Sep 27, 2021 | Grit
It’s been one year since all our lives changed forever. For me, this is a reminder of how lucky I am to have walked the paths I have, and be where I am today in my personal life and career. I started March 2020 as a Frontline Social Worker and as of March 2021 I am the Interim Coordinator for HDGH Specialized Outpatient Geriatric Services. In March 2020, the Geriatric Assessment Program (GAP) was among the very first to shut down before it was announced the next week that we were officially in a ‘global pandemic’. I was asked to help support the discharge planners, starting with Inpatient Rehab 1 (RH1). I attended the formal Family Support Team training our organization had pulled together, and the next day I got a text from a manager asking me to come to her office before I headed to RH1. I was officially the new social worker for 2 North (2N) - the unit pulled together to support our vulnerable seniors from within our walls and acute care, who were awaiting long term care (LTC). This unit housed new hires and redeployed staff from around the organization. I was reunited with some colleagues and friends I had known from other areas of our ambulatory services. I also met some other new and amazing colleagues and leadership. Together we all made the best of it. We all learned from each other. Somedays we laughed, some days we cried - the fear of the unknown almost consumed us at times in those early days. It was our patients and their families who would reel us back into reality, doing everything and anything we could to support them. I loved the inpatient life, as it brought me back to my professional roots that inspired me to go into social work. I also had the opportunity to help support 1 North - our unit we used as a safe refuge for the field hospital patients who were awaiting return back to their LTC home. It was surreal to support these individuals who survived the deadly virus in person. I had seen their rooms via FaceTime from a few of their fellow “neighbours” upstairs on 2N. Our staff went above and beyond to support these patients and their families through yet another difficult transition before they could safely head back home.Come July, GAP started to resume in-home services for our patients. Our seniors in the community were the most vulnerable, and I finally saw the effects of what the pandemic had on these older adults in their own homes; "safe from the virus", but many suffering from the isolation and lack of services (which was almost worse). I split my time between the inpatient units and GAP. We were one of the only programs (and organizations) in the community going out into people's homes during the pandemic. Everybody was in crisis. Most of our patients and their families, still paralyzed from the fear of the virus were so desperate for help, they welcomed us into their homes immediately - sometimes in head to toe pandemic gear when necessary. Outreach staff were now leaving the safe, controlled confines of our hospital and heading out to people’s homes where we were at the mercy of hoping they didn't mislead us on our risk assessment over the phone. We picked up where we left off, serving our patients safely in their homes. After a few months, 2N closed, and I resumed back exclusively with GAP. In the meantime, an opportunity came up for me to slide into a temporary coordinator contract for GAP. I took the chance to get some leadership experience with the hope that one day, I could use this to build on and expand HDGH Specialized Geriatric Services. Then a call went out to volunteer to help support the community in the second wave. All I could think about were the individuals and their families I had supported on 2N and out in the community, and how the pandemic affected them all. I put my name in to go help,terrified, but knowing what these individuals were experiencing trumped how I felt. Sure enough, I got asked to support alongside some other leadership at a local retirement home. Within hours of showing up for my first day, I knew I couldn't go home to keep my family safe. A day later I left my husband and two young children and moved into a local hotel with two of my colleagues for a couple weeks. That first week was a blur. We showed up early, and sometimes worked late into the night at the hotel. We took little time for breaks during the day and was there to help with anything and everything that needed to be done. There were times when we thought there was no way we would ever leave. I'd think about how long I'd have to continue to be away from my family but that only motivated me to work harder to help the home stabilize. Our team was amazing. I'm so thankful for my family FaceTime chats, my colleagues/friends I was at the hotel with, for my manager back at HDGH who would text and call me regularly to check on me and remind me to get some rest. For the early morning and late night debrief sessions with colleagues/friends, and for the incredible hospitality of the local hotel, the restaurants open to feed us, and for people who donated food to us onsite as well. This past year I’ve rode with patient's to their new LTC homes so they wouldn't be alone, I've packed up my minivan (on more than one occasion) with a patient’s personal belongings when patient transfer couldn't take them and the family wasn't allowed to be there. I have advocated for patients, picked through our community closet (and my own) to make sure our patients had appropriate clothing, coats and shoes. Myself and others have purchased personal care items, and isolation activities for our patients. I've provided personal care, counselled people, had tough conversations, laughed with, cried with, sang and danced with patients, and got to be part of the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine. I got to share about myself and about the work I do (and my passion and dreams I have for my patient population within the community), and teach others my skills too. All of these experiences allowed me to grow personally and professionally. Most importantly, it allowed me to connect with new colleagues (and now friends) I would have never got the chance to meet, learn from, and work alongside. I'm currently in a role that I hope to continue to grow from, and I'm now in a position to support my own frontline staff and our patients and their families from a different lens. I’m now at a professional point where I've been able to make changes in our programs to help address service gaps for seniors in our system (which showed how flawed it really is amid this pandemic). I would have never imagined a year ago this is where I would be today. As scary, and uncertain as some days were, I am fortunate for the all the laughs, friendship, and positive changes I've been able to be a part of.