Frontline workers talk COVID-19

By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express

During the pandemic, there’s been a group who wake up each and every day wondering if today might be the day they catch COVID-19.

Many frontline workers in hospitals, especially those in the intensive care unit (ICU), put themselves at risk to help those in need – those who have COVID-19. While they take many precautions, it’s already proven impossible for them all to avoid the virus.

Lakeridge Health Oshawa is a perfect example, as there has already been an outbreak at the hospital which saw one patient and a team member test positive for the virus.

A more recent example is the Ajax-Pickering hospital, where one patient and three staff members have reportedly tested positive for the virus.

The Oshawa Express recently spoke with two members of the Lakeridge Oshawa staff, hospitalist Dr. Eva Cheng, and Chief and Medical Director of Critical Care Dr. Karim Soliman, about what it’s been like for them during COVID-19.

Cheng says the virus caused a lot of anxiety when it first hit.

“We didn’t know much about the virus, we were running low on [personal protective equipment] at that time, and all the protocols were just being developed,” she explains.

However, she notes over the last few weeks, the leadership team at the hospital has worked with the province and international guidelines to develop protocols to prepare their teams to handle the virus, and the volume of patients.

“A few weeks ago we were also nervous because we didn’t know where we’d be trending, especially when we were looking so far forward,” she says. “However, the numbers have been quite reassuring for us in the last few weeks. We aren’t seeing the surge that we were expecting, which is a relief.”

She notes the virus has also changed their lives at the hospital as protocols surrounding PPE have changed.

“All team members are in protective gear throughout our day, we’re being more vigilant in washing our hands, in doing proper hygiene and sanitizing all of the new equipment, we have protocols in place to protect ourselves from encountering very sick patients,” she says.

Cheng adds this time has also been very challenging especially for family members, as the hospital has restricted visitors, and it’s changed the hospital’s practice in terms of how patients and their families connect.

“Our IT team has done a really great job in terms of providing iPads and trying to virtually connect patients and family,” she says.

She says in her own position as a hospitalist, the virus has forced her to transition to more virtual care.

“Sometimes that can be a challenge as a there are still very sick patients in our hospital and our community,” she says.

For Cheng, she says in her personal life she’s been very vigilant in terms of changing in and out of her hospital clothes. She says while a number of doctors and nurses have been finding ways to isolate themselves from their families, it’s different in Oshawa.

“Most of us have not been necessarily isolating from our family members,” she says. “In Oshawa there’s been very few cases of staff transition, which we were very, very worried about early on when we were hearing about doctors and nurses and frontline workers getting sick in other countries.”

Cheng says she wears a mask and eye protection every time she meets with a patient.

“Our institution has been excellent in identifying which patients need to be in isolation so we don’t get exposed,” she says. “We did have an outbreak a few weeks ago, and since then we’ve been very vigilant and we haven’t had any issues, and I’ve been feeling a lot more safe at work.”

She says when she isn’t at work, she is social isolating, and she understands for herself, as well as community members, that can be very challenging.

“But I limit my going out personally, and also when I go out I do try to wear a mask, especially at grocery stores if I do need to go,” she says.

Cheng praises the Oshawa community, stating early on when the hospital was running low on PPE, she did post to social media and saw a lot of feedback from the community.

The response ranged from local clinics, to ski resorts, to local community members who were offering to donate, spread the word, and help in other ways.

“We’ve also seen many parades by first responders and community members, and that’s been extremely touching for us to see, especially for our first responders because they put themselves at risk each day by going out into the field and not knowing what they’re going to encounter each day,” says Cheng.

She also notes they are seeing “little tokens” of support, such as the stone garden in front of the hospital with paintings on the stones.

“We know that this is a difficult time for all of our community members, everybody is experiencing some kind of loss to an extent… I think it’s such a beautiful thing for our community members to give their time and just their efforts to all frontline workers during this pandemic,” she says.

For herself and her colleagues, she notes it’s been very encouraging for them to keep going to work and to keep working hard for their patients.

On the other hand, Dr. Soliman’s experience during the COVID-19 pandemic has been unique, as he divides the changes to his work life into a couple of different phases.

“When we first were hearing about the COVID pandemic in places like China, we had a very strong suspicion that it would be here,” he explains. “So during that time we’ve done a lot of work and preparation, and particularly if you’re in a leadership position, a lot of our time has been done preparing for the pandemic.”

He says those in a leadership role, such as himself, have found themselves putting in heavy hours simply to prepare the hospital and their colleagues, while hoping not  to see a big surge of patients.

“I think the other part to that, if you’re not in a leadership role, is the anticipation of what’s to come and hearing the stories of other jurisdictions like China and Europe,” he says, adding there were stories about high surge numbers coming out of those areas.

The waiting and the anticipation caused many frontline workers anxiety, he says.

“But now that we actually have been through it, luckily not nearly the amount of numbers that they’ve seen in the hardest hit areas like New York and Italy… [there’s] a little bit more comfort,” he says.

Now that they’ve seen the virus and dealt with it, Soliman says they’re feeling a bit more comfortable with it, and there’s a bit of a sigh of relief after seeing projections which show Oshawa and the rest of Durham are unlikely to see anything like New York, where there’s been 12,509 deaths in New York City alone.

“A big part of that is because of the government’s actions early on with social distancing and other measures that have really curbed our trajectory line,” he says.

In his personal life, Soliman, as the chief of the ICU, has seen the virus take over his life.

“There are often well over 12 hour days in administrator work, and when you’re doing clinical work you have to kind of intertwine those together and take a break from the admin stuff,” he explains.

On a more personal note, Soliman says knowing that he works with the sickest patients who have COVID-19, he’s very aware of the fact he doesn’t want to bring the virus home to his loved ones.

“So I’ve isolated myself from, in particular, family and friends who are of a vulnerable age,” he says. “And like everybody else I’ve also social distanced myself from people we usually interact with.”

Soliman says he is an “intensivist” which means he works in the critical care units, which is where people require extra help, such as a ventilator or a special medication.

“It’s when you hear about the really sick COVID patients that need the extra attention, that’s where they end up,” he says.

He is also the chief and medical director for the critical care department and program, so his role is to, along with his colleagues, handle things like scheduling and issues that come up.

“The only reason I mention that is because in preparation for these surge numbers, we had to prepare ourselves, so that way, if we did get the large numbers we’d be ready, at least in the first few days,” he says.

Soliman has also taken on a role to assist the hospital in the overall COVID planning, and notes the hospital has a COVID-19 response team which participates in a lot of the planning in the hospital, and he also happens to be a member of that.

While COVID-19 has affected the lives of many, both Cheng and Soliman thank the City of Oshawa and its residents for their support, and are grateful for the displays shown at the hospital, and in their everyday lives.