These are the PPE-marked faces of workers in Mount Saint Joseph Hospital in Vancouver, who balanced hazardous jobs with anxious and, in some cases, lonely lives away from the hospital.
By April, a quiet had fallen over Mount Saint Joseph Hospital. Elective surgeries were suspended. The halls weren’t humming with visitors. And the cafeteria was closed—except to staff who sparsely occupied it to take their socially distanced breaks.
As with many of her colleagues, the donning and doffing of personal protective equipment punctuate Peter’s days. She wears the gear for several hours at a time to shield her from the novel coronavirus, a potentially deadly and terribly infectious pathogen that scientists the world over still struggle to understand.But the safety measure has a tendency to leave its own mark. “It’s like a suction cup on your face,” she says while unfastening the mask.
“Some days you’ll go home and think ‘I did something right today,’ ” he says. “That’s a good thing. But other days,” he adds quietly, choking back tears, “you’ll go home and say, ‘Something got missed.’ That’s the hardest part.” “It’s heart, it’s understanding, it’s reassurance, it’s—oh my gosh—it’s washing hair and providing everything,” she explains. “You’re everything to your patients right now.”
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Controversy over airborne transmission of COVID-19 'a tempest in a teapot,' Dr. Bonnie Henry says | CBC NewsDr. Bonnie Henry says the controversy over airborne transmission of COVID-19 has been overblown, after hundreds of scientists signed a letter calling for the World Health Organization to revise its recommendations.
Read more »
Ad seen as 'making light of one of the darkest chapters' in B.C.'s Indigenous history prompts apologyA B.C. tourist attraction issued an apology over the weekend following an ad some felt made light of the impact of past pandemics on the province's Indigenous people.
Read more »
COVID-19 measures contributed to spike in OD deaths among B.C. Indigineous people, health authority saysB.C.'s First Nations Health Authority says measures linked to controlling COVID-19 have helped erase previous gains that reduced the number of illicit drug overdoses among First Nations, Metis and Inuit populations.
Read more »
LIVE: Quebec COVID-19 update for MondayHealth Minister Christian Dube and director of public health Horacio Arruda provide a COVID-19 update, LIVE NOW.
Read more »
No COVID-19 Cases In B.C. Linked To BLM Protests: Health OfficialsWhy is COVID-19 spreading at big beach parties when it didn’t at BLM protests?
Read more »
COVID-19 measures contributed to spike in OD deaths among B.C. Indigenous people, health authority saysThe First Nations Health Authority says 89 members of its community fatally overdosed from illicit drugs across British Columbia between January and May, an increase of 93 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Read more »