Reflections five years on from Covid - by Hannah Bishop

Our Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Executive Director, Hannah Bishop shares her reflections and memories of the huge changes and chaos the pandemic brought.

When I think back to March 2020, I think of…

Masks.

Gloves.

Aprons.

Isolation rooms – where on earth will these be?

Government guidelines updated almost daily, changing, contradicting themselves.

Hang on… What are people who are street homeless going to do? The day centre, the library, the public toilets – they’re all closing.

What about all the people living in shared accommodation?

We need a plan for these people.

We shouldn’t all be in the same room. Let’s spread out. Who can/should work from home? What if we (staff) have Covid?

Keep the windows open – must maintain air flow.

Infographics about airflow.

Online meetings – what are they? How do I work Zoom?

Testing – there’s no testing.

Thermometers – we need to buy lots of thermometers. Oh look, they’re double the price!

Care and Protect. Setting up ‘screening’ for Covid in hotel foyers and dining rooms.

Lists and lists of patients – who is at risk? Who is vulnerable to being really unwell?

Daily visits (on my bike) to hostels to see patients. Screen for Covid.

Covid tests.

We have tests now. This might help!

More new guidelines, more changes, more updates.

What about all the other stuff? The depression, the diabetes, the hypertension, the asthma. Patients still have all these things going on, that hasn’t stopped.

Test, test.

Everyone must test.

Test.

Isolate.

Vaccines. Training everyone in how to prepare and administer this new vaccine. How are we going to deliver it? The St John’s Ambulance treatment van comes to the rescue!

Day One: February 9^th 2021 William Collier House – we give our first vaccines to patients.

Day after day, visiting hostels, emergency accommodation, supported housing, knocking on doors and offering people the Covid vaccine. Conspiracy theories are laid out – then challenged.

Keep testing.

Keep isolating.

What just happened? It’s now summer 2021 and it feels like we’ve all just come up for air.

Testing and vaccinating continues.

Test.

Test at home.

Vaccinate.

Boosters.

New guidelines.

Don’t test.

Don’t isolate.