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Marlene Laguna Fondín, an intensive care nurse at the Doctor Ernesto Guevara de la Serna General Teaching Hospital in Las Tunas, has spent 41 years saving lives in intensive care and will retire next year, although she admits she cannot imagine a single day without the intensive care unit.
"You cannot imagine what it means to receive a critically ill patient, practically dying, and to witness firsthand how you manage to save their life. You know, that experience is not easy; it is wonderful to live through that experience," says Marlene, who has dedicated 35 of her 41 years of service to the Intensive Care Unit of Guevara hospital.
Born in the municipality of Majibacoa, she travels every three days to the hospital under precarious conditions: "paying for cars and cocotaxis, and some bottles." Her uniform opens doors for her: "They recognize me and pick me up," she admits with a smile.
For her, each patient is a family member. "When you work with a patient, it's like working with a relative of yours. Because that patient is all alone, not with their family. You have to be their family, their nurse, their everything."
Throughout his career, he undertook three international missions: two in Venezuela and one in the United Arab Emirates during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Venezuela, he faced extreme moments: Venezuelan intensivists left the ICU out of fear of the virus, and a team of Cubans took over the care of critically ill patients. "It was difficult, difficult, difficult..., but we were there. We spent an entire year in that hospital. We came out, and here I am."
Its story, published last Thursday by Periódico 26 in Las Tunas, sparked an avalanche of affection on social media.
Colleagues, former students, and patients describe her as "the mother of all" in the ICU. A former team leader wrote: "I was her team leader for many years and can attest to her greatness; Marlenis is in the hearts of all who know her." A former student referred to her as "my mentor, my mother in intensive care." And a grateful patient left a comment that perhaps defines her best: "Thanks to you and the team of intensivists at the hospital, I am alive today."
Marlene herself responded in the comments: "For me, the recognition from my peers is the greatest encouragement I can receive, and those expressions of affection in all those beautiful comments are my biggest gift."
His story contrasts with the serious crisis facing the Cuban healthcare system, which lost over 13,000 doctors between 2022 and 2023 and recorded a shortage of 6,285 nursing professionals. The figure of a nurse with four decades of service who still does not want to retire is particularly significant in this context.
Marlene has a simple recipe for those who wish to follow in her footsteps: "What a nursing professional cannot be without is sensitivity, professionalism, humanism... and love. Because if you don't love your profession, you won't do it well."
"When the day of retirement arrives, it will be the hardest. 'I would say that I feel fulfilled already. The only thing I haven't achieved is getting old, and knowing that I will retire and won't be able to continue working here at the hospital. That is what hurts me the most.'"
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