Multi-awarded Filipino journalist, Howie Severino, just released a brief, but in-depth documentary that talked about his travails as a COVID-19 survivor in long-running magazine show, i-Witness on GMA 7. “Ako si Patient 2828″ (I am Patient 2828) was well-received to online acclaim after the famed documentarist detailed an intimate look into his 11-day bout against the disease that has crippled the world for months now.
The documentary came over a week after Severino released a heartfelt special report on GMA News Online with the same title that also essayed his journey to survival. In it, he noted how important it is a responsibility for him to talk about the disease, to shed light on what serves as one of the most dreaded and feared diseases ever to surface on a global scale.
He wrote, “I know of a few others, all attempting to return to low-profile lives in a fearful world, but most choose to remain invisible. There are strong reasons for this anonymity. This disease is one of the most stigmatized and loneliest in human history, perhaps comparable only to leprosy where quarantine can be forever.”
“Ako si Patient 2828” showcased Severino as both host and storyteller and case study, opening up many facts and inside look about the disease that most of us can only read and watch in the news since it first broke out in China at the tail-end of 2019 until it reached the Philippines, recording the first death outside of China in January.
He furthered, “Since the pandemic is far from over, many more will be infected and confined. Some will not make it. Those of us among the pioneers — I’m Patient 2828 in the lower part of the curve – have a responsibility to talk about this experience in a way that will enable the public to understand it, lessen the fear, and create compassion for those who survived COVID-19.”
More importantly, the video diary also put focus on Severino’s nurse, Gabriel Lazaro, an agency nurse employed to aid regular staff of the Fe Del Mundo Medical Center and a father of one who has to live away from his child in order to serve those in need–including having to walk for over an hour from his place of work in Quezon City to where he is currently situated in Valenzuela City.
He wrote, “When my wife contacted a private nursing agency in search of additional nursing support, out of 200 nurses on their roster, only one stepped up. He happened to be a strapping young man in PPE who was interested in documentary.” He continued, “I taught him how to shoot and he began to document his life as a frontliner, which eventually became a documentation of his patient. This apprenticeship was a great diversion, kept my mind active while giving me a blessed sense that even lying there in isolation I was getting something done.”
The video also showcased clips of talks with actress Iza Calzado and a virtual interview with fellow journalist Atom Araullo. At the end of the video, the journalist shared a much deserved thanks to the hospital staff and other frontliners who helped him in his road to recovery. He ended, “Dahil sa inyo, buhay kami. Buhay ako.” (“Because of you, we are alive. I am alive.”)
If you have missed the documentary on its airing, you can watch the episode via the GMA Public Affairs official YouTube channel below:
Images and screenshots via GMA News Online and GMA Public Affairs YouTube