Day 11

The army is back, but the same laundry backlog delays them from getting on the floor. This time, the sergeant major takes matters into his own hands. He makes a phone call to order more uniforms, then promptly sends four of his soldiers back home, to report back later for nighttime laundry duty. This won’t happen again.

Army people talk mainly in jargon and acronyms. It’s another language to add to the mix of French, English, Spanish, Tagalog and Arabic.

A woman I don’t recognize comes through the donning station. A new volunteer? No, she’s an occupational therapist who normally works here. It’s her first day back since she became sick with the coronavirus - more than 5 weeks ago. Since my arrival, she’s the first employee to have recovered and returned.

The kitchen staff are taking a break when she comes in, and they stand up and cheer as she walks past. She smiles sheepishly and waves. It’s a nice moment.

At the end of the day, we get our schedules for next week, and it looks like I’ll have some new tasks. I’ve been assigned to the PPE station only two days, and the rest of the time I’m back with the residents, working with the recreation coordinator to help address their social/cognitive and communication needs. On the one hand, I’m nervous about being back on the Covid floor. At the same time, I’m happy that these needs are finally being considered, and I’m looking forward to doing work I’m at least somewhat trained for. We’ll see how it goes.

Day 12

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