Day 1 (Part 1)
Morning training session for the new recruits.
Walk into an auditorium for general orientation. Try to find a seat 6 feet from anyone else. The room is full of healthcare professionals. Everyone is visibly upset, anxious, borderline hostile. Almost everyone cries at least once during the session, including the presenters.
We start with a cheerful background on the mission and values of elder care. The goal is to create a welcoming environment that feels like a home rather than an institution. Because of this, residents don’t wear ID bracelets. This might make it hard to identify them, especially now that many have changed rooms, so you should ask someone on site. Will there for sure be regular staff on site? Yes. Well, no. There will be people who have been there longer than you. A couple of days, at least.
Most of us are deployed as “PAB assistants.” Tasks include feeding, changing and bathing residents. Including those with COVID-19? Yes. Will we be with someone else for these tasks or do we do it alone? You’ll have someone with you during the training period, then you might have to do it alone. How long is the training period? This afternoon.
Next is PPE training. Is there enough PPE? Yes, there is no shortage. I’ve already started at a site, and there is a shortage. The situation is being handled. Can we bring our own? No, we have enough. How will we be trained on using the equipment? We’ll show you a video shortly. Can we practice with the actual equipment? No, we don’t have enough material for practice.
Watch a very thorough and informative video on donning and doffing PPE. Make sure you follow exactly this procedure, except with some differences. The video says to use an N95 mask, but that’s an outdated recommendation. We don’t have N95s in the homes, procedural masks are enough. Oh, and what they said about changing gear between each patient? You don’t need to do that. You can wear your mask for 4 hours, so 2 masks per day. What if we take it off to say, drink water? Try not to do that. If so, you can put it down on a clean surface and reuse it. Actually, you should change it. Yeah, always change it.
Hot and cold zones: we have them. The hot zone might be the patient’s room, or it might be the whole floor, it varies. When you exit the hot zone you need to change all your gear, including your shoes. Maybe not your shoes. Wipe down your shoes if you can. This includes going to the bathroom. What if the bathroom is also in the hot zone? That won’t happen. It might happen. If you take off your gear to use the bathroom, you will need all new gear, unless you can re-use it. Try not to use the bathroom too often.
We get our assignments.
Good news: mine is close to home.
Bad news: it’s 74% infected.
Okay.
Report to your sites at 1pm. Enjoy your lunch break.
The plan: Go in in one hour and see what the situation is. I’ll update later to let you know if I still have a job.
Thanks for your support everyone.
Day 1 (Part 2)
Walk into an auditorium for general orientation. Try to find a seat 6 feet from anyone else. The room is full of healthcare professionals. Everyone is visibly upset, anxious, borderline hostile. Almost everyone cries at least once during the session, including the presenters.
We start with a cheerful background on the mission and values of elder care. The goal is to create a welcoming environment that feels like a home rather than an institution. Because of this, residents don’t wear ID bracelets. This might make it hard to identify them, especially now that many have changed rooms, so you should ask someone on site. Will there for sure be regular staff on site? Yes. Well, no. There will be people who have been there longer than you. A couple of days, at least.
Most of us are deployed as “PAB assistants.” Tasks include feeding, changing and bathing residents. Including those with COVID-19? Yes. Will we be with someone else for these tasks or do we do it alone? You’ll have someone with you during the training period, then you might have to do it alone. How long is the training period? This afternoon.
Next is PPE training. Is there enough PPE? Yes, there is no shortage. I’ve already started at a site, and there is a shortage. The situation is being handled. Can we bring our own? No, we have enough. How will we be trained on using the equipment? We’ll show you a video shortly. Can we practice with the actual equipment? No, we don’t have enough material for practice.
Watch a very thorough and informative video on donning and doffing PPE. Make sure you follow exactly this procedure, except with some differences. The video says to use an N95 mask, but that’s an outdated recommendation. We don’t have N95s in the homes, procedural masks are enough. Oh, and what they said about changing gear between each patient? You don’t need to do that. You can wear your mask for 4 hours, so 2 masks per day. What if we take it off to say, drink water? Try not to do that. If so, you can put it down on a clean surface and reuse it. Actually, you should change it. Yeah, always change it.
Hot and cold zones: we have them. The hot zone might be the patient’s room, or it might be the whole floor, it varies. When you exit the hot zone you need to change all your gear, including your shoes. Maybe not your shoes. Wipe down your shoes if you can. This includes going to the bathroom. What if the bathroom is also in the hot zone? That won’t happen. It might happen. If you take off your gear to use the bathroom, you will need all new gear, unless you can re-use it. Try not to use the bathroom too often.
We get our assignments.
Good news: mine is close to home.
Bad news: it’s 74% infected.
Okay.
Report to your sites at 1pm. Enjoy your lunch break.
The plan: Go in in one hour and see what the situation is. I’ll update later to let you know if I still have a job.
Thanks for your support everyone.
Day 1 (Part 2)
Comments
Post a Comment