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Leslie

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Expressing gratitude and regaining hope


LBrown

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I sat down last night a wrote out thank you cards to the caregivers at each of the hospitals that took care of my partner while he was ill with Covid. I had purchased the cards just a couple of days after his death but every time I sat down to write a note in them I was just overwhelmed and dissolved into a puddle of tears. But last night I was determined that I was going to get it done. 
The card to the first hospital was easier to write than the second one. They had done a good job in taking care of him and had transferred him to a larger hospital in the cities when he needed more specialized care. The second hospital was a challenge to get through. Not only had the caregivers taken excellent care of him. They had take excellent care of me also as I sat with him while he passed. They showed me kindness, compassion and their love of their jobs although it’s very difficult to love what they have to do during this difficult time. They talked with me, they listened and allowed me to share how my partner and I had met and shared our lives together. You can’t understand what it is like to be a caregiver unless you have been a caregiver yourself. I have worked in the medical field taking care of patients and I have also taken care of my mother as she was dying of cancer, so I understand the difficulty of being a caregiver. To work in the medical field, it requires a true passion for your job. It’s long hours, hard work, and with this virus, several of the caregivers I spoke with talked about their loss of hope that this virus would ever end. I posted something on my Facebook page about this the day after I lost my partner. 

HOPE:

Such an important word in our lives. But would you be surprised to learn that because of this Covid-19 pandemic, our medical providers have lost hope. I know this because I asked a nurse how does she do her job day after day. They see their patients every day as they get worse, ending up on ventilators, some surviving but most not. Knowing that those who do survive will never live the same quality of life that they had before. Even the ones that don’t get the severest cases risk some form of permanent damage to their bodies. What does that say when our medical providers have lost hope? They face death on an hourly basis, an HOURLY basis? Sometimes deaths are only minutes apart. Can you imagine doing this day after day? Hour after hour of despair. As someone who worked in the medical field in the Navy, I have lost patients over the years. I remember every single one, trust me when I say that you develop a little PTSD from your work. But these healthcare providers are seeing too many die hourly. They will carry these deaths for the rest of their lives. Slowly aging them little by little from the inside out. Yet, they continue to do their duty, the job they chose because it was their calling, their true love. 
We have to stop the spread of this horrible disease. We must wear masks, social distance, wash hands frequently, not travel and get vaccinated. I BEG you to be responsible. Protect your loved ones. Treat strangers as if they were your loved ones and protect them also. Losing a loved one is not worth it, I know because I lost my partner to Covid. Losing anyone is just not worth it. 
 

I finished the cards. And I was exhausted afterwards. I wept as I completed the second card. I told the medical staff that I hope one day that they would be able to find their hope again. To please stay safe and to take care of themselves. 

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