In the old days ( read ‘in my time’ here) the Call to Duty referenced that advertising that convinced so many young men (my father at 17) to enlist in a war. World War 2 to be exact and the premise was (as my father told his mother) if we don’t stop them there they will come here. The ‘there’ of course was the European Theatre.
Today, and I mean ‘today’ the Call of Duty is to fight a virus. I’m sure you have heard of it. Nay sayers and conspiracy theorists may try to deny it but the truth is, the next few months will hit home even them for I believe this 3rd wave is not the last. There will be another. And by the time this is over everyone will be touched personally.
My country, my province is in distress. How is that for a tidy comment? Yes, I know people who have died from this, and this alone. I have been personally touched.
Our hospitals are in a critical state and now are sending out a Call to Duty to folk who have never worked in an ICU, some nurses, some others with more valuable expertise.
First, as a retired Registered Nurse who once worked in ICU and in fact managed ICU, no matter what the government tries to tell you, these skills are not transferrable without a lot of training. A call has gone out for physicians – family physicians to come and work in our ICUs as nurses. Plans abound to bring Student Nurses in to work on hospital floors so that Registered Nurses can go work in ICU.
Let me be clear. Being a registered nurse or a doctor does not mean one is able to work in specialty units without training.
Our people being pulled into these COVID19 ICUs are at risk themselves.
It seems everyone is wandering in the dark here. And they can all use prayers because for the life of me I have no idea what else we can give them.
