How The Corona Virus is Really Transforming Our Lives! Hearing From Different Soldiers in Our Now Global Army…
In a space of just a few months, 2020 has already turned our lives completely upside down. As we were just recovering from our horrific Bush Fire season, we – along with the rest of the planet – have been struck with the shattering reality of the Corona Virus. While it’s absolutely devastating that this virus has caused so many deaths around the world, we are also now aware that this one virus has disrupted our whole society in so many ways.
This blog is going to be a bit different to our usual upbeat style, as this blog is aimed at informing you about the impacts of the Corona Virus in pockets of our society, and also providing links to some information on what might be helpful at this time. I am hopeful that you can use this blog as a tool so that we are better able to bounce back as a whole unit after this is all over.
So, we are going to hear some different perspectives from a range of people that this pandemic has affected. These will include: medical personnel who are literally on the frontline in different departments of the hospital system; a woman who has become stood down from her job due to the locking down of businesses; a woman working within the disability sector and a person who is having to isolate due to her disability and health care needs.
Medical Personnel
We will start off straight from the front line, hearing from two registered nurses who also happen to be two of my great friends. One of these nurses specialises in Surgical, Palliative Care, Renal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and the other is working in an Intensive Care Unit. Despite being in different areas of the hospital system, both of these nurses have been affected quite significantly by the Virus Outbreak, explaining that the whole hospital system has been completely reshaped in several ways. This mainly comes in the form of changes to – and strengthening of – policies. For example, wearing a face mask has now become a necessity rather than being considered only necessary sometimes. Unfortunately, this has led to certain areas of some hospitals such as in Intensive Care Units (ICU) having to be extremely careful with rationing equipment, such as scrubs, and even making the face masks themselves, out of pieces of plastic. Social distancing policies have also forced nurses to work individually, changing the team environment and leaving the hospital workplace with ‘an eerie feeling’.
For some nurses, these new processes have included getting dressed in and out of their scrubs in the middle of a shift.
Sadly, part of the reason this needs to be done is because there are reports of nurses and other workers in the medical industry being assaulted, even spat on or physically abused in public. Personally, having many family and friends working in the medical industry, I find this absolutely heartbreaking because I know how many sacrifices they make just to keep us all safe. I have relatives who are really concerned about going to work at the moment as they are both working in the same hospital and have a daughter under one. If anything happens to either of them as a result of the virus they have no idea what they’ll do in terms of keeping themselves isolated in the same house, as it’s likely that either the other person or their child will also get sick.
The most important message that both nurses want to say to the public is that everyone should do their own research into the virus and not just listen to what’s on social media. Both nurses have also stressed the importance of staying home and self isolating especially as there is still so little known about the virus. It is important for people to realise that this is not ‘just the flu’ and that no one has immunity to it yet. For people who do want more information, this link provides answers from the Australian Department of Health to some Frequently Asked Questions about Corona Virus . Despite stopping the horrific abuse there are also many things we can do for our Health Care Workers. One of these is to join a Facebook group called ‘Adopt a Healthcare Worker ’ based in your local area and post about what you can offer someone who is on the frontline.
Stood Down From Her Job
Stepping away from the hospital system, it is clear that the Corona Virus is affecting other parts of our society. One of the most noticeable and worrying parts is our employment sector. One of the people in this group is my friend Brianna, who worked in the hospitality industry up until a few weeks ago. This job unfortunately went on hold without pay due to the Government’s shutdown of the hospitality industry. This has put a large amount of stress on Brianna as she currently has no income as it’s taking her and many others a minimum of four weeks to receive any Job Seeker or Job Keeper payments.
During these stressful times it’s clear that a big part of the issue is the lack of resources and information there is concerning the Centrelink payments. In saying this, it is important to note that this uncertainty isn’t at the fault of our government or anyone involved as they are doing their best to keep up with the severe influx of people seeking benefits around this time. Unfortunately this influx has meant that people have a number of weeks without any income before approval of claims. The other side of it is that some employers are refusing to hand out Job Keeper Payments as they believe that they will end up further out of pocket due to the confusing information from the Federal Government. Due to this uncertainty Brianna has suggested that there will be horrible repercussions in terms of a significant rise in mental health conditions after this period.
Disability Support Worker
Our next person who has been significantly affected by the Corona Virus is one of my friends who is a highly qualified Disability Support Worker. This particular individual currently holds three positions within the industry. One of these positions is running a day program for people with disabilities. As she has explained, this group environment is extremely concerning, particularly as many of her clients have difficulties understanding the reasons why everyone needs to be extra cautious around this time. For this and many other reasons, this Disability Support Worker felt extremely at risk and pressured while working, as she felt that there was only so much she could do especially working with a three to one ratio. This facility has currently closed, along with her management role with an equine therapy program, leaving her with basically no work apart from one-off shifts with ‘Hireup’. Even when she does these shifts she is careful to only work with certain people she knows due to limiting the time she spends on public transport and she doesn’t take on extra shifts just to be extra careful.
This has caused a lot of financial stress for this individual, as it has for many others. For this person, their Centrelink claim for financial assistance is still pending as it took her three weeks to contact Centrelink and to finally submit an application. Despite this uncertainty, she acknowledges that she’s lucky being a permanent resident compared to others who are in Australia and not entitled to anything due to their visas. Along with this, she also sees that there is a little bit of positivity during this time by pointing out Facebook groups such as The Kindness Pandemic and Socially Distant Fest. She also suggests that people need to check in with one another from time to time. So if you or someone who you know is going through something at the moment, please contact either Beyond Blue, Lifeline or Are You Ok and remember it’s always ok to get help, especially at a time like this.
Isolating Due To Health Care Needs
Our last example of someone who has been affected significantly by the Corona Virus Outbreak is Julie from Empowering Solutions. Due to her condition, called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Julie has needed to be in isolation for a few months now, much longer than everyone else. This is because Julie’s condition has weakened her muscles and respiratory system so she has difficulty coughing and needs to be cautious even in our regular flu season. Despite this, and the fact that she has to cancel all of her support workers, Julie is seeing the positives in her situation. As Julie points out, she is very lucky to have her family around and support her during this time. Along with this, she also is able to continue working from home and have ample catch ups via video chats. These catch ups have actually increased since Julie has been in isolation. The other positive which Julie has highlighted is that due to companies now being forced to adapt work so that employees can work from home it’s more likely that employers will be more comfortable adapting the work environment for employees with disabilities in the future. To read more about this go to our blog ‘Our realities behind the ‘Remove The Barrier’ campaign and practical tips for how you can get involved with the changing world of employment for people who have disabilities!’
Another way in which Julie is keeping busy and contributing to our community is to participate in a competition called the ‘14 Day Isolate and Innovate Challenge’ which was started by Muscular Dystrophy NSW. This challenge has been designed to encourage people to stay at home, keep everyone safe and have fun expressing their creativity. For Julie, thinking creatively has been an experience which has taken her out of her comfort zone and she is loving the fact that she is doing something to support Muscular Dystrophy NSW, which has helped her and so many others for so long. If you want to see and support Julie’s amazing journey click right here.
Just by hearing about these stories, it is clear that this one virus is changing our world in so many positive and negative ways. Please use this time productively and try to help your friends and family who are struggling right now. We will get through this and the very best thing we can do is to become stronger. Always feel free to contact us at ’On Our Own Tracks’ if you have a suggestion or need something, particularly around this time.