Saada Awad, Misericordia Place

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing our world and health-care professionals are on the front lines.

“The one thing I really don’t like about the PPE is that I can’t share my smiles,” laments Saada Awad, a health-care aide at Misericordia Place, pointing to her mask.

Saada understands the importance of wearing Personal Protective Equipment, a crucial COVID-19 precaution, but spends much of her day explaining to residents why she is wearing it.

“They keeping asking me if I’m sick,” she says, “I explain I’m wearing it to protect them. Many residents forget and I have to explain again.”

Saada is also finding it tough not being able to hug the residents she cares for: “I now touch their arms, rather than hugging.”

A new aspect of Saada’s position is helping residents with FaceTime, an activity she finds very rewarding.

“I felt so bad residents couldn’t have visitors, keeping in touch is so important.”

She’s extremely happy families are now allowed to visit in person with residents again, for everyone’s sake.

“The residents are very excited about the visits,” she says, “When you say family is coming, they really perk up.”

COVID-19 has also brought “single-site staffing” to all personal care homes in Manitoba, meaning staff can only work at one personal care home so as to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. Saada thinks this was an excellent development as “it’s much safer for our residents, and my co-workers.”

If there is a silver lining to COVID-19, it’s that it has brought Saada’s children all under one roof again. “My daughter is studying at U of M and has now come back home to live. I’m very happy we’re all together.”

Keep COVID-19 informed by visiting: covid19manitoba.ca

#mhcfamily #healthcareheroesMB #COVID19

Y Lam, Laundry and Linen

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing our world and health-care professionals are on the front lines.

Tuyet Lam has been at Misericordia for 40 years, first working in housekeeping and now with laundry and linen.

Tuyet – known as “Y” for short – launders linen and clothing for Misericordia Place and the Transitional Care Units. She then preps everything for the porters to deliver to residents’ rooms.

“It’s always busy and more busy now since COVID-19,” says Y.

Y and the laundry department don personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, eye shields, gowns and gloves. In addition to their usual loads of laundry, the team has been washing handmade masks donated by Face Masks for Manitoba, which are used for staff PPE training.

COVID-19 has brought many changes both professionally and personally for many. While Y notes that the laundry and linen staff have remained calm throughout the pandemic so far, she’s had to make adjustments in her personal life.

“I hadn’t seen my daughter who lives in Morden from March until May. We talked on FaceTime every night,” she says.

Two of Y’s three daughters also work in health care, so things have been quite busy for everyone in her family.

“For Father’s Day we had a barbecue and we had everyone together – the whole family – for the first time since the beginning of COVID.”

Keep COVID-19 informed by visiting: covid19manitoba.ca

#mhcfamily #healthcareheroesMB #COVID19

Angela Harrysingh, Social Work

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing our world and health-care professionals are on the front lines.

Angela Harrysingh joined the MHC social work department in late 2019, returning to the workforce in a completely new role after maternity leave with her second child.

“I went from an office job to a health-centre setting – it was quite a change of pace,” says Angela.

Formerly working at employment and income assistance, Angela now spends the majority of her days discharge planning for Transitional Care clients at Misericordia.

“When COVID-19 first hit, it was a big shock. I was scared,” she says noting that because she’d never experienced anything like the current pandemic and there were many unknowns at first.

Due to the pandemic, Angela’s day-to-day duties have come with added challenges.

“All meetings with clients’ families are now by phone. I like to touch base with families right from the beginning in person, so it’s been challenging to ensure the family feels involved.”

Whether clients are going from transitional care at MHC to long-term care, independent living or supportive housing, due to COVID-19, family members or loved ones aren’t always able to see apartments or housing in advance. Sometimes there was an option for virtual or iPad tours.

“I had a client who was set to move to assisted living, but they decided to move in with loved ones instead, so they would be able to have family and friends visit.”

For some clients COVID-19 has been an extremely stressful and anxiety-inducing time, which can impact overall mental health.

