A conversation with the College nurses, Sandra and Enrico: an insight into community life last year
In Duino, the academic year got off to a good start. Students from all over the world were welcomed to the College by all the staff, including Sandra Colnago and Enrico Varesco who work as nurses.
As so much time in the previous academic year was spent on COVID prevention, testing students and staff alike, who better to ask than our nurses, for an insight into community life last year.
Sandra, who began working as College Nurse in January 2019 after 23 years of hospital service, recalls that the beginning of last year was fraught with uncertainty. As does Enrico, who is both a freelance interpreter and a nurse, and started collaborating with the College in October 2020. “It was a great challenge,” says Enrico. “At the time there was so much uncertainty everywhere – even a bit of panic to some extent – due to the many questions we all had and the lack of definitive answers”.
There was no scientific literature to refer to, but this did not prevent us at the College from planning and putting into practice several solutions. The first was to divide the students into “bubbles”: closed groups of people sharing the same spaces in the residences and in the mensa, without close and repeated contacts with others. A great sacrifice, especially compared with regular College life prior to the pandemic, when students and staff were constantly together when volunteering and participating in other activities, often in close contact with locals.
At 18 and 19 years of age my life was so different from the students’: I didn’t have to study or graduate during a pandemic. I must admit that they have been quite remarkable: they accepted that things had changed and that it was only right for each one to do their bit as this was the only way we could overcome this crisis.
The incessant COVID testing of students entailed a huge effort and commitment for Sandra and Enrico. As a residential school, there was simply no alternative: swabs for anyone who had the slightest symptom, but also for their roommates and all who had come into close contact with them.
At the beginning of the year molecular tests were used. Unlike the rapid tests – that became more reliable and available on the market in the course of the year – molecular tests must be processed in the laboratory, and for Sandra and Enrico this entailed much toing and froing from Trieste. In the latter part of the year, thanks to rapid swabs, the procedure became simpler and faster.
Fortunately, the 2021-2022 school year has started with greater confidence. “The vaccines have provided a much needed sense of calm,” says Sandra. “The students who were unable to get a vaccine at home had one here and we have just finished the first round.” This was not without a considerable effort – there was a lot of data collection and filing for each of the different personal cases: from the type of vaccine made, to the number of doses.
Expectations are now that the community will be able to function more like it used to before, incuding trips outside of Duino when the student’s have free time.
Remembering all we’ve been through is very emotional. It was a tragic experience, yet it has left us with something positive. The students rose to the challenge and were even able to face long periods of isolation whilst in quarantine. The College staff had demonstrated great teamwork spirit even beyond those involved in medical professions: from the Mensa ladies to those in charge of organizing isolation whenever necessary.
