At home, we all wish to lift enhanced community quarantine for us to go back to the lives we used to live. We demand such things for ourselves ‘cause we’re bored and dying to stay longer inside our homes. We tend to be selfish to think about our wants and likes.

Above these demands, have you ever thought about the amount of stress and anxiety that our frontliners are dealing with right now? They are not only up to face the virus; another unseen enemy is trying to drag them down and lose their focus and probably the most dangerous one they could face---mental and psychological stress.

Yes, the mental health of our dear frontliners is the most vulnerable these times. They are trying to make the most out of their days as they simultaneously battling with two dangerous enemies, but how do they face it? What coping mechanisms there are utilizing to ease the stress?

As part of Serbisyong Matapat, a Facebook page which created a series dedicated for all frontliners out there, an initiative to honor these heroes, they were able to know and reach out a frontliner particularly, a nurse from a hospital in Quezon City who later on allowed the team to conduct an interview and talked about how he faced anxiety and stress in this time of the pandemic.

Nurse Rustap Flores, one of the country’s frontliners battling with COVID-19, has worked 10 hours a day since the outbreak began.

Flores, a hemodialysis nurse, has been fighting the mental stress aside from the physical stress from a day-to-day shift.

“Mahirap talaga, mentally naapektuhan ako pero nilalabanan ko, iniisip ko na lang na kailangan ko ‘tong gawin para sa kanila kaya to cope up sa stress mas iniisip ko yung mga pasyente, yung hirap na painagdadaanan nila,” Flores shared how hard to simultaneously deal both COVID-19 and Mental health in a phone interview with Serbisyong Matapat.

The nurse wanted to eradicate discrimination against them as what many of his colleagues are experiencing it right now.

He added that even after his duty and on his day off, he thinks much of his patients.

“Minsan kahit pauwi na ako, iniisip ko pa rin yung mga pasyente ko kung makikita ko pa sila bukas, kung makakasurvive sila for the next day and ‘pag nakikita ko sila sobrang nakakagaan sa loob,” Nurse Tap told Serbisyong Matapat.

No words can really describe how awful their situations, in fact, the anxiety and stress among frontliners has been proven globally ever since the outbreak has begun.

Some COVID-19 health care workers in China— the ground zero of the virus outbreak— have reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and distress, according to a recent study conducted and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

According to the World Health Organization, “It is "normal" for healthcare workers to feel such emotions given the current situation.”

For Nurse Tap, he felt lucky knowing that he can still go home every after shift.

“Isa na siguro sa coping mechanism ko is yung feeling na nakakauwe pa rin ako sa pamilya, na nakakasama ko pa rin sila kahit na Malaki yung chance na baka mahawa ko sila, sinisigurado ko na nagiingat ako at disinfect talaga,” Flores told Serbisyong Matapat.

Some mental health and psychological organizations in the Philippines have earlier set recommendations for people— including health workers— whose mental welfare may be affected amid the disease pandemic.

The Psychological Association of the Philippines also advised Filipinos to limit social media usage, adopt a regular routine, and take breaks once in a while.

On taking care of our mental health at this time of the pandemic, it starts within us.