I had a heartbreaking masking experience at a hospital today… I haven’t even processed it enough to talk about it.
I previously wrote an article which was a personal plea to maskless healthcare workers from a vulnerable patient.
My goal with that piece was to encourage healthcare workers to put themselves in our shoes. To understand how it feels to be vulnerable, desperate, suffering and in pain… and then be put in danger in the place you go to get better.
The article was picked up by a Canadian healthcare publication, and I had planned two follow up pieces but have had horrible writers block.
The way I was treated today has unblocked me.
My next piece will (hopefully) be out shortly and will focus on patient stories. It will start as “a tale of two maskers” and show the difference between a patient like myself who goes in with a respirator, eye protection and a plan… and a patient who wears the hospital provided surgical and trusts the staff to protect them.
We are failing patients. What happened to me today should never happen to anyone - and I’m going to speak out to try and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.
If you’re unwilling to mask for a patient - if you think your personal politics or comfort are more important than our literal lives - you do not belong in healthcare.
That’s a hill I’m willing to die on.
If you missed the first article, you can read it here: https://www.disabledginger.com/p/a-plea-to-maskless-healthcare-workers
#chronicillness #longcovid #covidisnotover #COVIDisAirborne #sarscov2 #keepmasksinhealthcare #wearamask
Masks in a hospital
@broadwaybabyto I started writing that if really #disease is going to spread anyway and unavoidable then seems futile - but I see how wrong that logic is and makes thing worse actually...
I'm still not sure how much masks do but for sure plenty.
I guess it's a comfort thing mostly for staff driven into the ground (and also throwing themselves in work for 8/12+ hours while traditionally maybe just in surgery only masked up (?)
Have to admit not reading anything linked here and speaking aloud to try see what I think first (and also if you reply then it's worth more of my time).
I know of previous partners / medical staff were saying stories all teh time how one doctor infects another with colds etc...
and the general stories of talking behind each other's back / factions...
Overall I agree like you said:
"if you think your personal politics or comfort are more important than our literal lives - you do not belong in #healthcare."
Have to admit it jammed my logic thinking coming across this and might show improvement I need to do between comfort (like not wearing gloves for chopping wood) and also about not knowing how contagious things are (hard to #measure or see evidently).
So sort of confessing here and in the end really agree with you and would like more #measurement so really for specific things (if not everything and certain wards / places which do not needed near 100% then people don't need masks. But in a hospital lol that is low chance... !!
Goodness the brain jam like branch of wood stuck in machine.
