History of Medicine

COVID 19 Life as a single essential service worker at the hospital

Donna Currie

May 11th, 2020

I am doing well! I am always curious and looking for creative ways, as a single person to fend off boredom and isolation at home in between work shifts. I am 54 years old, I have my own house, I have a job I love and am so very grateful that I am essential and go in each day for all of my shifts and do the best job I can at the job I love and have loved for nearly 8 years.

I live completely alone, no pets, no partners, no family in London at all.

I used to go to a lot of community events, and live music events, anywhere up to 10 or so a month! I find I go to work and come directly home. I do not have a tv or cell phone, my main source for being entertained is my own creativity I suppose. I am in my tenth consecutive year of taking a photo a day. I have made collages of last April 2019 and another of this April 2020! what a huge difference in times. I do a lot of documenting of life, everyday life mostly. I have a five year journal, this is year four, so I will have a year before the covid 19 and the year after captured in one book which will be fascinating as each day you write on the same page, all five years of May 11 on one page etc.

I work at the hospital switchboard. Driving to work is almost eerie, or like working my Sunday shift, very few people on the road, and I can park anywhere I want at Victoria Hospital. The calls we get are of course substantially different now than at the beginning of the year. Initially people thought the only place to get information would be the hospital the first couple of weeks we were over run with calls asking where to get a test etc. With the clinics being shut down, and the emergency departments only for absolutely essential urgent situations the patients are not coming in for the random things like sore toes, or needing a note to get of work or exams...no frequent fliers as they are known who come regularly and often to the emergency department for various reasons. there are no visitors allowed now, unless the patient is a child, it is a delivery or labour situation or palliative care. we do get calls asking about their loved ones condition, but calls are fewer, people in hospital are fewer and visitors are non existant.

my concern now is that people have given up or tired of being the rule followers and staying inside to flatten the curve, the holiday weekend is coming, mothers day yesterday and tons of people were out and about. these people that think the rules do not belong to them or that they above those rules or saying things like what does it matter? that concerns me.

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It is pretty impressive how Justin Trudeau appears each day, with his beard getting more full, his hair getting longer and his empathy for all seems to be truly remarkable. his presentation at the media events is always professional and sympathetic. i am not sure where all this money is going to come from...Doug Ford on the other hand has his good days and his bad. he also does not appear to seem like the rules belong to him and if his mother in law was not in the nursing home would he know anything about how families are coping in this situation?

I don't think we will have ever again this normal or the past version of normal. our new normal is going to fall into place in a very slow, slow fashion. the challenge will be over the summer to get people to stop gathering in large crowds or defying the emergency standards protocol put in place.

the world will be a better place. it is already showing up as such. the thoughtful ones who are genuinely concerned for the planet earth, and are trying to do the right thing, then theree are the conspiracy theory souls, and the Americans...I feel sad for them, but with their leader they are doomed for extinction. I follow the US numbers out of curiosity. It is just simply horrifying how Trump is acting and how far off the recovery they are. I do hope the american/canadian borders stay closed forever. They are saying there won't be live music again until fall of 2021. this is super heartbreaking for all the musicians who had that as their only income. scary how the new world will be, we will all have to find our place and do what we can with what we have and where we are! the greedy, selfish ones are of times past I do hope. The workers at the grocery store and the whole mindset now that a basic income is required will be the new goal I think. People have more respect for all people now, not just the lawyers big money makers etc. without the grocery stores and farmers and honestly the LCBO we would all be dead. I read an article about a woman is a nurse, and says now she is no longer "just a nurse" she does not feel she is a hero, she is just doing her job. go feed the homeless, take food to the streets, find them places to live. she is appreciative of the income raise etc and the clapping and noise when she arrives home at night was lovely at first..but she is doing the job she loves before and after the covid-19 global pandemic.

these are interesting times. I am hopeful we will carry on with these lovely new ways of being slower, more kind, more appreciative, more grateful to all. we all do our part no matter how big or small. we are all in this together. I will be so fascinated to look back on the year of 2020 in five years and see just how changed we are...where things go from here..each day is different!

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