Report from the coronavirus frontline: Lab assistant puts aside his catering businesss to draw blood

JOHN RICHARD MANASALA

When he's not catering parties or operating a pop-up kitchen with his wife Marie, John Richard Manansala is at his full-time job as a phlebotomist and lab assistant at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen.
The Filipino American chef said for now, “Needles, tourniquet[s] and test kits” are taking the place of “knives, pans and pots” until “we defeat the ‘invisible’ enemy.”

Texas Health Presbyterian Allen is typically an outpatient surgery and labor and delivery hospital, but it’s now functioning as a triage center for suspected COVID-19 patients. On the frontline battling the coronavirus, Manansala’s days begin at 4:30 a.m. when he dons a surgical mask, face shield, isolation gown and shoe covers to begin drawing blood from patients with COVID-19 for morning labs.

“Everyone’s on edge," he told the Dallas Morning News. "Everyone who comes in — you don’t know if they’re positive or not. There’s a lot of fear. It’s uncomfortable.”

He says a patient can appear strong, alert and normal one morning and the next morning, the patient could be ona ventilator.

“It’s really scary. Every day I pray. I thank God I’m healthy. At the end of my shift, I thank God again,” John Richard says.

When he gets home, in order to lessen the odds of transmitting the virus to his family, John Richard undresses in the garage, washes his clothes separately and limits himself to using only the guest bathroom. 

When things get back to normal, the Manansala's hope they can get back to operating their catering business, Mekeni Filipino Kitchen, cooking sigsig and lechon manok and introducing Filipino cuisine to Dallas, which is getting more diverse as immigrants like the Manasala's find a home in North Texas.

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John Richard and Marie Manansala operate their catering service, Mekeni Filipino Kitchen.

The Manansalas have implemented new rules at home to protect against transmitting the virus. For example, John Richard undresses in the garage when he gets home, and his laundry is washed separately. He showers separately and uses the guest bathroom now. The lunches he takes to work are stored in disposable containers. “We do laundry a lot more often,” he says.

When asked what he thinks of restaurants choosing to stay open over others who have closed for safety reasons, he says, for business owners, “You have to do what you have to do. But you have to consider how to protect your staff and the customers, and you need to protect your staff first.”

He recommends everyone in a kitchen wear a mask and plastic gloves. Gloves should be changed and hands washed often. All surface areas need to be regularly sanitized, and all delivery and payment should be contactless, if possible.

“It’s heartbreaking to see how hard restaurants are working to save their business and help the community right now,” says Marie. Both the Manansalas believe restaurants staying open are essential to hospital workers without the time to shop and cook, and frontliners include those delivering food, too.

Marie, who is working from home in a product development role at Mary Kay, feels proud to be employed by one of the few cosmetic companies who have halted production in their manufacturing plants to begin making hand sanitizer. Along with Estee Lauder and Shiseido, Mary Kay announced it will dedicate its supply chain to producing hand sanitzer on a large batch scale. So far, donations have been made to Baylor Scott & White hospitals and Coppell and Lewisville fire stations.

When asked how long it will be before we can get Mekeni’s sisig sliders, John Richard says he’s optimistic. They’re currently working with breweries to schedule events, “hopefully by June or July.”