From Kathmandu to Madurai and Sydney to Albuquerque, emergency health care workers from 21 cities around the globe have strung together an anthem called We are EM , to motivate themselves to keep going in the face of the high risk they have of contracting the new coronavirus. These include Emergency Medicine (EM) professionals from France, Italy, UK, Colombia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Russia, Lebanon, Canada, Malaysia and India!
Dr.Narendra Jena, the Director of Institute of Emergency Medicine at Madurai's Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre and his team of 35 doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, ambulance drivers are the only emergency responders from India featured in the four-minute video. The team is seen waving the Indian flag singing Hum sab EM hai .
We are EM was released in celebration of EM Day on May 27. An initiative of the European Society for Emergency Medicine (ESEM) based in Besancon in France, the song is a tribute to healthcare workers who are in the frontline of battling the pandemic, and for those who lost their lives treating COVID-19 patients.
Dr.Jena received a message from the ESEM president, Abdo Khoury to send video clips of his team to go with the proposed song. "It took us two days to gather the team and film it. I sent multiple clips of which three were selected for the final album," he says.
He says throughout the world the health service providers are over-worked with hospitals surging their capacity in the wake of the epidemic. "Though we prepare and plan with all protective equipment and the best gear to safeguard ourselves, the level of virus contamination is high and the frontline health care workers everywhere risk the possibility of becoming COVID patients themselves. The song ushers in a range of emotions and feelings and reaffirms our sense of duty to go on," he adds.
World Health Organisation says 35,000 health workers worldwide were infected till April 21 and close to 5,000 lost their lives. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 2,082 health service providers were found positive for the coronavirus infection in the country till April 30.
The Besancon Victor Hugo Orchestra's 60 musicians and 70 members of the choir have soulfully rendered the song that is shot in different locales. The video juxtaposes scenes from the special wards and ICUs to the singers in the outdoors in gardens and by riversides. While the song is in English, the emergency health workers of each participating country superimpose the wordings We are Em in their respective national or chosen language while doing a small individual jig or a group step that flows from one frame to the other. Listen carefully and you can hear snatches of the song being sung in Hindi, Nepalese, Chinese, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Lebanese and French and more.
The lyrics of the song that can be heard on Youtube go something like this: "We must stand together...there are people dying and it brings sadness to all but we will go on working day by day and bit by bit beat this disease...we are all part of one Emergency family and will give all the care you need."
“The album unifies us at a time when the system is already strained and the number of colleagues getting quarantined is increasing. But the healthcare workers have to conquer their fears and continue to care for the patients," says Dr.Jena. "It is the spirit and passion that helps us bond like nothing else."
