COVID-19 on the inside

Hospitals. Noisy, busy places where you can’t get a car park to save yourself, but you can at least get a decent cup of coffee. Yeah, not so much at level 4 lockdown, aye?

I love the noise of the hospital. Visitors trying to find their loved ones, or dads frantically scrambling to the birthing suite. Flowers being delivered, surgical teams getting lunch, orderlies moving patients around and nurses racing to get to their start of shift meeting. The beeping, the running, the laughing and chatting. It’s a great energy. But today the corridors are pretty empty as staff stay put as much as possible – stop moving, stop the virus. Masks mean even saying good morning is stifled. Chairs and tables have been removed. It’s a very different kind of hospital, but behind the corridors, it’s business as usual.

There’s busy, and then there’s B.U.S.Y. If you were following the news at all BL (before lockdown), you’ll know that we had a few nursing vacancies to start with. With staff having to isolate if they’re sick or if they’ve been at a location of interest, it’s harder still. The amazing thing is how this beast of a business can move people around to cover the gaps. Yes, it means some elective surgery has to stop or be delayed, and those are seriously difficult decisions to make. But it means we can care for our community now.

Here’s the irony. Right now, I can get a car park but I can’t get a decent coffee. :-) You’ll be amused to know that the subject of coffee has been on the agenda at the Incident Management Team meetings – is it essential? Is it not? Probably depends on the extent of your addiction. I’m firmly in the essential camp. But it’s hardly life and death, right?

I stopped to get petrol a few days ago, and the attendant saw my Auckland DHB ID card. “Do you work at the hospital?” he asked. I nodded and he said “thank you for your service”. I was so embarrassed, and touched, and… well, mainly embarrassed. What I do is nothing compared to the amazing mahi from our patient-facing teams. The teams who, together, actually save lives, and put themselves in danger to do so.

Be safe out there people. Look after each other and be kind to nurses and orderlies and cleaners and doctors. You don’t have to be kind to me. Seriously – I’m just figuring out how to keep the communications flowing smoothly without real coffee on my desk. :-)

Disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are those of the author only.?