N E A R LY 7 5 % O F H E A LT H - C A R E W O R K E R S I N O N TA R I O A R E W O M E N A N D E V E RY O N E O F T H E M I S A H E R O ! IN THIS ISSUE WE SALUTE 10 LOCAL FRONTLINERS Special edition cover story by Nikki Gill
CONTRACTING COVID-19 ON THE JOB
THE SILENT HEROES OF THE FRONT LINE
JULIE NARDI
KAREN AZAVEDO
© Kevin Van Paassen
As a university student, Julie Nardi says she was always fascinated by virology. “As a respiratory therapist, I started my career only a few short years after SARS hit Toronto but have worked during the threats of H1N1 and Ebola and have always felt it was just a matter of time before something bigger hit,” she says. While working a shift on New Year’s Eve at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, she read a headline that a novel SARS-like virus had been identified in Wuhan, China and that multiple people were infected. “It was in that moment when I thought, this is it,” says Nardi. She says Sunnybrook has been actively preparing for an influx of patients since the admission of the hospital’s first COVID-positive patient in January. It’s this type of environment that reminds Nardi why she chose this career. “I was drawn to the idea of working in a fast-paced environment with individuals from different professional backgrounds, all having the common goal of providing optimal care,” she says. Her biggest challenge has been ensuring the team stays ready, but she says the support from the community has been phenomenal. “Members of the Leaside community have shown their appreciation for our team by sending baked goods and handwritten messages of love and support,” says Nardi. “Respiratory therapists are the silent heroes of the front line. Day in and day out, we care for the most critically ill patients, and it has been so uplifting to feel the support of family, friends, and the community.”
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
ALMOST FOUR DECADES IN THE ER
SIEW TANG
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Siew Tang has been a registered nurse for 38 years and has spent much of that time at North York General, including during the 2003 SARS crisis. “We were providing care to patients in the emergency department as many of them were our own health-care workers. It was frightening and stressful watching your own being infected and suffering from the virus,” says Tang. Now, as she faces the COVID-19 pandemic, Tang says the number of patients is more than she has encountered or witnessed in her decades-long career. “The leadership team was proactive and engaged us, as front line staff, to create new pathways, training modules, and instilled a safety-first mentality with a serious focus on PPE,” she says. Wearing PPE for a full shift in triage is a big challenge for her — her throat is dry and her skin is cracking from the friction of the mask. “I have had to remove my wedding ring due to the skin breakdown around my fingers from the sanitizer and frequent handwashing,” she says. Another challenge is that she will not be able to fulfill her promise to visit her mom this Mother’s Day due to the travel restrictions. Tang pursued nursing after watching her mom and grandmother care for her dad who suffered a stroke in his 40s. “It was a very powerful image watching two very strong women unselfishly take care of others before themselves,” she says. She always reminds herself of the human side of this pandemic. “Every patient is someone’s mom, dad, brother, or sister.”
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N o r t h Yo r k G e n e r a l H o s p i t a l
A few weeks after occupational therapist Karen Azavedo began working with COVID-19 patients, she began to show symptoms of the virus. “I developed a cough and tickle in my throat, and, as per our hospital’s policies, I had to be tested and sent home,” she says. In mid-April, the test at Toronto Western Hospital confirmed that Azavedo had the virus, and she began self-isolating at a colleague’s home in the spare bedroom. “The hardest part is having to leave my family and being away from them until I’m well,” says Azavedo, who left her husband and 18month-old daughter as she entered isolation. Azavedo, who has been an occupational therapist for 14 years, says she chose the profession because it allows her to work with patients to maximize their function after a hospitalization or illness. “There is something wonderful about being able to help others in a period of uncertainty in their lives,” she says. But she notes that never in her wildest dreams did she think she would face a pandemic like this in her career. “Once the pandemic hit, the hospital had to adapt and restructure in a short time frame. An entire floor was devoted to COVID-19 patients, and I was assigned to be the first occupational therapist on the COVID-19 unit,” says Azavedo. Her focus was to maximize function for patients as they recover and plan their discharge. Currently, Azavedo is thankful for the support she’s received from colleagues and friends and is grateful she can see her husband and daughter through video calls.
To r o n t o W e s t e r n H o s p i t a l