‘Cleaning is as important as anything else’ – on the front line with our unsung heroes
FOR Gavin Bragg, 50, it’s been a difficult and challenging few months in so many ways.
He’s worked as a cleaner at the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, for more than seven years but has witnessed a lot of changes since the coronavirus outbreak hit the UK.
A few months ago Gavin was working on the concourse making sure areas like car parks and bins were clean but, more recently, he has helped in housekeeping roles – which means he goes wherever he’s needed to in the hospital.
“It’s just to keep things tidy and clean – to prevent the spread of infection,” he said.
In hospital one of the most important things is obviously ensuring everyone has the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) – including face mask, apron and visor, which can get extremely hot for staff as they wear them for hours on end.
“We have to treat everyone who’s coming in as having suspected Covid-19,” Gavin added.
“Being covered with PPE will make sure we’re not spreading it or picking it up and passing it to patients. It helps to prevent the spread of it.”
For hospital staff – whether they’re doctors, nurses, cleaners or canteen workers – when it comes to taking on Covid-19 they’re all in this together.
“We all play an important role,” Gavin said.
“Cleaning is an important role. We still need to feed the patients, we still need to clean things around the hospital.
“We clean up after them [the doctors] and the patients. It’s as important role as any other.”
As well as working in a high-risk environment every day, Gavin also has to see and experience many challenging things most members of the public wouldn’t.
He may not be a medic, but he still sees very ill patients coming into the hospital every day and, sadly, some of them never get the chance to leave.
In a typical day he can feel a mix of emotions including pride knowing he is helping others, hope for the patients who are on the road to recovery, and also sadness for those patients who are very ill and don’t even have the opportunity to turn to their families for comfort during this pandemic.
Gavin said: “When you see someone go home you are so happy for them, and then you see the other side of it and it’s so sad. “I’m extremely proud for what I do for working for the NHS, but a lot of people don’t see what we see.”
Meanwhile, keeping our environment safe and clean is also all in a day’s work for Helen Williams.
The 35-year-old runs Clean Sweep, which specialises in commercial and industrial cleaning.
The office is based in Swansea but the team of 40 work all over