HEALTH CARE AND VOLUNTEERING DURING THE PANDEMIC
Standing up to do the job Rebecca Jones (Appelboam) K’89 reflects on her experience as a consultant in Intensive Care during the Covid-19 pandemic
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I have been a consultant in Intensive Care for nearly 10 years. I chose Intensive Care because of the complexity of disease, the challenge to make people well again, the opportunity to interact with all different specialties in the hospital, and the chance to support and guide patients and relatives through what is usually a life-changing experience. The pandemic of 2020 was, and is, a real challenge. The infectious nature of Covid-19 meant that the ICU became sealed. It was one way in and one way out – making it difficult for other specialties to visit us. Although the work was similar to what I have done for years, the visiting restrictions and need to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) made it feel very different. The PPE in itself posed a number of challenges. Simply putting it on and taking it off required us to follow a series of complex steps in a strict order. This was so important that there were staff whose daily job was to watch us don and doff and tell us when we got it wrong – which we did, when we were tired. Then there was the challenge of working in PPE. It’s hot, sweaty and cumbersome – and makes you unrecognisable to your colleagues and patients. Though I’ve known my colleagues
for years, I couldn’t identify them in PPE. We couldn’t see each other’s faces, exchange glances, read emotions, or even hear each other clearly. It felt like the patients were alone. They had nurses by their bedside, but no family – nobody to remind us of who they are. Not allowing families to visit their critically ill relatives broke my heart. After weeks, the patients made small, steady steps to getting better. The journey was long, and the challenges for them huge, but they did it. They left the ICU and they returned home. Many are traumatised, but they don’t really remember being there. Nor do they know the faces or names of the people who cared for them as if they were their own. The generosity of strangers was extraordinary: food, gifts, and bottles and bottles of cool water were sent to the ICU. Homemade cakes. Sunday roasts! Even cosy pyjamas for when we got home. The public were all clapping us, saying we were heroes. But most of the time we didn’t feel heroic – just very tired. Though it was hard, I felt lucky to be making a difference. Rather than being asked to stand by, I was able to stand up and do my job; to go to work and do what I could; to be where I was most needed. That was a tremendous privilege.
