“I work as a Hostess at a hospital. It’s a dietary aide job. Normally, I would talk to patients, figure out what they want to eat, and help set their menus.
When COVID-19 started, a lot of changes happened fast, so I had to adapt quickly. It was scary at the beginning because we didn’t have proper protective supplies. We would see other hospital workers with gowns over top their clothes, and we wondered why we didn’t have the same kind of protective wear. As a local chair and health and safety steward, I raised this issue, and now our food workers have proper protective equipment.
It’s still stressful going to work for me and my co-workers. We’re always on high-alert, constantly hand-washing, washing our uniforms, keeping our distance, noticing anyone coughing. Sometimes, the scariest part is not knowing if there’s an outbreak or a COVID patient on any given floor. As someone who works in the kitchen, we’re often the last people to find out if there is a breakout on the floor.
Every day, we tell ourselves: “We need to be strong. There’s nothing to be scared about,” because we need to be there. But many of us are constantly anxious; some of us have small children at home. I myself have grandchildren at home. So, when I come home, I run to the washroom to sanitize everything and spray my shoes. And when we get home after a stressful day, we can’t go anywhere. After a while, it gets a bit depressing.
We try to support each other at work as much as possible. Every day, during our break, we all try to sit together and talk, even though we have to keep our chairs far apart from one another. I check in with my co-workers every day to see if they have any questions or problems. I keep trying to repeat messages of encouragement to my co-workers.
We’re getting more educated about how to handle things. My hope is that we learn the lessons, so that next time this happens, we’re better educated and already know what we need to do.”
- Paula, Hostess/Food Service Worker, part of the health care team