FEATURE LONG COVID
Embracing new challenges
Nicola Slade , senior occupational therapist at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust , reflects on what it was like to be told to go home and stay at home when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year , before finding volunteering work and ultimately redeployment
Monday 23 March 2020 would turn out to be my last day working as an occupational therapist in the rapid assessment team in the emergency department for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust .
Speaking to colleagues in the emergency department earlier that day , it was becoming clear that I should avoid any close face-to-face contact with patients . With this in mind , we began to explore adapting my role within the team .
Then the government text arrived at 6.17pm , advising me that I was ‘ someone at risk of severe illness ’ if I caught COVID-19 and to ‘ remain at home for a minimum of 12 weeks ’.
I remember thinking , ‘ Why me ? I am not vulnerable .’ First came the shock , disbelief , confusion , then the tears . Over the next few days guilt , frustration and anger started to kick in .
My emotions were all over the place , bursting into tears for no reason . Guilt at not being at work supporting my emergency department colleagues as the pandemic started to take hold . The frustration of not being able to offer remote support . Anger at not knowing how long I was going to be at home and what was going to happen to me and my role as an occupational therapist in the emergency department .
A very gradual acceptance of the situation ensued , trying to look at the positives not just the negatives . More government letters and texts arrived advising me what to do and what not to do .
Like many during this pandemic , occupational deprivation ( Christiansen and Townsend 2004 ) was thrust upon me . Suddenly daily roles and meaningful occupations were taken away . No more scuba diving and no more going to the supermarket . My only slice of ‘ normal ’ was going out with my husband to exercise early in the evening when there was no-one around .
My bicycle gave me the opportunity to escape down the country lanes and reconnect with nature ; I had never truly appreciated what was on my doorstep until now .
I wanted to be positive and proactive , I wanted to help and feel useful . So I volunteered for Age UK as part of its Befriending Service , calling our local older and vulnerable residents for a supportive chat .
This enabled me to build wonderful client-centred relationships , and was just as therapeutic for me as I hoped it was for my new friends , helping me to start to rebalance my occupational identity ( Christiansen and Townsend 2004 ). It also gave me a sense of meaning and purpose in those early days , which as occupational therapists we know is essential to health and wellbeing .
So , I continued to make these calls for the next five months until I was redeployed into my current role back at the hospital . Nothing happened quickly , except the spread of COVID-19 . At least I could now access my work emails via my tablet and connect up , do some CPD and take part in webinars .
The ‘ Building resilience for NHS redeployment ’ webinar at the end of April was a light bulb moment . I was more resilient than I had given myself credit for and I now had more tools to support me on my new journey – my new mantra was ‘ be kind to yourself ’.
At the beginning of May , a laptop was ready for collection – now I could re-connect with the therapy team . I was also offered the chance to support the deputy chief AHP and lead a piece of work looking at the impact of COVID-19 and patient experience following discharge from hospital following a positive COVID-19 diagnosis . This became my contribution to feel part of and to help in the fight against this pandemic .
The aim of the survey was to try and understand the impact of COVID-19 on our local population and to gain insight into the patients ’ experience and outcomes , while capturing any ongoing problems and any therapy input that was needed after discharge , something now referred to as ‘ Long Covid ’ ( Callard and Perego 2021 ).
40 OTnews July 2021
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