Noble Soul That Will Never Know How to Hate
«Luisa Lázara!?»; «Few here know her by that name. Better ask for Tota, and everyone will tell you wonderful things about her. You can find her in the Emergency Room; she is undoubtedly one of the kindest and most lovable beings who roam this hospital,» comments a doctor after inquiring about Luisa.
And indeed, Luisa Lázara Vera has a legion of unconditional people who venerate her, from relatives of children who have required her services as a nurse, to the health staff themselves at the Eliseo Noel Caamaño Pediatric Hospital, who have seen her for more than four decades devote herself body and soul to her profession.
They know her as Tota, as her grandparents affectionately nicknamed her since she was little and chubby. Since then, and for more than 75 years, that is what everyone calls her.
She sows love wherever she goes. Her sensitivity is such when attending to a patient that it almost played a bad trick on her when she was very young and serving on an internationalist mission in Ethiopia.
The horrors of war affected her too much, and she almost failed to recover from the post-traumatic stress caused by witnessing and treating the soldiers’ severe wounds, both from high-caliber projectile impacts and from the lethal traps masked by enemy troops along the paths.
Even Luisa Lázara herself was a victim of those traps, which nearly destroyed one of her knees. Although she recovered, over the years, whenever there is a weather change, an intense throbbing forces her to run her hand over that injury from more than 40 years ago.
It was shortly after her return from that mission in Africa that she began working at the Pediatric Hospital.
She would also take her knowledge to other countries such as Venezuela and Timor-Leste.
For Tota, the Emergency Room is perhaps one of the most decisive places in a health institution. She has learned so much that sometimes, just by seeing the patient in their parents’ arms, she can guess the ailment.
«I know this area by heart. With my eyes closed, I know what a child has from a distance,» she assures. Her laughter bursts out naturally and contagiously. When you see her chatting casually, a smile also draws on your face.
She has that magic of entering the soul of whoever sees and hears her, and within minutes, she seems like an old friend you’ve always known.
«I love working with children; they are braver than adults. A little one only screams when given an injection, but I know many adults who faint just seeing a needle,» and she smiles again.
Tota sometimes carries in one of her white coat pockets some medication of her own, which she does not hesitate to give to any desperate mother.
She enjoys attending with good manners and sensitivity, both to the mother and the sick child who arrives at the institution. That is why she has become a kind of symbol of the Pediatric Hospital, recognized by everyone, because over the course of these 43 years, generations of Matanzas residents must have passed through her loving hands.
That is why she thanks life for the great moments, and even for some stumbling or ingratitude, to which she will pay little attention, because the noble soul that has always done good will never know how to hate.