“I’ve tried to remain as calm as possible. At the end of the day, I get to go home to my family. I can’t imagine what it’s like to not be with loved ones right now.”

Keep COVID-19 informed by visiting: covid19manitoba.ca

#mhcfamily #healthcareheroesMB #COVID19

Sylvia Chidlow, Focus on Falls Prevention Vision Screening to Patient Escort and Entrance Screening

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing our world and health-care professionals are on the front lines.

With the onset of COVID-19 in Manitoba, Sylvia Chidlow’s job has completely changed. Before the pandemic she was working as the program assistant and arranging optometry clinics for the Focus on Falls Prevention Vision Screening program.

“Pre-COVID I’d travel to personal-care homes with one of our two optometrists and our mobile eye clinic,” says Sylvia. “The idea for a mobile eye clinic started as a Misericordia project and now Focus on Falls has grown to traveling throughout Manitoba.”

As of April 21, Sylvia has traded in her eye kit for personal protective equipment. The vision-screening clinics have temporarily been suspended, so she’s been spending her days on-site at MHC as a patient escort and entrance screener.

“My step count has really increased – up to 16,000 steps during my shift alone – since I’ve been taking patients to and from their appointments,” she says as she drinks some orange juice to re-hydrate after a morning shift.

Sylvia notes that a major part of her new role includes reassuring patients and their loved ones: “I’m here to help when families can’t come in. It’s especially hard when they’re elderly patients. I show everyone that everything is in control and safety measures are in place.”

As elective surgeries at Misericordia ramp back up, Sylvia jokes that her step count will be ramping up, too.

“I’m excited to get back to traveling and doing optometry clinics. An optometry appointment can be a social event for many older adults.”

Keep COVID-19 informed by visiting: covid19manitoba.ca

#mhcfamily #healthcareheroesMB #COVID19

Peggy Mayham, Clinical Resource Team

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing our world and health-care professionals are on the front lines.

Peggy Mayham, a Clinical Resource Team (CRT) nurse, has many stories to tell about the last three months since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared.

Right away, she put her name forward to assist the Health Links – Info Santé team with their COVID-19 screening calls.

“It’s hard to describe what it was like,” says Peggy. “There was a 2-hour wait time and the call volumes kept increasing. There was a lot of fear and uncertainty in the voices of the Manitobans calling in.”

The CRT practices changed immediately as well. This 24/7 unique team at Misericordia has a variety of roles, including handling emergency eye intake patients and responding to codes such as a Code Blue, which necessitates face-to-face patient care.

“We wore PPE right away,” says Peggy, “and did a lot of preparation work to ensure safety, like preparing patients rooms and setting up an isolated waiting room.”

A lot of Peggy’s role was easing patients’ fears and offering calm reassurance to accompanying family members – and often to other staff.

“We’re all in the same boat,” she says matter-of-factly.

One exciting element COVID-19 brought to MHC was an enhanced collaboration between the CRT, the University of Manitoba Ophthalmology Residency Clinic, and the ophthalmology on-call team.

“Typically we’re more separated,” explains Peggy, “with most ophthalmologists at outside offices.

“One day, we had a patient present with a retinal detachment. The CRT referred him to the resident on call. The patient was then seen by two other specialists at MHC and had surgery the same day – saving his sight.

“I’m proud of how our entire team here at MHC came together and adapted to all the challenges within this unique fluid environment of COVID-19. We worked exceptionally well together to protect our patients and the public while simultaneously working to ensure our own safety by following policies and procedures.”

On a more personal note, Peggy hails from Split Lake Tataskweyak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba. She moved to Winnipeg for her daughter to attend high school. While her daughter was in high school, Peggy completed her nursing degree, graduating in 2005.

“I thought I would stay five years at most at Misericordia,” she says with a smile. “It’s been 15. I worked for 12 years in Urgent Care before moving to the CRT. I enjoyed working with my colleagues in Urgent Care. They became my work family, so the decision to stay long term was an easy one.

Author: Heidi Klaschka