The white coats that remind us of our humanity

We’re all feeling the same way. We're mirroring each other, transcending physical, ideological and cultural boundaries. We’re thinking of all the doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, assistants and - of course - patients, as they experience an amplified version of our feelings of disbelief, unable to stop as the rest of the country is asked to do just that.

Many of us feel uncertain, as we are forced to learn new ways of doing the things we’ve always done. Suddenly, we’ve become full-time parents, smart workers, a support network for our parents, the primary force keeping that WhatsApp group alive, providing a smile or a chuckle to defuse the unbearable tension. We are all responsible citizens - citizens of a world where we are rediscovering our human side in our vulnerability and solidarity. It is a reminder that deep down, we are destined to go through experiences together.

We’re used to speaking about love in a romantic sense, but recent events have forced us to rediscover the true meaning of the word. And we’re realising that love has plenty in common with another word that has been thrown about a lot in the last few decades: empathy. Yet even empathy can be an empty promise if we overlook the virtues of compassion and kindness. We need to be empathetic in order to understand the emotions other people are feeling - it’s just that this time, we’re all experiencing those same emotions. We feel them all - positive and negative - deep inside. The experience is direct and current. We all hope this can be resolved as soon as possible. Everybody is trying to do something useful, without losing sight of what’s happening and when we’re going too far.

And that’s exactly what we will now commit to doing with renewed motivation and urgency. We form part of an industrial sector that must now give everything it has - and we thank the quality of the competition for providing us with the stimulus we need to improve. Now like never before, we’re asking ourselves if we’ve done - and if we’re doing - everything we can to help the doctors and support the patients. Now like never before, we believe in our mission of more is less. The unpredictability of the situation, paired with the disappearance of rigid boundaries in treatment spaces, strengthens our resolve to provide technology that gives essential information to those responsible for making diagnoses, thus reducing mental stress and freeing up as much space as possible for intuition and experience.

No machine can ever replace the efficiency of the human vocation for ensuring the survival of somebody that we see ourselves in. Now, we see ourselves in everyone - and all of us are becoming clearer about the small, precious, daily contribution we can make to protect public well-being.