This Monday (12), Rio Grande do Norte surpassed the mark of 6,900 lives lost to Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. As a way of honoring the victims, the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) , linked to the Ministry of Education, planted approximately 40 ipe trees in areas of the Anita Garibaldi Health Education and Research Center (Anita) and the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), in Macaíba. The victims were honored by Mr. Marcos Santana, 64 years old, a patient at Anita's Parkinson's Clinic, who died from the new coronavirus in June last year. The ipê planted in Anita bears his name.

“He was a friend to all of us. He was the priest of our arraiá, the joy of our group. He deserves our tribute. Nothing fairer than planting a tree here and immortalizing it”, comments Gizélia Mendes Álvares, housewife, patient at Anita's Parkinson's Clinic. It was she who suggested the tribute. “The intention is to immortalize, with symbols of life, this experience which, although it was quite traumatic for the whole world, also brings important messages of resilience, learning, hope and, above all, solidarity. The idea of this Forest of Memories is to give new meaning to this. It is, in a way, transforming our pain and sadness for these losses and for everything we are experiencing, into a symbol of life. The tree means life, the hope that things will be reborn in another way”, says Reginaldo Freitas Júnior, general director of the Santos Dumont Institute. 

Employees, patients and family members participated in the planting in honor of Mr. Frames. Photo: Mariana Ceci

The ipês seedlings planted at Anita and IIN-ELS were donated by the Institute for Sustainable Development and the Environment (Idema/RN), which has already planted more than 500 trees in the project developed by environmental agencies throughout Brazil known as 'Bosques das Memórias' ', designed to honor the victims of Covid-19 by planting seedlings of different species. “We have been doing this afforestation work in some areas of the state, and it coincided with this moment of the pandemic. We are creating the Bosques das Memórias in honor of the people who lost their lives to Covid”, explains Beth Álvares, chief of staff at Idema/RN. 

Neuropsychologist Joísa Araújo, from Anita's Parkinson's Clinic, highlights that the treatment of patients with this disease goes beyond the actions carried out in offices. The approximately 40 members of the Tremeluzir Group, created among those with the disease treated at Anita, are proof of this. “Parkinson’s Disease came to give us a new meaning. Based on the symptoms of a chronic illness that requires care, requires rehabilitation and requires specific treatment, they met to share not only the pain, but also the joy and mutual care. As a team, we are very happy to be together”, he declares. 

Marcelo Santana, son of the honored elderly man, could not contain his emotion when the other patients remembered how beloved his father was. For him, the tribute with the ipê tree will immortalize his father's presence in an environment for which he had affection and respect. “He loved all the work that is done here. The professionals always took great care, attention and affection. Since he passed away, when I heard the name Anita Garibaldi I remembered him. I came here other times, after his death, and I was always moved, remembering how excited he would leave home to come for treatment and see a psychologist”, he highlights. It was he who planted, alongside his father's friend, Gizélia Álvares, 'Ipê Marcos Santana' in the outdoor area of Anita. 

Parkinson's 

Parkinson's disease is considered the second most common progressive neurodegenerative disease in the world, second only to Alzheimer's, according to the Ministry of Health. 

It affects body movements and can include, for example, slow movement, tremors, muscle stiffness, imbalance and changes in speech. The disease can also cause decreased sense of smell, constipation, neurogenic bladder, cognitive changes and depression. According to the World Health Organization, 1% of the population over 65 years of age has the disease and the onset of motor symptoms usually occurs around the age of 60.