Member Spotlight: Emily Anderson, PCA — SHARE at UMass Memorial

Emily Anderson

Patient Care Associate, Memorial Campus, 5/20/20

I had my own brush with COVID symptoms in the beginning of March and stayed out of work for two weeks. The day I went to get tested at the University tent was a cold, snowy day. I felt sad for the workers out in the cold in their PPE. Everyone I dealt with at Employee Health and at the tent were extremely kind and helpful. This was right at the beginning of the crisis, and I think the staff did a great job at what must have been a confusing time. Thankfully, I tested negative and could come back to work. But when I returned, my PCA job felt like a whole new job. Not only were we busy every minute of the shift due to volume, but we needed to think about how to do our job in a very different way. Policies and procedures were changing every day. Our communication had to be thorough and timely to make sure all staff were working properly. There could be a whole new list of things to remember and do properly from day to day. This was stressful, but we appreciated that hospital leadership was working hard to continuously improve our working conditions for safety and improving patient care.

The help from the community has been incredible during this difficult time. Local restaurants and families have provided us with lunches, dinners, and snacks. It makes a difference to not have to think about food when there are so many more important things to do. And there have been some very, creative donations made by friends of my coworkers. One friend has a 3D printer and designed a simple piece of plastic that attaches to our face masks so that the elastic is not riding on your ears all day. It may not sound like much, but it is one more thing that truly helps us concentrate on our patients rather than being distracted. This friend also designed and produced a kind of face shield with just a piece of plastic from notebook dividers and again by making us safer, we can focus on our work. It is wonderful the way so many people from the community have come together to support us.

One of the most challenging changes is interacting with patients. We know this must be a very stressful time for them and we are doing our best to be sensitive to all our patients . . . but especially our elderly patients with hearing loss, confusion, or other issues. It must be scary to see us walk into a noisy room in our full PPE gear—we kind of look like aliens-- and wonder what is happening? We want them to know we care. Our patients can’t see our smiles behind our masks, but they can hear how much we care in our voices and the expression in our eyes.

The pandemic has brought the idea of teamwork to a whole new level. It’s not about helping one another get the work done. It’s about caring for one another’s well-being and supporting each other’s work. When we are feeling anxious, we remind each other to breathe and make sure everyone gets the time they need to regroup. This crisis has made our staff really close, and I’m grateful for each person. These are the people who truly appreciate my experience, understand what I’m going through, and know what I’m talking about when I say, “We’re all in this together.”