These are the “hands of love”.
Warm latex gloves that mimic human touch for Covid-19 patients in Brazil.
The fight against the virus is a lonely fight.
Patients are forced into isolation in intensive care units, far from family and friends.
To cope with this, two nurses from the small town of Sao Carlos, in the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil, have developed a new practice.
Semei Araújo Cunha and Vanessa Formenton, officiating at the Santa Felicia Emergency Care Unit, fill latex medical gloves with lukewarm water.
Then, they attach them like water bombs and place them on the hands of patients in distress.
“The patient is comforted, as if someone were holding his hand,” Vanessa explains.
This warming has a benefit other than emotional support.
This is because cold hands can distort the readings of the oxygen level in patients' blood, mistakenly indicating that it is low.
A hand temperature warmed to that of the human body, delivers more reliable results.
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The two nurses developed this method about a month ago, when the Covid-19 epidemic was blazing in Brazil. Seeing a real improvement in the health of some patients, other hospitals in the city have adopted this practice, with health workers praising the “hands of love”, which achieve immediate results. “It's amazing how quickly the patient is receptive, it's wonderful,” says Semei.