Salas

“I’m a nurse. To tell the truth, we’re nurses, cleaning ladies, mothers, sisters. We do everything, as there are so few staff.” says one of the nurses in the neuro-psychiatric service of a national health hospital, where the general ward system is still found. The work requires patience, tolerance and resistance, as conditions are very difficult. Yet, it is also rewarding work: “They are ill, not insane. They get fond of us if we love them. And they give us things. They worry about us, they ask about our families. It’s lovely to see them react as people. Some of the patients have been here for twenty or thirty years, so we’ve got older and matured together.”