“I am a care aide and I work at a cancer center as well as at a hospital.
I really never used to be afraid to go to work. I hit a really, really bad place in February. I don't think I realized how COVID was affecting me. I feel a lot of the negativity around it. Typically, my worksite is very upbeat. There's a lot of caring and compassion at the cancer clinic. And I feel like when COVID hit, that all got ripped out from underneath us.
We don't have volunteers. There was a dog program, and three days a week, people would bring dogs in for the patients. However, since COVID, the patients weren't allowed to have company while they sat for hours on end to have chemotherapy treatment. So they literally sat there by themselves. That's hard for a lot of the care staff because they don't have the time to sit with the patient.
There's been some changes that I think are good. I think it's good that we wear a mask all the time, and that additional hand hygiene and cleaning has been implemented.
Overall, it would be more of a life lesson that I've learned, rather than employment lesson - keeping in better check with myself and my body. I’ve been paying closer attention to my own fears and what my body is saying I need. Like when I'm exhausted, I need to rest and not push myself.
I try to focus on the positive. I do still have a job, and that is a positive. I love, love people. So it's important to me to maintain that connection with our patients, and for myself. But like I said, I'm fearful some days to go to work. I'm taking it one day at a time.”
Michelle, Care Aide, part of the health care team