Angela Robert
Medical Office Assistant, Benedict Primary Care, 5/22/20
My family and I just lost my grandmother to COVID 19 – it’s been really hard to talk about and even harder to accept. She was at Lifecare in Auburn. It was recently reported in the local news I think there were something like eighty residents that caught it and thirty staff members, so she got stuck in the middle of it, it went through the Rehab hard and fast. She was ninety-one, but staff there swore she would have lived at least a couple more years if this hadn’t happened, which is equal to an endless amount of beautiful memories that were lost with her. We were close. The hardest thing for me was I wasn’t able to hold her hand in her final moments. Her bed was by the window, so every day we would visit her, before she got sick. This Easter the Rehab was locked down, no visitors, but we were there at her window with our Easter best on showing her the love she deserves, we made her a sign and she enjoyed watching her great grandsons play in the grass. The day before she died I was only able to put my hand to the glass so if she opened her eyes she would see I was there. The toughest part is knowing that my grandmother and others are all alone with no one holding their hand during a time when no one should be alone. Another person in the clinic lost someone too, we’ve been like a family here trying to hold each other together during this sad time for the world. With the loss of my grandmother I can personally vouch that this Covid-19 virus is really real, it’s out there, it’s not fake! Don’t take your life and health for granted. Take the steps to protect yourself and your loved ones.
My sons were close to her too. Their Great Nana. My little one doesn’t understand, he just knows she’s in heaven with God, but my older one has cried about it almost every other day. He is eight years old and all he wanted to do since the lockdown began was to do what he did almost every week which is to hug his great Nana, he has been very sad that he did not get that last hug from her, and it breaks my heart to see him so sad. It’s also been hard not being able to see my Mom. She’s a hugger and I’m a hugger, and we haven’t been able to hug. This has been tough on us huggers.
I’ve been trying to be a good teacher to my kids, so when I leave here I take off my medical hat and I put on my teacher hat. It’s a lot, I’ve always appreciated teachers, but I have learned to appreciate them even more. But we try to keep it fun. Every Saturday we have science class, that’s what we call it. One Saturday we made a volcano, another one we grew crystals, we planted some seeds, and broke open a rock just to see what’s inside.
I’ve stayed in the clinic during this pandemic, I opted to stay here to help in anyway I can. But this job role has really changed. Pre-Covid-19, I used to be out in the hallway and rooming patients, passing others rooming their patients, but now most of my day is spent in this little room, which is a patient exam room, all by myself, talking to patients over the phone! I’ve had to learn a completely new way to do this job. I can’t do their blood pressure, I have to ask them to do it. I have patients in their eighties being taught how to have a telehealth video visit with their doctor from home using a smartphone. I’m glad I’ve been able to stay here and learn how to do all this, since this is how we may continue to see a lot of our patients, at least for a while.
A lot of these patients are really alone, so a lot of them want to talk. That means a lot to me, I’m like an ear for them. I had a patient the other day who’s going through something awful, she’s had a hard time, and I told her when you come in, I’ll gown up, you gown up, and lets hug!
Something that I’ll remember from this time is just being able to be there for the patients when they’re going through a vulnerable time, to be there to listen and offer support. Every single one of them has got a story, and I love hearing them. You see their name and its just a name but then we you hear their story, its amazing. I’ve talked to people when they first have symptoms of COVID, when they’re scared because they’re getting worse. You can hear it on the phone, how scared they are. And then some of them really get worse fast, some have to come into the hospital, but others stay home and fight it from there, and you can hear how sick they are. But then you can hear them when they’re on the other side of it and getting better, and it’s like a wilted flower that just got water again, you know?
At first the patients were skeptical of video visits, that it won’t work. But once you start the visit you can see on their face in the video that the trust is there, and they find out we can help them even though we are not in the same room. Some use their older children’s phones or computers, it’s nice to see their family helping them. I had a woman in her 80’s who didn’t think she could do it and I walked her through the whole thing. Then she was so excited that she did it, it was like she went to the moon! They didn’t really have the opportunity to do this before, but then they’re like, hey I’m pretty good at this sort of thing!
If it’s possible, I think our clinic has gotten even closer. We’ve had to learn so much and adapt on the fly, and the work is flowing better now that we’ve gotten the hang of it. Which is good because work is really starting to pick up. We had 146 appointments the other day.
I made a slideshow video to music for our clinic with pictures of everybody, it was my way of saying, we’re going through something tough but we’re doing it as a team – that we’re all in it together and can lean on each other. That first video was sentimental, but now I’m making another one that’s more upbeat, that’s like, we’re going to beat this virus!
I feel like in the last couple months I’m more aware of community and what that means. We really have pulled together to take care of each other and help those that are in need whether it be medically, emotionally, offering a hot meal, making sure that we have the protective equipment we need. People that I have never met before that are from other UMass campuses are now smiling familiar faces (under a mask). We all look out for each other.
