Your part in virus fight is easy; just stop and think
Gillian penned an open letter
SALLY HIND
A “tired and scared” frontline NHS worker has penned an open letter begging Scots to stay at home to protect the health service from COVID-19.
In a letter to our sister paper the Daily Record, Gillian Mulligan, an operating department practitioner at Hairmyres Hospital, told how she is working exhausting shifts caring for the sick and dying after undergoing emergency training to work in makeshift intensive treatment units.
The 49-year-old mum-of-three, from East Kilbride, urged the public to “stop and think” about leaving their homes for unnecessary trips, saying she and her colleagues are working in fear as the number of coronavirus victims being treated in Scotland’s hospitals reached almost 2000.
In her letter, entitled “a plea from a tired and scared frontline NHS worker”, Gillian urged families to “please stay at home and save lives” after hundreds of Scots were fined for flouting restrictions.
She said: “Life has changed for everyone. We can not come and go as we please. We are in a lockdown, which means abstaining from family, friends and colleagues.
“I am asking everyone from the bottom of my heart to adhere to these measures to help save lives.
“You see I work in my local hospital in theatre. I am an Operating Department Practitioner and specialise in anaesthetics.
“Like you, I am stuck at home, apart from shopping and walking my dogs and of course going to work. Like you, I have to adapt. I also have to adapt at work.
“My colleagues and I for the last few weeks have been given ongoing intense training so we can help care for patients in the ITU. Our theatre department is almost nonexistent now. We have transformed it into one large ITU department with only one emergency theatre left. We are creating more ITU beds for our patients that are coming through our doors.
“Our shifts have changed to 12-and-a-half hours to accommodate the sick and dying, all the while some people still think it is okay to go out and socialise.
“I am begging everyone before you step out of your house, stop and think! Ask yourself, ‘is this really a necessary trip?’
“If you have a garden, use it, don’t walk the streets unless you have absolutely no choice.
“I am scared, as are my work colleagues, but we still go in for our shifts to help care for your family, friends and colleagues.
“We are all tired, stressed and having to wear full PPE day in and day out takes its toll.
“I would love to see my dad again, so please stay at home and help save lives.”
Scotland’s top police officer last week warned that people will face arrest or fines if they “continue to wilfully refuse to obey the law” by ignoring social distancing rules over Easter weekend.
Police Scotland’s Chief Constable Iain Livingstone’s warning come after more than 500 fixed penalty notices were issued by officers to people flouting the vital rules.
Scotland’s national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said there are “some signs” that hospital COVID-19 admissions are flattening – but has warned the situation remains “fragile”.