SHARE members in roughly 180 hospital job titles keep our hospital running strong during COVID-19 surge. Three more SHARE members describe their experience here . . .
Joshua Resch
Mental Health Associate, PTRC (Psychiatric Treatment Center), 4/29/20
Note: PTRC transitioned to an all COVID-positive unit several weeks ago, after a number of patients came down with COVID-19 and were transferred to University for medical treatment.
A lot of us understand the field of inpatient psychiatry, but now the whole game is changed. It’s no longer just about the patient and their condition, whether they are manic, or whatever. We still try to reach out to the patient, talk with them about what they care about, encourage them, talk them down if they are elevated. Now all our interactions come with another thread: We are much more guarded, like if the patient is angry, we take a few steps back to see where the situation goes. It’s a new way of thinking, to find an approach that helps the patient but also protects ourselves and the patient from the disease.
Unfortunately, it was like guerilla warfare when COVID spread in our department. One day you’d talk to a patient or a co-worker, and the next day they were sick, or you were taking the patient to the ED. We watched our patients dwindle down to just 2. It was remarkable, and I’m so curious: What is it about these 2 patients that they didn’t get sick? And 4 or 5 of the staff didn’t get sick – we were the last people standing.
Who knows, maybe we did get sick and we were asymptomatic. We aren’t allowed to get tested unless we have symptoms, so it’s confusing.
A lot of my co-workers come from other countries, and their parents live with them. They are very worried about bringing the virus home and getting them sick.
Some nurses and I volunteer to observe our co-workers taking off and putting on their PPE. It seems ridiculous to say, “Nope, you did that wrong, you have to wash your hands and do it again.” But it’s important.
We are really making sure we have each other’s back. If someone needs to go to the bathroom, you know it’s going to be a 15 minute process.
I think now my co-workers and I are finding ways of creating some humor, we rag on each other more than usual. We’re all still scared, but the humor helps. Hazard pay would help too!
Who are those masked men? They’re the heroes who serve as Mental Health Associates at the PTRC
RICH LEUFSTEDT
DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY TECHNOLOGIST & SHARE Rep, UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, 4/27/20
At University, we’re a Level-One Trauma Center. We can see anything, and we usually do. Now, things blur together, and I lose track of the days. It’s chest X-Ray after chest X-Ray after chest X-Ray all day long. We’re almost entirely seeing presumed-positive COVID patients. With all of the infection control procedures, those scans that usually take five minutes now take twenty. It’s a grind.
I really appreciate that other Technologists are coming in to help the Diagnostic Techs, like the people from Mammography who are working as Radiology Assistants right now. We can really use more relief. There’s no admin leave for the X-Ray Techs. Even if we’re out sick with non-COVID symptoms, it’s impossible to have a restful day because Employee Health has to follow up our symptoms. We feel burnt out.
I worry about the back load that’s coming, too – where are the patients that we usually scan? What's happening that we don’t know about?
Coming home at the end of the day it’s a scary routine to try to leave all the germs outside my home and get cleaned up. I do this job because I want to help. But would I have gone into this career twenty years ago if I had known that I’d be on the front lines like this one day, with these odds of bringing home a potentially deadly disease to my family?
I have faith. Every morning I see the sunrise and think, “We’ve got this.” But still, It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Do you recognize this song leader from past SHARE rallies even in his PPE? He rocks the ukelele, but he also helps saves lives on the front line.
John Kendall
Clinical Laboratory Assistant & SHARE Representative, Marlborough Hospital, 4/29/20
I spent twenty-eight with the Southborough Fire Department and retired as a Lieutenant. As a firefighter, I wasn't afraid to go in. I had respect for the fire -- this is different. With Covid-19, I'm constantly asking myself, Is my mask on right? Am I covered up?' It's very stressful going into the room, and it's just one patient. In addition to the floors, we've been overrun by the tent. The other day, we had 128 patients in the tent.
It's not just us in the labs who are overwhelmed and worried about getting sick. It's the CNA's, the nurses, and the docs too. We don't want to carry this virus home. Nobody knows that much about it. From what I can see it's a savage virus, and I have health issues of my own. I don't want to get it. I have a grandbaby coming. The baby's due this weekend and I'm not going to be able to see her. Neither will my wife Leslie who works in ED Registration at the hospital. FaceTime isn't the same as being there. This will be our third.
What I miss most right now is the lack of personal connection I'm used to getting with my patients. We have elderly patients who come in regularly, usually in the morning. Usually I draw them and chat with them for a few minutes. We can't do that now. We have to spend as little time as possible. You do what you have to do to get in and out safely. You can't be personal.
It's been a tough job, but we're all in it together and I can't wait for this to be over.
Monika, John, and Katianny at Marlborough Hospital