DR MARIJA MILENKOVIC Heroine of Our Present:

Assistant, PhD, Anaesthesiologist and Traumatologist Story by Bojana Bogojevic

While our world is still fighting with the pandemic of SARS COV-2 (COVID-19), we’re watching the news hoping for an encouraging story. At the same time, we are frightened, locked down fighting our own anxiety battles. I have a rare opportunity to talk with the hero of modern times, a heroine of humanity.

A woman who holds our life in her hands and our future depends on her knowledge and devotion. Serbia, still facing the COVID-19 global pandemic, I have been blessed to meet Assistant, PhD - Dr Marija Milenkovic who works days and nights as the Head of Anaesthesiology section in the ED Clinical Centre of Serbia. Emergency Centre and Assistant, and Medical Faculty, Belgrade University.

Marija is our hero on regular days without a pandemic and someone who studied for her PhD in Traumatology. Confronted by the most challenging cases, and she has the added responsibility to make immediate decisions where there is no room for error. As if this isn’t enough for this brave doctor when Serbia began to convert hospitals to specialised COVID-19 wards she made the unselfish decision to bravely volunteer her expertise and work with COVID-19 patients as the coordinator in the Centre for Intensive Care in Pulmonology Clinic - Clinical Centre of Serbia.

Marija became a hope for many people. The thin line between the last breath and the reward for living, a heroine, celebrates after the battle with COVID-19. She was exhausted, but without second thoughts to retreat, Dr Marija Milenkovic explains what the medical term ‘PRON’ means. It’s a method for treating COVID-19 patients and is used to prevent the placing of patients on respirators, as well on patients who are already on respirators. PRON is the method of turning patients who are not on a ventilator onto their stomach. Patients may suffer from moderate to severe Acute Distress Syndrome. A syndrome caused by damage to the Lung Parenchyma - often caused by Coronavirus and used at the Clinic of Pulmonology Clinical Centre of Serbia.

Doctor Milenkovic says: “It is a very complicated procedure. Patients who do not require mechanical ventilatory support are then fitted with oxygen masks and oxygen support. Then are turned over onto their stomachs. It enables improved breathing for those parts of the lungs that aren’t sufficiently ventilated. For mechanically ventilated patients, it’s a

Story by Bojana Bogojevic

demanding procedure. They are patients who are asleep, sedated, and their life depends on how you turn them, mechanical ventilation, 24-hour medical supervision and monitored as they can’t be in that position for long.”

As a coordinator in the Centre for intensive Care in Pulmonology Clinic - Clinical Centre of Serbia, you have to be alert 24 hours per day. The nature of the work and procedures applied by the Anaesthesiologists in the treatment of COVID-19 patients is a massive risk.

I asked Marija to tell me a story that she stood out in her mind.

“I had a conversation with a patient. I wanted to encourage him to fight for his life and his family that was waiting for him at home. He looked at me; he told me that his wife had died from COVID-19 the day before, and his children were in the hospital. After that, there were no words, just cold silence.”

The real heroes in the fight against COVID-19 aren’t the respirators. They are useless without our brave and devoted frontline medical staff -doctors like Marija Milenkovic. After our conversation with Marija, I don’t worry about the future of medicine and humanity. I appreciate the equipped medical teams such as Marija - Assistant and Doctor who has taught upcoming medical students not just an abundance of knowledge but also human virtues and real values. Professionals such as Dr Marija Milenkovic there is hope for humanity.

Thank you, Marija, for your hard work, dedication and efforts to keep us safe. Your selfless act of bravery will be a role model for future generations.