We caught up with Terri Gazi, our Lead Nurse at City Hospice for an update on how Coronavirus is affecting life at City Hospice
I cannot write this without first mentioning what is happening around us. Words cannot express how we at City Hospice are feeling about so many lives being lost to the Coronavirus, including valued and loved members of the health profession.
This is unimaginable horror that is hard to digest without feeling overwhelming sadness, anxiety and fear.
The team here at City Hospice feel it too; it affects us all in different ways. Some team members have loved ones at home they worry about, many have not seen their family or friends for weeks due to lock down. We all miss our family, worry about our children/elderly parents we can no longer check on. We all agree that people need to observe the current guidelines regarding social contact and leaving your homes. This will help reduce the burden on all health services and save lives so please just follow it. The virus may be invisible out in the community, you cannot see it, smell it or hear it but you can try to avoid it by staying home.
We have full
support have the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) we require
There has been a lot of coverage in the media regarding PPE (personnel protective equipment). We have had the full support of our CEO and trustees in making sure we have had enough supplies for every team member. Cardiff and Vale university health board has also helped with this and deliver regular supplies to us for which we are very grateful. I must not forget the wonderful people who have also kindly donated protective face visors.
It is not all about us. We don’t work alone in the community and a massive thank you has to go out to all the district nurses and GPs who work in Cardiff alongside us. They are all caring compassionate and dedicated health professionals. The carers who go into the homes of many people who would not be able to remain in their own homes without this support must also have a big mention. Times are getting harder, but maintaining essential services is everyone’s priority, even though they may now work a little differently. On a positive note because there is so much less traffic on the roads we are managing to get around our patients so much quicker!!
To update you on our team
To update you on our staff, we are lucky enough to have the return of two nurses this week who have been self isolating. Our counselling department has been particularly busy but hopefully plans are in place which will ease the waiting time. Our Occupational Therapist remains available if you have any practical mobility problems alongside the social worker and welfare rights officer. The doctors well what can I say, they carry on doing their doctor stuff both in work and outside of work, making sure we are always up to date with any changes to the current public health guidelines. The admin team continue to support us, organise us and generally keep everything ticking over which is remarkable at such a difficult time. The building is emptier with non-essential staff at home; this allows clinical staff to work in a much more spacious environment offering social distancing in the workplace. However it is fair to say we miss our non-clinical colleagues and hope to see them all very soon.
Thank you for your donations and lovely messages, they mean so much to us
Thank you to everyone who has made a donation to the charity during our current COVID 19 appeal. It is also lovely to see your positive and kind messages posted on the City Hospice social media pages. This really does boost the morale of all staff. We remain in our hospice building going out to see patients, plus using digital consultations whenever possible. Finally when you see us out and about in the coming weeks there is a little change to the uniform. Both doctors and nurses will now be in scrubs. As modelled in the picture.
Stay safe and remember we are all here for you.
Terri
