A nurse
“I find it difficult and frustrating because I cannot spend time with my boyfriend. I see him but we cannot touch, we keep two meters distance.”
Canada 🇨🇦 “I am a clinical nurse in the emergency department in a trauma centre. We are one of the official centres for COVID-19 patients. Right now it’s “the calm before the storm”. We are taking advantage of this time to prepare ourselves. Everyday, we see the number of COVID-19 cases rise. Which means more and more people will need to be hospitalized. There are a lot of changes at the hospital concerning procedures for our safety. Shortly we will be lacking necessary equipment such as N95 masks. This puts our individual protection at risk so as of right now we are rethinking all our procedures. We know we will be missing equipment. We know it and we are told everyday. This gives us a lot of stress. We’ve used one year of medical supplies in four weeks. The government said that they invested money into medical supplies and that our shipment for supplies should be arriving shortly.
“Fear is innate to human nature: right now there is a virus that is killing people. My instinct is telling me to stay at home.”
Fear is innate to human nature: right now there is a virus that is killing people. My instinct is telling me to stay at home. But I am a nurse, it’s my vocation. Each day, against my instinct of fear, I leave my house to provide care to patients who have the virus. I find it difficult and frustrating because I cannot spend time with my boyfriend. I see him but we cannot touch, we keep two meters distance. I can’t see my parents, my family, my friends. I am at high risk of getting infected with the virus because I spend everyday taking care of people who are positive. I see it as a luxury for those who can be at home with their families. On my days off, I go running. Getting fresh air helps diminish my stress, it feels good to my soul.
Yes, as nurses, we are afraid and anxious of what is to come. But we are always going to be there for those in need, it’s the vocation we have chosen. We are afraid but we are going to stay here to fight until the end of this because it is our job to do so.”
