Front-line workers keeping their eyes on the prize: stopping the spread

For the past six weeks, a doctor, a paramedic, and a nurse have shared their experiences from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa and the Valley. Here's their latest dispatch.

The doctor

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng worked the late shift at the Montfort Hospital this week. One night, he decided to sleep at work rather than go home and risk disturbing his family.

"It's just easier and gives a little bit more peace of mind just to stay [at the hospital]," he reasoned.

Like many parents, he's been struggling with balancing the demands of work with the needs of his three young children.

"The only time I get to think and be by myself is in the shower, or locking myself in the [home]office. But it's still not the same. They'll come in and [say], 'Daddy, look at this.' It comes from a good place, but it's just been weeks."

Kyeremanteng is noticing more people "milling about" outside now, including his own family.

"As long as we're doing our best to abide by the distancing recommendations, it's healthy. People need to exercise. They need to keep sane," he said.

Despite the ongoing challenges, morale remains high among front-line workers, saidKyeremanteng, anintensive care and palliative care physician at both the Ottawa and Montfort hospitals.

"We still have a sense of purpose. There's real camaraderie at work."

The bad news still packs a punch, though.Kyeremanteng saidhis colleagues were shaken by news this week that anotherpersonal support worker in Ontario haddied of COVID-19.

• 3rd personal support worker dies of COVID-19 in Ontario in as many weeks, union says

"Knowing that these guys are getting sick, that's pretty ... scary," he said.

The paramedic

Chris Day has spent the past week swabbing hundreds of residents and staff at long-term care facilities in the Ottawa Valley, including Miramichi Lodge and SupplesLanding in Pembroke, Ont., andBonnechere Manor in Renfrew, Ont.

Aided by staff members who know the residents and can explain to them what's going on, Day has been doing 100-150 swabs a day.

"It can be a very intimidating experience for them when somebody comes in [to their room]fully gowned up with all of our PPE. They're not understanding who I am or why I'm there," Day said.

Of the 17cases of COVID-19 in Renfrew County, there have been 12 recoveries and just one death. And of all the hundreds of swabs Day's taken in the past week, none has tested positive.

"We're just kind of riding the good wave of negative results that we've had.... That's just a morale boost for everyone," Day said.

"The fact we'reseeing zeroes across the board in a lot of these long-term care facilities [in the Ottawa Valley]means that we're doing a really good job," he said. "If we had those kind of [COVID-19] positive numbers they're experiencing in Montreal or in Ottawa, that could overwhelm our systems very, very quickly."

He does worry that some of the elderly people he see are becoming increasingly lonely.

"A majority of them have families that are local, sothey're used to their son or daughter or daughter-in-law stopping by," he said. "Mother's Day is coming up this weekend. This year is not going to be the same."

Like Kyeremanteng, Day said he'sseeing more people out and about.

"It's not just going out for essentials anymore. I think people are kind of past that and they just want to get on with their lives," he said."Because our numbers are so low Ithink that's giving people a sense that it's not as bad in [Renfrew County],so they can let loose a little bit more."

He's particularly worried about cottagers coming from the city, where rates of COVID-19 are much higher.

"That's our biggest risk. We've done a good job of keeping things under control here. But we can't close the borders to the county and say nobody else is allowed through."

The nurse

Peggy Freemarkwas supposed to be at her daughter's bedsidewhen she gave birth to her first baby, but COVID-19 got in the way.

Hazel Frances Freemark-McLean was born May 1 at the Queensway Carleton Hospital, where Freemark works.In fact, Freemark was finishing up a night shift when her daughter arrived at the hospital.

"I got a picture of them walking in," she said. "I kept my distance of course."

Nearly a week later, Freemark still hasn't met her new granddaughter.

"I've seen her on Facetime, that's it. And I've seen pictures," she said. "If I got sick and I passed it on I would feel awful."

Little Hazel is a new lifein a city that's losing people every day, including at the Queensway Carleton.

"Everything has been done for them. There's just really nothing else that's going to work. They've been on a ventilator for a long time," Freemark said of the patients they couldn't save.

Among her colleagues, she's noticed fatigue setting in.

"It's harder and harder for people to bounce back," Freemark said."There are some nurses that haven't worked a night shift in 30 years, and they're now doing 12-hour nights."

Still, someare signing up for a whole new challenge.

"They put a call out for volunteers to go work in a nursing home in Ottawa that's been hard-hit,"Freemarksaid. "I think 70 to 100 people volunteered. I've heard from a few people [who said] it's pretty bad. And pretty sad."

Freemark did not volunteer. "There's more of a chance of me picking up COVID in a nursing home than where I'm working right now," she said. "I wouldn't feel safe. But I'm so happy and very proud of my co-workers who volunteered."