Covid-19 diaries from the respiratory unit: Entry #2
In her second diary entry on Covid19, Dr Veronica White reflects on celebrating three major religious festivals in the last week and the support available for staff.
Happy Passover, Happy Easter and Happy Vaiskhi!
We have had at least three major religious festivals in the last week which would normally be times of family get-togethers and include lots of food and celebrations. This year’s reality, however, has been very different.
However, we were all delighted to hear that the Easter Bunny is an essential worker and therefore delivered loads of Easter eggs to the hospitals for us to enjoy – thank you!
Many of us at The Royal London Hospital discovered the Healing Room, aka the children’s play space. We are very grateful for whoever decided to convert it into staff space, at least in the short term.
It has already hosted feedback and support groups over the weekend: staff feel very well support by colleagues as well as appreciating the camaraderie and close support of the teams. What is really hard, however, is dealing with sick patients, discussing, often by phone, poor prognoses with close family and also dealing with end of life care. It is something that none of us will forget.
In respiratory medicine, we have been delighted by the return of two of our ‘retired’ consultant colleagues, Professor Neil Barnes and Dr John Moore-Gillon, who are undertaking virtual respiratory clinics from their homes. For Team Resp, John is running a welfare service, which provides pastoral support for those who are off sick or insolating.
We would like to acknowledge all of our friends and colleagues, who for whatever reason, cannot work on the front line and continue to work extremely hard. They make an enormous contribution despite being in the ‘back room’ or not being physically in the building.
And now for this week’s recipe, available here. Veronica has a culinary passion for lentil dahl and, like every good East London housewife, has her favourites. This is one of them, and is a worthy replacement for potatoes with either meat or fish or delicious by itself.
Veronica’s tip: I would add a knob of chopped ginger and it is equally nice without the tomatoes.
Further information on psychological support for staff is available on WeShare here.
Take care and stay safe
Love Team Resp xx
Dr Stephanie Uys, Consultant, and Dr Veronica White, Clinical Director, Respiratory Medicine