Name: Isabella Christian Job title: Personal Support Worker Employer: Laurier Manor Long Term Care
As the pandemic began to hit hard and Residents and staff were getting sick, I along with a few others dedicated our lives to help and be there for the residents.
I made myself available to be at work from 6:30 am to sometimes 7:00 pm. It was terrible at times especially when they couldn’t find anyone to come in to work. I remembered on one shift there were only 3 of us on the floor to care for almost 30 residents. Wow, I actually cried that day and asked God for help. The residents depended on us for everything since they were not allowed to see families or even getting out of their rooms. Try keeping a resident with dementia who is a wanderer in their room. Been there done that! It wasn’t easy at all. It was really hard getting to work in the morning since public transportation was only running on a Sunday schedule. I had to walk 23 minutes every morning to get the bus to Blair station where I get the bus to work.
I personally didn’t care for any of the residents who were covid positive but I worked very hard to prevent it from spreading to the ones that were negative. Trying to keep them safe by following all the procedures and wearing proper PPE. There were 2 of my residents who tested positive but had to move them to the floor where all the active cases were. However one survived and he came back. Sadly, the other one passed away. He was so dear to my heart. It was very sad because many residents who died with covid didn’t even get to see their love ones. They only saw us the caregivers who worked tirelessly in full PPE in the middle of the pandemic. We were all they saw day in and day out every day. I am glad God gave me the strength to be there for them.
Summitted by Bertillia Christian