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Coronavirus in Tijuana: Paramedics risk their lives to help the sick

Tijuana
Georgina Barajas Rios, center, grieves for her mother, Maria Ruiz Olmedo, 71, on the floor at left, who died after exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. Mexican Red Cross paramedic Sergio Garcia is at right.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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The coronavirus is killing so many people in Tijuana that the morgue has run out of refrigerator space for bodies. As of Tuesday, the Mexican border city had confirmed 392 deaths.

On the front lines of the pandemic in Tijuana is the Mexican Red Cross. Its 13 ambulances handle the majority of emergency calls for the city of 1.8 million people. Lately that has meant as many as 40 coronavirus calls a day.

Tijuana
Paramedic Valeria de la Torre Beaven attends to an emergency call where a patient is struggling to breathe.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Paramedic Sergio Garcia prepares an oxygen mask for a patient exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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On a Wednesday afternoon in April, paramedic Sergio Garcia pulled his emergency vehicle — a red-and-white hatchback — onto a dirt road in the neighborhood of Poblado Ejido Matamoros and stopped in front of a small wooden house.

In the passenger seat was Dr. Alan Muro, an emergency physician at one of the city’s main public hospitals and a paramedic. The men were there to assess a patient and determine whether to call an ambulance.

Muro decided to go inside first. He put on gloves, an N95 mask and face visor.

Tijuana
Federico Perez Ramirez and Valeria de la Torre Beaven work quickly to stabilize a patient who was shot in the back of the head. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Tijuana was coping with a high homicide rate.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The family directed him to a small room at the end of a hallway, where 41-year-old Eduardo Molina was in bed wearing a face mask. The school bus driver had been sick for days and his symptoms — a cough and trouble breathing — were worsening.

Muro concluded that Molina had been infected with the coronavirus and told the family there was no choice but to get him to a hospital. Garcia came inside and connected him to an oxygen tank.

As they all waited for an ambulance, Molina’s wife, Mary Londe Hernandez, kneeled and through tears read aloud from a small Bible.

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Tijuana
Mary Londe Hernandez, center, kneels on the floor and prays as paramedics prepare to take her husband, Eduardo Molina, 41, who has symptoms related to COVID-19, to a hospital. Molina gasped for air and said, “Don’t let me go alone, don’t let me go alone.”
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

When the ambulance arrived, two paramedics in white protective suits went inside for Molina. Coughing and taking short breaths, he struggled as he made his way to the gurney.

“Don’t let me go alone, don’t let me go alone,” he said.

Outside, Muro and Garcia removed their gloves and disinfected their hands and boots before climbing back into their car. There were more calls to answer.

Tijuana
Paramedic Michael Zavala, 22, center, gets help from a patient’s family in loading him onto a stretcher.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Sergio Garcia swings the ambulance door wide open as paramedics help transport patient Eduardo Molina.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Sergio Garcia, left, and Dr. Alan Muro wait outside a patient’s home after they called for an ambulance.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Tijuana
Paramedics in protective suits with a COVID-19 patient.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Red Cross paramedics often work 24-hour shifts.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Ulises Rodriguez, left, supervises a decontamination and the removal of personal protective equipment after paramedics completed an emergency call.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Israel Castro plays with Kakas, a cat that lives on the Red Cross base in Tijuana.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
A couple embrace outside the waiting area of the Red Cross clinic.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Paramedics Michael Zavala, 22, left, and Ivan Mora, 33, administer care to a patient with COVID-19 symptoms.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Tijuana
Federico Perez Ramirez takes a break with fellow paramedics.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Gustavo Garduno always disinfects equipment used to transport patients with COVID-19 symptoms.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Dr. Francisco Tenorio, left, gives paramedics an update about a patient.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Tijuana
Michael Zavala, 22, a paramedic, searches a home after receiving a call about a body. No body was found.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Click here to see more photos: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/gallery/red-cross-paramedics-in-tijuana

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