What’s my My secret superpower?

Hi I'm Lynda, I've been a member of CGI  since I was a Brigin. I'm also a nurse for the past 13 years and for the last 9 of those I've worked on an infection control ward in Dublin. I'm used to wearing PPE going into my patients rooms but since mid march we've been wearing it the whole time once we enter our ward. It's been hard getting used to having it on constantly and the heat definetly hasn't helped!! But the worst part of the PPE for me is that my patients cant see us, all they see is our eyes so it's pretty hard to try help someone feel at ease when you basically look like an alien! It definetly has made me think about how scary it must be for the patients. 

We have had a mixture of people in with us of all different ages and they have all required different levels of care. My ward has been the last point of ward based care for patients before we have had to transfer them to ICU. We have taken on some roles that we wouldnt normally have done before but feel like they are now second nature. A hard part for me has definetly been caring for end of life patients, having to limit what family can come in to say goodbye when usually I would be saying to come in and spend that time with them, it's been difficult. It definetly takes a toll on your mental well being.

But all that said, things are starting to look a little brighter and that is down to all the communities adhering to all the guidelines set out by the government. At the moment we are the only Covid 19 inpatient ward in our hospital which we couldn't have said 4 weeks ago. I live in kildare so I haven't seen my family or guiding friends for nearly 3 months now but I'm lucky they have been my support since this all started. I can honestly say that my experience in CGI has given me friends for life💜💛