To the Rescue
Quarantined in an isolated wind farm, NLR health and safety manager Arn Almeniana beats loneliness through his best friend Wardo
Words by MARGA CONSTANTINO
Arn Almeniana, 36, shakes the soil from his sneakers before coming in from another afternoon walk with his dog Wardo. The scintillating sunset colors of Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte is a daily luxury he enjoys as the Health, Safety & Security Manager of North Luzon Renewables (NLR).
Relaxed from this leisurely exercise, Arn gears up for another day of work, taking mental notes of the ideas that came to him during his walk. It is during this daily ritual that he thinks of new ways to keep his remote community safe from COVID-19.
“I tend to rescue dogs,” said Arn, who started a Facebook page to encourage people in his hometown, Legazpi City, to adopt rescue dogs. “Supporting an advocacy which is related to animal welfare is really close to my heart.”
Cut off from the rest of the world
Arn is a long, long way from his hometown in Bicol. He and Wardo live in the company’s staff house with more than 20 others, including NLR personnel and two cooks. Like most of them, he has been locked down in the premises since January 2020. Their living quarters, located within the wind farm’s 620-hectare forest land, is a 30-minute drive to downtown Pagudpud and accessible only by private vehicles. They are, for the most part, isolated from the rest of Luzon, and it is Arn’s job to keep his remote community safe from the deadly coronavirus.
Winds continue to blow. Although much of Luzon came to a halt during the lockdown, the Pagudpud wind farms continued to reap energy, thanks to the NLR team that sheltered in their staff house to make sure all went well.
Local information campaign
This was especially difficult in the beginning of the lockdown, when COVID-19 information was vague and the community did not know what to believe. The locals, most of whom do not speak fluent English, did not understand the jargon coming from official health organizations like the World Health Organization and the Department of Health. Instead, they tended to believe the fake news that they read online.
Arn, a registered nurse, soon realized that they understood the simpler language used in social media. He immediately got to work to laymanize official guidelines and issuances. Since then, he has kept locals informed with regular newsletters and updates, and community town hall meetings with the help of an Ilocano translator.
Community spirit. Arn works closely with the Pagudpud locals who care for the NLR’s forest land. Like everyone else, they also find joy in Wardo’s warm presence during this pandemic.
Holistic approach to safety
Arn knows that it is imperative for everyone to stay healthy.
“We cannot close our borders, we cannot close our gates. We still need people from the community,” he said, of his holistic approach to safety. “We really need the community to operate efficiently… We look after the health and safety of not only our own employees, but the community. If someone were to get COVID-19, there’d be a bigger chance of the virus reaching the people inside our company premises. So we do not only think about ourselves, but the whole ecosystem in which we operate.”
Staying fit. Arn has always prioritized team bonding and employee wellness. Before the pandemic hit, their health program included weekly team workouts facilitated by a lifestyle coach. After exercise, they would refuel with freshly harvested organic yellow cassava, and purple and orange sweet potatoes—products of the wind farm’s agroforestry program.
Fighting the virus—and emotional burnout
To date, there have been zero COVID-19 cases in NLR’s area of operation, which spans Pagudpud, Bangui, Burgos, Pasuquin, Bacarra, and Laoag City. This is a massive accomplishment for Arn, who has been sparing no efforts to look after the locals and his team—even beyond their physical health.
“I gave them extra patience and understanding. I talked to them separately and then I let them verbalize what they are feeling. Sometimes just offering your time to listen can be therapeutic to someone else, so I listened to them even though I didn’t have a specific answer.”
A man’s best friend
While Arn looked after the needs of everyone else, Wardo gave him this same solace to cope during this challenging time. “He really saved me during this pandemic.”
Wardo, short for Edwardo, is Arn’s rescue dog. He revealed that Wardo was abandoned on site by a contractor, and he swiftly adopted him the same way he adopted his 10 dogs back home.
Clearly, Arn has a heart that truly cares for others. It is this commitment to the welfare of others that has kept NLR and their community safe. Like the rest of the world, Arn does not know how long he will have to endure this trial, but he continues to do his best to save others, knowing fully well that he can count on Wardo to rescue him back. #
Published on July 31, 2020
