No matter how bad this pandemic gets, one group of people will have to keep showing up to work every day — those who work in health care.
Mary O’Reilly, a health care worker at Almonte Country Haven, kindly shares this excellent post about what it’s like being on the front lines.
While everyone is at home staying away from the virus, I’ll be at work for the day.
I have heard it said many times that health care workers are making jokes and not taking COVID 19 seriously. I would like to bring four facts to your attention.
First, to work in health care you must have a sick/dark sense of humor — sorry, it’s just a requirement. And if you aren’t one of us, you don’t understand.
Second, just because we aren’t buying 50 cases of baked beans and fighting over the last bottle of sanitizer or toilet paper roll at our local Costco, it doesn’t mean we aren’t preparing. And most of us don’t have the income to stockpile. Actually, we go to work daily not knowing what diseases we may come in contact with … so infection prevention and standard precautions are part of our everyday life.
Third, when has mass hysteria helped any situation? Maybe we are trained to stay calm, cool, and collected in stressful situations.
And last but not the least … while everyone is concerned about travel bans, government-enforced quarantines, and being out of school/work for who knows how long, who do you think will still be allowed and required to go to work? You guessed it right … healthcare workers!
So … don’t panic … use your common sense … be mindful of yourself and others … stay safe.
I have the privilege of being able to work with my residents every day through this uncertain time. I work with a great team of people in every department who are working hard every day to keep each and every resident safe and happy.
The Life Enrichment department where I work has increased the number of staff and activities to keep the residents occupied while they cannot visit with family members. I personally enjoy thinking up new ways to entertain the residents and make them laugh.
My antlers really get their attention while offering a physical ring toss game. If I can offer any advice, please stay home if you can and wash your hands. We all need to do our part to keep our communities safe.
