For everyone from front-liners to top decision makers, it’s been a wild 365 days.
COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic March 11, 2020.
The front line
For developmental services worker Brenda Morgan, everything changed — except her desire to provide care to people in their homes.
“It changed my whole outlook on everything,” said Morgan, who works for Happy at Home Support Services. “The most challenging part is ensuring I’m keeping myself and my family safe as well as the people that I serve.”
Every week for the past year, she has had a COVID-19 test.
“That gives me peace of mind that I’m not transmitting anything to my patients and my clients and that I’m not bringing it home,” she said.
It’s unlikely Morgan will be found anywhere without a stock of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and personal protective equipment (PPE).
“It’s become my kit and I carry it everywhere,” she said. “Now that the variants are here, we have to be extra fastidious with our PPE.”
One of the most difficult parts of providing care in people’s own homes has been uncertainty. When she gets to the door, she asks the client a number of questions before entering, including whether they’ve had visitors. Many of them are elderly and might not be able to remember.
“It’s a lot of extra work and added stress,” Morgan said. “People talk about social distancing, but it’s kind of hard to socially distance from someone when you’re giving them a sponge bath.”
Sometimes family members will visit from another area of the province, and they don’t always follow safety protocols, including wearing a mask. Some simply don’t understand the importance of doing so, Morgan said.
“So, not only are we doing care; we’re doing education as well,” she said.
Despite the challenges, working during the pandemic has also presented some “rewarding” experiences.
“It has made us more aware of what a person’s needs are,” she said.
For some clients, care workers are the only people they’ve been seeing during the pandemic. Morgan and others have gone the extra mile, undertaking tasks that aren’t in their job descriptions and trying to connect clients virtually with family and friends to combat the effects of social isolation.
Morgan knows they are efforts well spent, especially when caring for clients who are palliative.
“It’s been rewarding to be there to comfort that person and be their support and be with them during their transition from this life to the next one,” she said.
One palliative client got all of Morgan’s attention. She gave her a sponge bath and did everything she could to make her comfortable. Morgan was scheduled to return to the client’s home that evening, but the woman died before that visit.
“I know I made a difference,” Morgan said. “I did everything I could and I made a difference.”
Her wish is that more people in the community would do their part, too, to make a difference and help curb the spread of the virus. That includes stopping the rhetoric that is widespread online.
As someone on the front line, “it’s extremely frustrating to see people say on social media, ‘You’re sheep’ or ‘You’re a Liberal’ or ‘You’re a Trudeau supporter,’” she said.
“It’s very challenging.”
The hospital
Marking a year since the declaration of a pandemic isn’t a happy anniversary, but it's an important one to observe, said Carmine Stumpo, president and CEO of Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH).
“Any anniversary is a great opportunity for reflection,” he said. “There are some very profound reflections around lives lost, businesses, families. There is an opportunity to pause to remember.”
It’ll be a difficult experience to forget.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how many directional changes we’ve had over the past year,” he said, referencing operations at OSMH.
Those changes have included setting up an assessment centre on site and then moving it to Rotary Place, postponing certain medical procedures and responding with little notice to public health guidelines.
“It’s a very long time to be functioning in that realm of uncertainty,” Stumpo said.
While the roll-out of vaccines is providing hope, “there’s still a lot of uncertainty.”
“We are seeing the impact of the vaccines in long-term care, which is profoundly reducing the death and despair,” he said.
He and his team saw a lot of that when OSMH took over operations of Roberta Place in Barrie, where the virus killed more than 70 people. The U.K. variant was also found to be spreading at the long-term care home.
The variants that have been found in the region are cause for concern, Stumpo said.
“They’ve added a whole new element to the pandemic,” he said.
While “there’s a lot to be hopeful for” with the vaccines, he is urging people to continue to exercise precautions.
“We still need to follow the lead of public health, follow the measures. Hope cannot be a reason to drop your guard,” he said. “Our best response is when we work as one community. We all have an obligation to each other, and that has been the response locally. It’s been a team effort.”
“We’re going to do everything we can to get to the point where we can safely vaccinate everyone who wants one,” he added, noting there are four “highly effective” vaccines. “That is not just a reason to be hopeful; that is evidence (that they work).”
The post-pandemic experience won’t be smooth sailing, he said, at least not for a while. Addressing the mental health implications of more than a year in a pandemic will be “a daunting task.”
“That’s going to be a real focal point for everyone — us included — in the recovery phase,” Stumpo said. “You just don’t jump back into pre-COVID life.”
The city
Mayor Steve Clarke also stressed the importance of focusing on mental health, both during and after the pandemic.
“It can really wear on you,” he said.
That goes for everyone, from residents and city staff to first responders and politicians.
Clarke said Fire Chief Brent Thomas has made it a point to ask those at emergency committee meetings how they’re doing, at the end of the meetings. He asks what colour best reflects their mental state: green, yellow or red.
“The majority of the times, people are green, but there have been some times when people really opened up,” Clarke said.
“I understand how tough it has been on our individual citizens, our businesses, our service providers,” he continued. “It’s been hard on physical health and extremely hard on mental health.”
When Clarke became mayor, he knew it would be a demanding job, but, like many, he never imagined he’d be serving the city during a pandemic.
“The job, at the best of times, is extraordinary and all-encompassing, but the last year has had a lot of challenges,” he said. “I’ve realized how important it is to work as a team. It is nothing but great teamwork and attitudes and perseverance that get us through this situation.”
A sense of determination was there from the start, he said, referring to, for example, the quick work of the emergency management committee and the creation of the economic recovery task force.
More than 300 meetings of the various committees have been held in the past year, and Clarke has provided 50 mayor’s video updates on COVID-19.
Watch the latest video update (#50) from @Clarke4Orillia
— City of Orillia (@cityoforillia) March 9, 2021
to learn more about the City's reopening plans as we return to the Red-Control zone. As we gradually reopen, please remember to follow all public health protocols.https://t.co/XRtzILjywx #orillia #weareinthistogether
Clarke also praised council for setting aside funding to help local businesses and social service agencies.
The greatest challenge, he said, has been “not knowing exactly what the future holds.”
“We’ve gone through so many different stages of opening and closing, and that has been extremely tough,” he said. “Business owners are in such a precarious position. They’re worried about whether they’re going to stay afloat.”
Like Stumpo, Clarke said there is reason to be hopeful while remaining vigilant.
“If it wasn’t for these variants that we have in Simcoe-Muskoka, we would be in a much more stable position. It leaves us in a very precarious position,” he said. “It’s up to all of us to keep the measures in place and keep the variants at bay. If we don’t, we all know what happens.”
The mayor thanked everyone who has stepped up during the pandemic, particularly health-care and other front-line and essential workers.
He praised OSMH staff for their work at Roberta Place — “what I would call a war zone” — as well as Dr. Charles Gardner, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s medical officer of health, who, like many in a position like his, has faced criticism from a frustrated public.
“Dr. Gardner has had a tough couple of weeks, but I also believe he has one of the toughest jobs in Simcoe-Muskoka,” he said.
