DAVAO CITY – A 23-year old medical technologist in Tandag, Surigao del Sur went viral on social media after a colleague posted a photo of her processing a blood sample of a newborn patient as fire hits their hospital building.
"This happened few moments after my duty but one brave colleague chose to stay and continue crossmatching blood for a newborn patient. The real Call of Duty, all in the name of saving the lives of others," wrote Stefan Balani in a Facebook post-Monday night with the photo of Jeia Pigte Guingue wearing her backpack while doing the incubation of the blood sample.
Another photo was that of the burning bunkhouse at the back of the building taken by Guingue and shared to their group chat. The post has been shared over 2,600 times and has garnered over 5,100 reactions from netizens.
In an interview with The Manila Bulletin Wednesday, Guingue, who works at the Adela Serra Ty Memorial Medical Center, said when the fire broke out around 7:20 Monday, June 28, she was the only one on duty. Guingue said the fire damaged the bunkhouse of the construction workers inside their building. So far, Guingue said no casualty was reported as the firefighters were able to respond immediately.
"That night I was the only duty and the morning shift endorsed regarding a crossmatching request with the 6 days old baby 'STAT'. So, when it's 'STAT' it means immediate so I processed the sample immediately po. Actually, complicated po yung case that I needed to refer po sa aming pathologist bago ko po gawin ang crossmatching (Actually the case is complicated that I needed to refer it to our pathologist before I proceed with the crossmatching)," Guingue said.
Guingue said she already started with the crossmatching and later received a call from the hospital's operation center (OPCEN) informing her of the fire incident.
"Aware ba daw ako na may sunog na sa likod ng building (They asked if I was aware of the fire incident at the back of our building)," she said.
Guingue said she thought it was a prank call. She proceeded to check where the fire was and saw that it was at the back of their pantry area. At that time, Guingue took a photo of the fire and sent it to their group chat to inform her workmates.
"Natakot nadin ako nun kasi yung bintana mainit na (I also felt scared because the window side already felt hot)," she said.
She said she messaged her workmates that fire broke out at the back of their building and she returned to her workstation.
"Yun na po napag isip ko anong mas mabuti gawin since nagstart na yung crossmatching mahirap po sya itigil so I decided na until the incubation process nalang ako kasi konting steps nalang balikan ko nalang yung ibang steps (Then I thought about the best thing to do since I already started the crossmatching process. It's difficult to stop so I decided to finish it until the incubation process. I only have a few steps left for that and I thought I'll just come back later for the remaining steps)," she said.
Guingue explained that crossmatching process usually needs an hour to be completed. But for STAT cases, they try to finish it within 40 minutes. The incubation process on the other hand takes 15 minutes to complete.
"Mao to ako sa jud gibutang sa incubator, at least paggawas nako nagrun na ang incubator (That's why I placed it first inside the incubator before leaving the building, at least the incubation process was able to start running)," she added. She left the laboratory and saw a colleague from the morning shift who went back to also inform her of the fire incident.
When the firefighters arrived, Guingue decided to return to the laboratory to finish the crossmatching.
Guingue graduated from San Pedro College in Davao City in 2018. She started her job in the hospital only last February 10, 2021. Before that, she worked as a Surveillance Officer under the Department of Health Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit/Health Emergency Management Staff (DOH RESU/HEMS) Cluster.
Guingue is the eldest of three siblings. Her mother, who is a nurse, also reprimanded her for the risk she took last Monday night.
"Gikasab-an ko kay magbantay-bantay daw ko sa akong palibot (She scolded me, she said I should be aware of my surroundings)," Guingue recalled. She said in the end, her mother understood that the process must be done immediately.
She said they appreciate that the post went viral as it became a way for people to recognize medical technologists.
"Sa hospitals ang kasagaran lang na mahibal-an doctors and nurses, at least nahibal-an nila nga naga-exist diay ang medical technologists (The more popular professionals in hospitals are doctors and nurses, now, at least they get to know that medical technologists also exist)."