Sep 27, 2021 | Grace
What started out as an awful time, actually turned out to be a pretty good experience. Firstly, I work as an RN in the Bariatric Clinic. The clinic had closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. I was initially sent to a Rehab Unit. I have a history of a back injury, but never obtained an accommodation and I re-injured myself. Things were not good and I thought I was not going to be able to do the “physical work” that I used to do. Then Nancy Berthiaume, who was a former manager of mine called. I told her “Nancy, I just can’t do all that lifting” and her response was “I know what your problem is.” So I started on 2North with her, and on the second day she asked me if I would be In Charge of the Unit, to think about it and get back to her the next day. I’m not going to lie, I was hesitant. After a couple weeks, things were tough, but we were making it through the day. Then I had a change in managers and started working with Sean Goodfellow. He knew things were difficult. He had a plan and he had some permanent staff to help on the Unit. We became a close-knit family. Day by day, week by week, we worked together and our “nursing home patients” became part of the family. We had our troubles as you would imagine , some patients fell ill, deaths, but we managed through our days. I found friends I would have never found had I never been assigned to 2North. We managed to get along very well. I do hold them close to my heart because we trusted each other and they never let me down when things got tough. I would help them, mentor them, listen to them. We were going to beat the battle of COVID-19 by keeping each other safe, our patients safe, our family safe. As we became very comfortable with our team, everything became routine. Sean had team huddles and myself, SW Jen and Sean would do patient rounds on Fridays. We had excellent “Patient Support Team (PST) and Family Support Team (FST)” to bring patients outside, do activities or Facetime their families. By this time I was known as “mother” and the nurses were my “kids” , I did take care of them of them after all and I was the oldest person there (aside from the patients).I thank everyone who had a hand in the “first round” of COVID-19 on 2North. Especially Sean Goodfellow for being an awesome manager, Jenn Clifford for being an excellent the Discharge Planner, and all the nurses I worked with – RNs, RPNs and student nurses, a mix of temporary and permanent employees as well as the PST and FST. This was a time of uncertainty, insecurities and unknown outcomes that was turned into a pretty positive experience.