WHAT IT IS TO BE

Nurses and personal support workers who care for our most vulnerable, our senior citizens, those who have come so far and are in need of greater care. X-T3 + XF16-55mmF2.8 at f/4.5, 1/60 sec, ISO 80

WHAT IT IS TO BE Essential?

As the global pandemic persists, we begin to recognise that everyone is essential.

“It’s not what you look at that matters; it’s who you see.” ― Henry David Thoreau

This is the final article in a series of six with an overarching theme. When I was asked if I could write and shoot the stories, I chose ‘Life In The Age Of COVID’ as the theme, as it is a unique time in our global history: a time where everyone is experiencing and having to figure things out together as a global community.

The stories have taken me on a huge journey, not only in the few thousand kilometres driven or the places chosen to shoot, but also meeting many fascinating people doing good work for so many. This final story has been saved for last, to celebrate who would not necessarily be thought of as providing a vital role during a pandemic. This, of course, is the changing and evolving definition of essential workers.

In the downtown core of Toronto, the Scott Mission has, since 1941, been a provider of services to poor, homeless and vulnerable people. Among its many programmes, the Mission also provides shelter and beds for men.

For seven years, Aldo Hernandez has worked at the Scott Mission. Once a single parent in a shelter himself, Aldo is originally from Mexico, has worked hard and, with the help of the Mission, is now employed and has two children with a third on the way.

“Seeing lives being changed”, Aldo answers when asked what he loves about his role with the men who use the shelter. As someone who has benefitted from the care and support he has received, he is proud to pay it forward – connecting the men with resources, listening to their stories and to help them on their own journey to dignity and a better life.

After needing the help of the Scott Mission himself, Aldo Hernandez is proud to pay it forward in the Mission that gave him a second chance. X-Pro2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 at f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO 320

Massage therapist Fern Ambre is seeing many clients who are suffering from the effects of COVID-related anxiety and stress. X-T3 + XF56mmF1.2 at f/1.2, 1/500 sec, ISO 250

The definition of essential workers, as taken from Canada’s federal government website is as follows: “Essential workers are considered critical to preserving life, health and basic societal functioning”.

While I agree with the definition, I also believe this pandemic has also extended the construct into roles we would not have considered essential, pre-COVID.

An example of what would have been thought of as non-essential pre-COVID, is the role of the Registered Massage Therapist (RMT). Fern Ambre is a Registered Massage Therapist. “As a result of COVID stress and anxiety, people have mainly been coming in with back, neck and shoulder pain. You’d think that people would be coming in for relaxation massages to reduce stress and relax, but many people are coming in to reduce pain. Therefore, deep tissue massages are what people are looking for.”

Fern and the other RMTs and chiropractors at the Foundation Physiotherapy Clinic are located in downtown Toronto and serve the very urban part of the city where people are beginning to realise this is going to be a long haul.

Like most of us, we are now sitting at home in make-shift offices and, in most cases, in chairs and at desks that are not necessarily designed for many months of desk work. The physiotherapy clinic near my home is open under extremely rigid protocols and practices – I know, I have had to use them!

You walk out your door, head to the local transit stop and head to your destination. In this city, our transit system is often packed on a regular day. I don’t often take the bus or subway these days, but I can see that ridership is down and the system is trying to space its riders out to attempt some sort of distancing.

Gary Goldberg, a driver for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), has most definitely been on the front lines of tension these past many months. “Customer tensions are high. There have been a lot of fights. We don’t enforce fares or mask wearing for fear of being assaulted or even killed. There was a bus driver recently shot to death in the U.S. for not letting him on the bus without a mask.”

Public utilities are trying their best to accommodate people and to evolve as institutions quickly and as needs arise. Those who work with the public on a daily basis could adopt Gary’s outlook, “My philosophy at the moment is to drive the bus safely and not confront anyone about anything.”

