Meet the nurse who vaccinates like a sewing machine – ABC in the East

Being a vaccinator in an area like Upper Paraná is quite a challenge for any health worker, due to the lack of access and the very remote communities, but for Arsenio Lezme it became a way of life. He said that he will continue to be vaccinated until his retirement, since he does not intend to change areas.

His long career gave Don Lezme enough experience to deftly handle the syringe and each vial of vaccine. His speed in vaccinating amazes even his own colleagues, who gave him the nickname “sewing machine”.

During the days of great demands for vaccines against the Covid-19, Lezme covered the most popular positions. Every time his companions were overwhelmed, they clamored for him as reinforcement. He told that his record of vaccination is 280 people a day. “We ended the day very tired and with our fingers already marked by the syringe,” he recalled.

Lezme is a nursing technician, from the first promotions of the Universidad Nacional del Este. He had come from Caraguatay, Cordillera to study and settled in this area of ​​the country. He is married and has three children, ages 18, 25 and 26.

Read More: Without a cell phone, without fuel or per diem, the vaccinators fulfill their mission

For him, the greatest satisfaction is that his children are proud of their work. He also enjoys spending the day with his co-workers with whom he shares his experience.

Arsenio Lezme participated in large vaccination campaigns such as the one carried out in 1986 against the measles and rubella; against yellow fever in 1996 and now against Covid-19 and the Influenza.

In all those campaigns many vicissitudes passed that now remain as anecdotes. “Once we went to vaccinate in the area of Itakyry and we spent a day vaccinated and without eating anything. The afternoon came and we found a sucker plant and we stayed to eat.

Other times we stayed with the vehicle stuck in the mud and slept on the floor and left the compañeras to sleep in the transport”, she recalled.

Don Lezme was one of the dozens of vaccinators who was honored last Friday at the PAI event in East City. When he was called to receive his certificate, he was applauded by his colleagues, which reaffirms his excellent performance as a vaccinator.

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