When COVID-19 was primarily a news story from the west coast, we really did not give much thought if it. I was getting tired of hearing about it on the news every night since it was not anywhere near us. We all felt there is nothing to worry about. It will never get to us
Suddenly the numbers kept getting higher and higher and started spreading across the country. And now we started to talk about it in morning meeting. We had plans but there was nothing to compare it to.
Suddenly it is nearby
Quickly there was a single case in the next county over…..but that’s a major city so no big deal. 1 person out of thousands. Again not here. We won’t have to worry. Then it seems to double, then triple, then quadruple. Then it’s a case in our county.
PPE planning
So we hear that an N95 mask will help us during care. But wait ….we can’t get any. Everyone is sold out and the facilities can get them. That’s when we started to get them wherever we could. Even the major chain home improvement stores. Suddenly they were gone also.
The plan starts…..
So the plan was to stop all new admissions for 2 weeks. Then 2 weeks became a month as slowly all the therapists were barely working. Then we started to transition to isolation in rooms only. Do you know how hard it is as a therapist to be restricted to the available space in a resident room to do walking and other activities? This is also while wearing an N95 mask, gown, gloves, and face shields. This was also possibly the scariest point of time. Testing was done but took almost a week to get results. You could almost imagine the possibility of little virus particles floating around and praying they do not have it. At this time we would be spending an hour to an hour and 15 mins one on one in the resident room. It was terrifying at first until the first test came back.
Staff testing gets started
Around this time we started testing staff twice a week. Swab your nose and hopefully in 3 to 4 days you would check online and be negative. Luckily because it was done as a group the results came back just in time to swab and test again. It was nerve wracking but at least you knew.
Facility plans become family plans
So now the big question. What to do when the test comes back positive. My family plan was to be under the expectation that I might not be coming home one night. I had a full backpack of clothes and Toiletries prepared in the back of my truck just waiting for the bad news. I even would change out from scubs into a laundry bag in the back of my truck after work.
Disposable becomes reusable
In order to make our N95 masks last we had to start storing them overnight in paper lunch bags to let them dry out from the day. We would have to keep using them until they did not fit well anymore.
Soon other PPE was running short
We were even having trouble getting surgical gowns and gloves. Suddenly we are hanging up disposable surgical gowns at doorways to conserve them. You even had to prioritize when you really NEEDED to wear gloves. Eventually we were able to change to truely washable and reusable gowns and get back to single use again.
Gradually the PPE was available again
Thankfully the situation with PPE was relieved and we were able to use our supplies appropriately. We were still treating only in resident rooms but was able to transition to only wearing masks after learning more about the virus. After the isolation period we were at least able to decrease the amount of stuff needed to wear which made it a little easier to work with. It also helped our fears once the new residents made it through the 14 day isolation protocol without symptoms or a positive test. We made it through this we can handle this.
