As the number of hospitalized people is at peak level in Niagara currently, a Thorold woman who is watching the pandemic play out from the heart of the hospital system wants to offer a real and honest look into the hectic reality at the St Catharines intensive care unit to show the devastating effects of COVID-19, and the importance that the curve flattens out.
"I'd just like people to close their eyes and imagine curtains, big ventilators, and beds with patients, linen bags, bags for garbage, teams of respiratory therapists, nurses, and doctors working to help a single patient. The hospital is well-designed, and you wouldn't see from the outside just stepping in there, but that is what is happening right now. It isn't just a big city problem like in Toronto, which you might be seeing on television. People here in Niagara come in, and they are really sick."
That harrowing description comes from 58-year-old Rhianon Burkholder, who retired last year after 33 years in various clerical roles at Niagara Health, only to return to work once she saw the magnitude of the pandemic. Knowing she could make a difference with her long experience working in the hub of the hospital, where essentially all information flows through, she came out of retirement to lend a hand. She was first a volunteer, but then got redeployed to the ICU - familiar territory for the long-time hospital worker.
Burkholder said you can see many traumatic things in an intensive care setting - but nothing compares to the experience of sitting in the middle of the hub during the pandemic.
In between coordinating the flow of special equipment like mattresses through the hospital, booking of diagnostics and lab-work, calls sometimes come in from family members, desperately looking for information about someone they know, who has been admitted with the virus. Sometimes she sees next of kin sitting watch, constantly reminding her that everyone who comes in is someone's father or mother, uncle or niece.
"It's a different environment now. Never before have I seen 22 ventilated patients at the same time" she said.
"The hospital has these beautiful big rooms, the hallways are wide, and from the hub where I sit, you can look down either side. But now all I can see are beds with patients, with machines all around them, all sorts of medication, and you hear the sound of the air filter going and doctors and nurses in PPE going around to patients."
She said many might not realize that it often takes a whole team of doctors, nurses, and other medical staff to work on a single patient sickened by COVID-19. Aside from the pure life-saving efforts, garments and waste need to be discarded, equipment sanitized, and information documented.
"It takes a village, and we are all working together. The doctors and nurses here are rockstars."
Now, she says, that village needs to grow to include all Niagara residents, who can do their part in making sure that the transmission of the virus that has sickened thousands of locals stops.
"This is our chance," said Burkholder.
"Here in Niagara, we have so much to offer, but I don't think that many people realize that we are in a crisis right now. Yes, the vaccine is out, but right now we need to make sure that this virus doesn't spread to our parents, friends, and neighbors."
"When you see something on television happening around the world and think 'I wish I could do something,' well, now is your chance to step up, if you think it is safe to do so."
She says it is her love for the community, and the energy she gets from making use of what Niagara has to offer that keeps her going, along with the beleif that there will be an end to the crisis eventually.
"We are blessed with a good health care system, good education, green space and good housing. Not everybody will say that, but I feel blessed to live here and have raised my family here. Thorold in particular, because we get the best of everything."
