The team at Ward C, Casey Hospital, has just marked one year since its opening as a COVID-19 Screening Unit. To recognise employees’ efforts and achievements throughout the last year, the Ward C team held a celebration with the theme of ‘Look how far we have come’.
Reflecting on the year, the team took the opportunity to write letters detailing their experiences from perspectives of bedside nurses, ward clerks and Patient Service Assistant’s (PSAs). These letters included the fears many faced in initially coming to a COVID-19 ward, challenges, achievements and the impacts of their choice to work within a COVID-19 environment.
The team at Ward C came together in 2020 through a mass recruitment drive, attracting employees from within Monash Health and externally.
Nurse Unit Manager of Ward C, Jennifer Docherty, details how the ward was developed, and the connections formed among the team.
“Most of the team had not met before and had to learn the structure of caring for a SCOVID/COVID patient quickly and the anxiety that accompanied that. But they also had to learn to be a team, support each other, and also build and maintain therapeutic relationships with their patient’s, all behind full PPE with only their eyes visible to the outside world.”
“From the patients and their families that came through our unit to all the employees involved in responding to COVID, I am so very proud and forever grateful for all your efforts,” Jennifer said.
“To see your employees, go home tired with bruises on their face and return the next day with the same enthusiasm is something that will stay with me forever.”
We commend the tremendous work of the team at Ward C.