VANCOUVER — The public is finally getting a closer look at life on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic at the ICU and “red zone” in one of the province’s busiest hospitals, and the stress, exhaustion and emotion the healthcare workers are dealing with is striking.
For weeks, CTV News has been working with Providence Health Care to tell the stories of the work behind closed doors. On Tuesday, the health authority provided powerful visuals and facilitated interviews with staff at St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver, who painted a vivid and heart-wrenching picture of the effort to keep the sickest patients alive – a battle they’ve been quietly waging for months with fatigue and loneliness now deeply established.
“Everything has become focused on the minute to minute prevention of any contamination or infection but it’s taken away a lot of the humanity and the stress has built,” said intensive care doctor John Boyd. “What impresses me every day is people still come to work. We are getting through it and we want everyone to stay safe but the work itself has just become kind of lonely almost because you’re always inside the mask.”
Click here for the full story on CTV News.
Similar stories can be found on the following media outlets: CBC News, The Record (New Westminster), and The Toronto Star.
