A couple of Vision Nursing Home employees provided poignant insight Friday into the personal trauma and sacrifice required of frontline workers during the pandemic.
Program Service Manager Kerri Hill and Personal Support Worker (PSW) and Housekeeper Amanda Martin were guests on CHOK's (103.9 FM, 1070 AM) Behind the Mask segment with Sue Storr.
Hill explained how she had to deal with the work-related stress of the pandemic and caring for her sick parents at home.
"When I went home I was caring for both of my parents who are ill, my father has since passed away during this, in the very beginning when we [the nursing home] became COVID-positive I chose to leave the home because both of my parents, if I became sick and then transferred it to my parents they would not pull through."
Martin said she actually lived in her camper van at the workplace during the height of a severe outbreak at the home.
"I worked seven days a week and I lived here at work in my camper van in the parking lot, just not to bring it home to my family," said Martin. "I moved out of my home the end of April and I lived out in the parking lot for two months, I didn't go home until after Father's Day."
A COVID-19 outbreak at Vision Nursing Home from April 23 to June 18, 2020 infected 26 patients and 28 staff and 10 residents died.
https://soundcloud.com/blackburnradio-sarnia/covid-19-behind-the-mask-kelly-and-amanda-from-vision-nursing-home-mar-27