Transit workers have a front row seat to the displays of human nature under pressure. X100F at f/3.2, 1/60 sec, ISO 400

Another essential service, and one that is regulated, is the taxi industry in Canada. I have been a customer of Beck Taxi in Toronto for decades. They have well-trained drivers who are safe, very pleasant and professional. All taxi drivers run the risk of encountering passengers who are anxious, stressed and sometimes uncooperative.

“It is just part of the job”, says Raza Ahmad, a driver of two years for the taxi company. After emigrating to Canada in 1993 from Pakistan, Raza had worked construction for many years. He is now a lauded driver who inspires many passengers to write to the company to offer praise for his service.

With a soft, shy smile, Raza deflects from the compliments and explains how he usually greets and welcomes his fares, “Basically what I do is I open the door for them and welcome them, and I have hand sanitiser for them on both doors. There is water for them, too, if they would like it.”

At 6:00pm, the ambient light is just right at this time of year to balance three strobes to make a portrait of Raza. He is on shift but makes the time to stop where I have set up lights on a quiet street for a portrait with his polished ride! After a distanced chat and a promise to send him some images, he is off to pick up another fare – one of typically 10,000 made a day, city-wide for Beck taxi.

With thousands of trips a day, taxi companies cope with and, in one case, excel at assuring the riding public that close contact can be stress-free. X100F at f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO 100

A nurse cares for an infant in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a world-renowned children’s hospital. X-Pro2 + XF1655mmF2.8 at f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO 3200

Of course, no talk of essential workers is complete until the guardian angels of health care are mentioned. Nurses provide a broad array of care for all life – from birth to death. As one physician put it to me just the other day, they are the superheroes and backbone of our health system.

In the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), a nurse tends to an infant in critical condition after heart surgery with the parents at the bedside. The infant did not survive. I am no stranger to the NICU of many hospitals and it is an honour to be asked to provide bereavement family portraits with the parents and those infants who have died in the hours before or for those who will be removed from life-support. The staff of the NICUs are gifted and resolute. They not only comfort the infants, but also comfort grief-stricken parents.

At the other end of our lives, nurses and personal support workers (PSW) offer end of life care and comfort. Inside so many nursing homes, COVID-19 has dealt an especially brutal blow to our ageing parents.

With one parent gone and another in their 90s, I have seen the outpouring of love and care from nurses. It takes a very special person to smile, support and, at times, risk their own lives in care facilities that are being decimated by this pandemic. Now just opening, with military-like stringent protocols, we are slowly able to visit loved ones, albeit it is scheduled, and visits are tightly timelimited.

The group photograph of nurses and PSWs was a reshoot several hours away from Toronto where the first session was rained out. Deerhurst Resort in the Muskoka region of Ontario was fully behind this shoot and made their private runway available as the location. With three Godox strobes, the light was perfectly balanced with a typical Muskoka sky – for about 5 minutes! After the group image, a separate area was set up to make individual portraits of the nurses in the natural autumn beauty of the area.

A war bride, 92-year-old Vera Cottrell is grateful to have Maria Ponce as her personal support worker. They have known each other for many years. Maria was the support worker for Vera’s husband before he died four year ago. They have a playful, cheeky friendship and banter that brings a smile to my face. The dedication and care Maria gives comes from her long-time desire to help.

When Maria was a young girl growing up in the Philippines, she always had a dream, “It was in my heart to look after people”, and with her father’s advice, “Follow you dreams”, Maria emigrated to Canada in 2010 and enjoys her many clients for whom she cares deeply.

From the plexiglass barriers at the grocery store check-outs to long-haul truckers moving goods around the world to trade workers who enter our homes, workers continue to provide care and service for us, even if it means there may be a chance of coming in contact with COVID-19. It is for those people, and everyone else, that we must wear masks and follow health guidelines so that workers on whom we rely can continue to be essential.

Cheeky banter and laughter between a personal support worker and her 92 year-old client. X100F at f/2.2, 1/125 sec, ISO 250