Sep 27, 2021 | Grace
We all have our own stories of how COVID-19 has affected us…here is my story. Looking back I can remember the uneasiness and fear that I felt in February of last year listening to world news of how this Pandemic was affecting people in other countries and worried about what that impact would look like here in our own community. March of last year brought with it an apocalyptic feeling; to best describe what things looked like. I remember driving in to work on my normal route on the 401, which looked and felt much different. There was no traffic on my commute, in fact some days I was one of few cars on the roads. There were also ominous signs of “COVID-19 19 RESTRICTIONS” and “BORDER CLOSURES TO ESSENTIAL TRAVEL ONLY”. Today I pass those signs, which now seem commonplace, but remember the first days of feeling like this was all a bad movie. My work life focus changed as well, assisting with Screening and visitor restrictions, advocating for our patients and families, while trying to balance the safety of our staff and community. I was honored to be able to co-manage the Family Support Team which was an amazing group of redeployed staff from some departments that were impacted by closures due to COVID-19COVID-19-19. These staff members allowed us to have the resources to be able to connect our patients with their families, through virtual visits, courtyard visits and offering the emotional supports that our patients needed during this unprecedented time. They really helped me to focus on things we were able to do to keep our patients and families connected, and offered some positive patient stories that warmed my heart. I was also able to be involved in the development of the Coordinated Care Program for Designated Care Partners along with some of my colleagues from our Patient Family Advisory Council. This was another thing that helped me focus on some of the positive things that HDGH was doing to keep our patients and families connected, while balancing the safety of our staff. I was also able to contribute by assisting with COVID-19 swabbing clinics and also giving out some vaccinations at some of our long term care homes.Personally, my life was impacted directly by COVID-19. My brother, who is also a nurse working in the United States, contracted COVID-19 last March, right at the beginning of this pandemic. He was quite ill and has just recently required Cardiac intervention at the Cleveland Institute a year later. It has changed his life forever. We also lost my mother-in-law in December to Cancer. I was able to take some time off to help care for her at home as we set up a hospital bed to provide home hospice services. We knew that her wishes were to go to Hospice Village; however with the restrictions in place for visitation we knew that we needed to keep her at home so that we could all see her. Eight days before she died I contracted COVID-19. I am not sure, to this day, how that happened as I was staying with her full time other than a few trips to the grocery store. My fears escalated at the thought of who I might have infected. It went through our household and thankfully no one was permanently affected by this like my brother. The worst part though was after waiting the 14 days of our quarantine to be able to have a service for Mom, my sister-in-law contracted COVID-19. She was not able to attend her own mother’s funeral. This incredible loss for our family was further impacted by this horrible Pandemic as we were not able to have a “normal service” or gather with family and friends to help us grieve. Lastly, my own mother who is 91 has been cared for and kept safe in her Rest Home at Chartwell Oak Park. Although they have kept her physically safe, it has impacted her emotionally and intellectually. Isolation from family and friends has had such a huge impact and it is hard to see the changes it has had on her. I am blessed to be able to be her “essential care partner” along with one of my sisters, but my mother does not understand fully, or remember why her other children are not coming to see her. Like I said at the beginning, we all have our own stories. This is mine, and I am hopeful that we are on the other side of this. It still infuriates me when people think this is all “fake news” or inflated. This is real, it has affected us all in different ways and I am certain will have some long term impacts that we are not even fully aware of as of yet. I am confident that we will see this through and like I always do, will try to find the silver lining in it all.