Bocas del Toro is a dime-sized sea paradise that survives on tourism. We are a community of people of various races, languages, and home countries. Still, the most important thing about us is that we have stayed and will continue to stay united in helping each other through these challenging times.
As you can imagine, this year’s difficulties have shown how imperative it is to have a community that supports one another. Today, while our hotel doors are closed, we are sharing a bit about our work with the people from our island community.
When the pandemic hit in March, and the island had to shut down completely, Divers Paradise Boutique Hotel began its community assistance efforts by gathering donations. First, we decided to donate to those at the forefront of keeping our community safe: the police department. Through our financial support, the Bocas Town police officers were given hygiene items such as cleaning materials, masks, bottles of alcohol spray, and gel to remain healthy and disinfected and thus take care of the rest of the community properly.
Then, the Red Cross and the Ministry of Health hosted a joint talk for all of the police units to explain the correct way to wear masks, how to dispose of them properly, the importance of keeping their workplaces clean, and how to work carefully with people who have tested positive for coronavirus. We also delivered masks, gloves, and disinfectant alcohol to the Aeronaval unit stationed in Bocas del Toro.
A stocked and prepared hospital is crucial for keeping a community calm during a pandemic. For this reason, the local Bocas Town Hospital became one of our highest priority places to provide help and encourage collaboration. We provided medical gowns, caps, and shoe covers so that hospital physicians could be fully prepared to safely help our ill community members in need.
We repeated these same donations for both the police and the hospital again in June. We also developed cloth masks specifically for them with anti-fluid protection so they could wash and reuse them. The anti-fluids are protection filters that make them more resistant to airborne bacteria. Mr. Quintero, the health center’s director in Bocas del Toro, welcomed our donations at the local hospital.
We also distributed these same masks with filters in the smaller, more vulnerable communities that most needed them on the island. For example, the area of ” La Bomba” just outside town was one of our targets because of its higher infection rate. Similarly, these masks were delivered to the airport entrance to ensure we collaborated with those protecting Bocas del Toro’s health at one of our most significant entry points.
Finally, after the recent hurricane that hit Central America and our Panamanian neighbors in the district of Chiriquí was greatly affected, we knew we had yet another chance to help. Again, we worked with the Red Cross to deliver drinking water, baby diapers, and other necessities to those impacted by the storm. Donations from the greater Bocas community were received by Anselmo Thomas, the president of the provincial Red Cross, and he graciously recognized our hotel members for their support.
The organization of all of these support and collaboration efforts within the Bocas Town community was managed by the hotel’s owner, Gadi Cohen, and coordinated by Luna Yeritel, the hotel’s lawyer, and Elena Carón, our hotel manager.
At Divers Paradise, we understand and feel how hard times have been and will continue to be for at least the near future. This has meant that we had to make the difficult decision to close, recognizing how this negatively affects our employees. Nonetheless, while we work to open our doors again safely, we continue to try to help those who are part of our professional family in the best ways we can.
To help in this endeavor, we have maintained some contracts within the hotel throughout the pandemic to guarantee salaries, especially those of our security, maintenance, and cleaning staff. On the other hand, for those contracts that we could not maintain, we gave each employee credit for the supermarket “Isla Colón” with a specific amount per employee so that each had enough food to go around during the quarantine period.
We remain grateful and aware that our hotel would not be possible without the help or support of the Bocas del Toro community, the home where we live. Giving back a little of everything this incredible community gives us is a pleasure. What difficulties have you encountered, and hopefully overcome, because of this pandemic? We would love to hear your own experiences!
