More fallen Filipinos on U.S. Covid front lines

Journalists from KHN and The Guardian have identified 3,607 workers who reportedly died of complications from Covid-19 after they contracted it on the job. Among them have been Filipino American health care providers. INQUIRER.net  regularly reports on the fallen.

Doctor died waiting in the emergency room

Dr. Alejandro Albano, 74

Staten Island, N.Y.

Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center

Physician

Dr. Alejandro Albano asked for a coronavirus test three times at different walk-in clinics without success before he died in April, his family said. His wife, Ophelia, tested positive two days after his death, and the family believes Albano had it first.

“He was not given the test at all,” his wife said. “On the third visit, they took his temperature and they took X-rays and, sure enough, he has bilateral pneumonia.”

Albano, 74, was a physician at Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation. The facility provided blue disposable masks and gloves to employees and checked temperatures, his wife said. Albano, who had diabetes, was working the week before he developed a cough, his wife said. When he was diagnosed with pneumonia on 3 April, Albano went home. “The next morning, he woke up and came down and already had shortness of breath,” Ophelia said.

“My son brought him to the ER, and he passed away right away in the ER. He walked a few steps, then he couldn’t sleep in the wheelchair so they put him on the stretcher and he looked up and just passed away.”

Dr Thomas Fealey, medical director at the Clove Lakes center, said Albano was compassionate and always available to patients.

“The medical community suffered a great loss with the passing of Dr Alejandro Albano, and heaven is now his new home,” Fealey said. – Paxson Haws

Nurse remembered for ‘sweet and gentle’ personality

Elizabeth Bartolome Del Mundo, 59

West Caldwell, N.J.

Crane’s Mill

Nurse

Elizabeth Del Mundo managed the nursing staff for more than 20 years at Crane’s Mill, a continuing care facility near her home in Dover. The Philippine-born healthcare worker was described as selfless and sweet, and she worked at a facility that experienced dozens of infections this spring.

Crane’s Mill is operated by Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey. The organization did not respond to questions about Del Mundo’s death.

The New Jersey department of health, as of 8 June, recorded Covid-19 infections among 20 residents and 29 staff members. One staff member and 11 residents died from the infections, state records show.

Colleen Frankenfield, president and chief executive officer of Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Nancy Kearney, communications manager for the state health department, would not discuss whether Del Mundo represented the single staff death. “For privacy reasons, we cannot confirm,” she said in an email.

Del Mundo was born in Manila, the eldest of seven children. According to her obituary, she was “always putting others first and donating to charitable institutions here and in the Philippines. Her infectious smile, her sweet and gentle conversations will be sadly missed by her family, friends and people who knew her.”– Sharon Jayson

Doctor treated children to joy of summer reading

Dr. Horatio Cabasares, 73

Macon, Georgia

Navicent Health Physician Group/Atrium Health Navicent

Physician

Dr. Horatio Cabasares was a skilled surgeon with a kind and jovial demeanor, said his daughter, Leigh Wolk. He performed a range of procedures but had an expertise in breast cancer surgery and reconstruction.

“Dr Cabby”, as he was known, once performed surgery on a woman who did not have insurance and couldn’t afford medication, Wolk said. He paid for the prescription anonymously. “That’s the kind of guy he was,” she said.

Cabasares belonged to the Rotary Club in Perry, Georgia, for years. Member Mike Gray said Cabasares, a former president, became a friend as well as his doctor. Cabasares led volunteer medical missions overseas and organized efforts at home.

Four years ago, Cabasares proposed sending every elementary student home with three books for the summer, Gray said. They raised the funds to purchase 1,650 books and it became a tradition. This summer, it will be renamed in honor of the surgeon.

On 24 November, an employee at Cabasares’s private office tested positive for Covid-19, right before Thanksgiving, his daughter said The next Monday, Cabasares tested positive. Both had worn masks at the office, she said.

A spokesperson for Atrium Health Navicent did not respond to a request for comment.

A few days after his test, Wolk said, her father was having difficulty breathing and she took him to the hospital. Wolk said his healthy lifestyle – including daily yoga – led her to believe he’d be OK.

“I never thought he wasn’t going to come home,” she said. – Kathleen Horan