The first bells “for health” at the La Fe Hospital in Valencia / LEVANTE-EMV
Right in the middle of the hallway that separates the areas of Hematology and Oncology from the Day Hospital of Faith There is a bell with a sign next to it, which indicates that it should be rung three times when the patient has completed the treatment. Patients with cancerand companions, who come, act as if they don’t see her, but they look at her out of the corner of their eyes, like those soccer players who pass by the cup in dispute, pretending to be unaware. The bell rings so rarely that when the sharp ringing starts, the medical staff, patients on IVs and the entire waiting room burst into hearty applause.. One of the nurses (the majority of them) immediately runs to capture the moment with her mobile phone. Right at that moment, you can hear the complicit silence of difficult moments when you dream of hope, while the protagonist of the bell sketches his best smile and, without stopping on the way out, wishes the best to everyone present. A tracking shot of just a few seconds that relieves those waiting in line, who speak different languages, sometimes very distant, who process different beliefs and traditions, but who have been united by the universal health card in their destiny. No photograph portrays today’s society so perfectly as a waiting room in a public hospital.
“You are in the best hands”
I have long recommended to all public representatives that I can, to spend a day there, and to repeat this visit every quarter. They do not do it, as has been shown, although What happens in those waiting rooms is an important part of collective well-being. They should also go for the school centersbut not only when the school is back in session, but also in a month when teachers are absent or bad weather exposes many of their weak structures. And of course, in the residences and parks where their caregivers (also the absolute majority) take care of our elderly in exchange for papers, in the best of cases.
The last time I heard the bell ring, a middle-aged woman in a headscarf said as she passed through the waiting room: “You are in the best hands.”
