For this episode of "Bridging the Social Distance" I am continuing to honour Senior's Month, this time by sharing the perspective of frontline staff. Colleen Fawcett has been working as an RPN at The Village of Riverside Glen for ten years. During that time she's seen many outbreaks and illnesses, but nothing on this scale of a Global Pandemic. There are many challenges: keeping everyone safe and in good spirits, showing positivity to residents while wearing a mask, balancing long work days and added tasks, and especially trying to relay information to loved ones when they're not allowed to visit in person. Colleen works in the Dementia Care Neighbourhood, which adds additional challenges around communication for residents. But there are so many beautiful things that have developed, in terms of the staff supporting each other, the community supporting the centre, and the residents - even the ones who have difficulty speaking or hearing - gathering (at a safe distance) in their common spaces to show how much they care for each other. The efforts of Colleen and her fellow employees are just incredible, and it was inspiring to get a glimpse into this difficult and essential work.
We hope you'll give this a listen - this is a heavy topic, but it's also comforting and beautiful and so important.
Thank you so much to all the front line workers who are taking care of our seniors!
This interview was originally recorded on June 16th 2020
