The Queen’s community and the Covid crisis “It has been one of the biggest challenges I have faced both within my life and career.” Becky Smith, Nurse (Becky is Dr Smith’s wife – Dr Smith teaches Maths and Computer Science at Queen’s) Why did you enter nursing and when did you know that that was going to be your career path? I entered nursing knowing that it was a great combination of both the subjects I liked at school and the things I was passionate about outside of school. I loved studying Biology, PE and Maths at A-level and nursing was a great combination of all of these subjects. Outside of this I loved working with people and love the equality the NHS has to offer: treating all people with dignity and compassion, no matter their background. Out of the different disciplines within the medical world, nursing offered me the most flexibility in terms of future career choices, leading me into my current area of work in Critical Care and Trauma nursing. What’s it been like working in a hospital for the last few months? Have there been any particularly memorable moments? How have you managed to keep your morale up? It has been one of the biggest challenges I have faced in my life and career. Everyone working within the NHS has gone above and beyond, working outside of their comfort zone. The most difficult thing has been contemplating the amount of loss over this
time from one disease, and as nurses, how we can give people a dignified end of life where they cannot have family or friends with them. We have had to learn new ways to check in with each other regularly and take a moment away from the new stresses and strains of this disease. One amazing donation was a ‘silent disco’. We’ve been using it on our night shift breaks. Dancing to cheesy pop at 2am helps you forget about everything else happening! Is it really uncomfortable wearing PPE? It’s definitely as uncomfortable as it looks – but you get used to it. The main difficulty is how hard it is to communicate with your colleagues and the patients, as they are unable to see your mouth move and your voice is muffled. What are you looking forward to doing when the current crisis is over? I am looking forward to going on a really fun holiday. I love to explore new places and try new foods. I can’t wait to do this with my friends from work. We’ve become so close and love to spend our days off visiting cool places together.
Mr Andrew Granath – Obituary We were very sad to receive news of the death of our former History and Politics teacher, Andrew Granath, from Covid-19. Andrew was a wonderfully warm, wise colleague who worked with us in 2018 following his retirement from full-time teaching, and was adored by the pupils in his care. He will be very sorely missed and our heartfelt condolences go out to his widow, Jenny, and their children.
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