04 THERE WERE TIMES DURING COVID I DIDN’T THINK I COULD COPE” April #AuthorOfTheMonth, Care Home Manager Helena Maher, shares her heartbreakingly personal reflection on her toughest year.
I
n March 2020, as the case numbers were going up in this country, we didn’t really know what to do. We were trying to secure PPE, and information for care homes from the Department of Health was sketchy. Testing wasn’t available in March and April. If staff at The Royal Star & Garter Surbiton Home - where I work as Care Home Manager - had symptoms, they self-isolated. The first confirmed case was a resident who had recent hospital treatment. I was frustrated. We’d kept the virus away from residents. Now I was anxious about how we would prevent it spreading. Staff were scared, and I understood why - I was too. They didn’t want to come into work, potentially contract the virus and take it home with them. By April and May the virus was moving through the home. Once it got into
a hallway, it started to spread. I’m an experienced nurse, and I really struggled to work out what I could do to prevent it. We ramped up training on PPE and handwashing and instigated regular deep cleans. We moved residents who weren’t showing symptoms to other rooms, and managed to contain the virus. IT FELT LIKE MONTHS WHEN WE JUST COULDN’T GET ON TOP OF IT. EVERYBODY WAS COMING TO ME FOR ADVICE, BUT I’M NOT A COVID SPECIALIST! I had a lot of sleepless nights. There were times when I felt I couldn’t cope. I remember saying to my husband: “This is too big for me, I can’t do it, I don’t know what I’m dealing with.”
