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100 Years of Nursing Education at Western

Collected Item: “My life”

I agree to the Terms and Conditions of submitting to COVID-19 in London, Ontario: capturing the local experience.

Yes

Give your entry a title

My life

Creator (put anonymous if you don't want your name to appear)

Jennifer

Date

June 28/20

How are you doing?

Hanging in there

Are you isolating with someone else, if so who (relationships, not names i.e.. father, sister, roommates, spouse, your children etc.)?

No.

How has COVID-19 affected your home life? How are you passing the time?

I’ve become way more of a homebody. I was one before but Covid has brought it to a whole new level. I am an essential worker so I have been working the entire time. With everything closed though, to pass my time I have been working out twice a day. I do it because I like working out but also to keep myself from eating too much and drinking.

How has it affected your work, education, etc.? Are you an essential worker?

Work has really sucked. My organization claims to care about the mental health of It’s employees but when the pandemic was declared they canceled all vacations, training etc. The way my schedule works is that we work more hours than we should so every six weeks we are entitled to an extra day off. Those days were cancelled as well. My hours got changed as well.

How well do you think the government and other leaders are responding to the pandemic? What do you think about the local, national and international media coverage?

I think the Ford government has done an amazing job. With keeping us updated regularly as well as how the province has opened. I think the prime minister has been adequate but like everything else, a lot of what he has done seems to be for show.
The coverage from the media has been EVERYWHERE. Probably the cause of many mental health issues because you couldn’t escape how many people died as a result of the virus etc.

What challenges are ahead? How and how fast do you think normal life should be restored?

Keeping people safe. People are letting down their guard now that everything is opening up. I honestly have no idea how fast life should go back to normal. I think there are certain aspects of the lockdown that were good. Like online on demand fitness classes. Like ensuring the country has the resources to take care of itself instead of relying on China.

What do you think will be different after the pandemic? What do you think should be different? What will be better or worse?

I think for the next few years money will go back into health care, long term homes etc but it will fade away as this experience becomes a distant memory. For me personally I won’t be driving so far to go to the gym. I like being able to workout at home whenever I want with the I demand classes. My organization will still preach about the health of us employees but they won’t recognize the toll it has taken on us to work constantly through it all, while some employees, the admin staff specifically were allowed to go home “to keep them safe”. My safety was never seemingly considered.

Do you have anything else to say about the COVID-19 pandemic?

History always repeats itself. Why the government didn’t think a pandemic would ever happen again is mind blowing. I hope this time the government and the organizations that were deemed essential ask its employees what can be done better to support them.

What is your address? [private]

[private]

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Yes
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