consulting doctors to make sure their process is safe. No big gatherings, no mass cooking. Meals are prepared by small groups. Deliveries are done carefully and individually.

“I told one volunteer, hanggang driveway lang. We will rely on small teams or individuals to deliver to the ERs. We are streamlining our process now to limit contact movement,” said Capati. “Logistics is different but we will learn as we go along. Hopefully we will make fewer or no mistakes as long as we consult experts and deal with this new methods, because it is a new situation. And, as always, safety first! We prefer Filipino heroes to stay alive. We know how dead heroes can still inspire—but live heroes can still deliver.”

They started by focusing on people working the graveyard shift in hospitals like The Medical City, Makati Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, Heart Center of the Philippines, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, with the intent to cover multiple shifts when more volunteers sign up and more donations come in.

Fruit stations

Another plan is to put up fruit stations at the different ERs. “We want the front liners to have a constant supply of fruits aside from the meals,” said Capati. They want to stock fruits that are “easy to manage and eat and are peel protected” like oranges, kiat-kiat, dalanghita and bananas that busy medical personnel can grab on the go.

Rock Ed Philippines welcomes help in the form of volunteers or donations. You can make donations through their BPI account (Rock Ed Philippines, 3080-0073-44) or donate ingredients, fruits and vegetables. You can also volunteer to cook meals and deliver them to the emergency rooms.

They also welcome donations of personal protective equipment like masks and gloves. “If you still have extra N95 masks from the time of the Taal eruption, now is a good time to send them to our health workers in the ERs,” Rock Ed posted.

Call for donations, volunteers

People have already responded to their call for donations and volunteers. They are also hoping that restaurants would participate. “Families have volunteered to add to their family cooking and committed to provide one meal for one ER team once this week,” said Capati. “We want those who are near, capable, strong, safe, to really be a team of their own. We just guide what to bring and where. I’m also immunocompromised because I have an autoimmune condition, so everything talaga I do is by phone or laptop.”

Capati has also been making antimicrobial balms for ER personnel.

“We will observe how this initiative will organically grow and fall into a system. Even if humanitarian motion is age-old, we still need to evolve faster than this virus,” she said. “Our generosity methods must be more contagious and more adaptable than this virus. Then we all hope to come out stronger.”

She added, “It’s a new world, but we are not afraid of it. Rock Ed has seen the generosity of the Filipino up close, we still believe in that.”

Contact Gang Badoy Capati through Facebook Messenger, www.facebook.com/gangbadoycapati, or @gangbadoy on Twitter