Coronavirus KEY WORKERS ON KEEP WALES GOING
AS WELL as the NHS and private healthcare staff who are doing a marvellous job of caring for our communities, there are many other vital workers doing their bit to make sure vulnerable people and essential services are being looked after.
One is 61-year-old Jill Bee, who works for Cardiff council’s Telecare Service.
Jill, from the Welsh capital, has been a part of the team for about 15 years and is still travelling to work every day to make sure elderly people in need are attended to.
Telecare is a 24-hour service that provides a telephone link to the community alarm and response service.
It continues to provide its services as normal throughout the current situation with extra precautions in place to help protect staff and the public.
If an elderly person falls or needs assistance they can press a buzzer to alert the team for help.
Jill says it’s become a valuable lifeline for people who don’t have family nearby and those who have dementia or Alzheimer’s.
“At the moment we have a couple of operators who are in self isolation so our services are struggling a bit more now,” Jill said.
“People feel isolated and alone – they may not have carers. Sometimes people just phone – because they’re on their own and need a voice to speak to”.
Despite the outbreak she says she is taking all the safety measures she can and continuing to do her job to make sure the vital service can continue to operate.
Mel Myer, 51, works for the National Autistic Society in Cardiff – a day service hub for adults who are on the autistic spectrum.
At the moment she is still attending work, ensuring facilities are deep cleaned and visiting supermarkets early in the morning to ensure students are able to get the food they need.
Mel, from Heath, took on the role at the end of last year after giving up her job as a primary school teacher.
The service is still open for students, although those with additional health needs have stopped using it as they are considered to be of a higher risk.
She said it’s been upsetting for the young adults, who are used to their routines, to adapt to such change but she’s trying as hard as she can to keep the facility open to make sure they have a place to go.
“We will look to stay open for as long as we can,” said Mel. “Eventually we will have to close. It’s upsetting for them as things are changing now. To some of them we have had to say we are finishing.”
For nursery nurse Sophie Jayne Smith, 24, from Blaina, her role has been both rewarding and challenging.
She is working to support other key workers by looking after their children but it’s proved difficult to balance this with her own schedule.
Sophie, who works for a private nursery in Pontypool, said: “Although we are classed as key workers I feel work is a lot harder. I have no childcare. My partner is not a key worker so all day I have been ringing to try and find care for my children for me to be able to work.”
Sophie has two children – a fiveyear-old and a 10-month-old baby – and due to the quickly changing guidance on social distancing she can no longer depend on their grandparents for childcare.
“I only work part-time and our hours have already been cut because there aren’t enough kids,” she added. “If we don’t go we don’t get paid.”
Private tutor Hannah Jones is continuing to ensure her students are being educated even though she is at a higher risk than most if she contracts the virus.
Hannah, now 24, was just 13 when, left drained by debilitating surgery to cure a fatal heart condition worsened by a lengthy cancer battle, she refused to have a transplant.
Her decision stunned the world when she calmly stated she would rather die than undergo more hospital trauma and simply wanted to live her last days in peace.
She made history by fending off a legal bid by medics to force her to have treatment for heart failure.
But Hannah’s condition deteriorated and aged 14, having changed her mind, she underwent a six-anda-half-hour transplant operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
She now lives in Swansea with her partner and tutors children.
“I’m a private tutor – I can work from home,” she said.
“I started teaching online around a year and a half ago so I’m used to it.”
Hannah and her partner are both in isolation, but she’s still trying to help as many young people learn as she can from the comfort of her home.
“I was meant to go for a transplant check up this week but I said I can’t go not to risk any problems.”
Discussing the importance of her role, she added: “I’m so very proud to be a key worker. I did go through teacher training but decided it wasn’t for me, but parents are still coming to me to give their children education so this is very valuable. Everyone is doing the best they can.”
She added: “When all this is over we can celebrate all the achievements we have made over this time.”
While people like Hannah are making sure people can learn, others are ensuring we can access vital medication.
Simon Morgan, 40, is a locum pharmacist from Newport. He’s been in the profession for 17 years.
He said some pharmacies have installed barriers and only allow one patient in at a time to prevent spread while others allow 20 people in at once.
Simon said: “There are patients over 70 still coming into the pharmacy and even those with high risk, such as COPD, putting themselves and their families, our staff and our families at great risk – especially those with highrisk patients at home.
“I have seen violence and much abuse and swearing and shouting constantly throughout the day. It’s soul destroying.
“Pharmacy has become incredibly busy in the last couple of years anyway, but I would say it’s three times busier than Christmas.
“We are putting ourselves and families and friends at risk of illness and death to deliver an NHS service, to ensure patients receive their prescriptions. Pharmacy staff would be completely within their rights to stay home, as the risk is incredibly high, but we continue to undertake a service which is heavily overloaded albeit while receiving constant abuse from the public.”
Simon is a big advocate of recognition of the hard work that pharmacy staff do. He said: “We are NHS workers but we don’t qualify for NHS discounts or the golden hour of shopping. Hopefully this will change.
“Pharmacies are not an extension of the NHS – they are the NHS. There is a great lack of understanding and compassion from the public.”
His advice to patients needing help is to call the pharmacy rather than going in person.
Others are enabling us to stay safe in other ways. Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for Wales Deborah Rogers is one of them. The 58-year-old is working behind the scenes to ensure criminal cases are still being looked at.
“When the Government made the announcement about social distancing we had to keep our staff safe as well,” she explained.
“We have had to work with the court service and the police to keep people safe but keep the business going.
“We still have people in the magistrates’ court, but the number of courts are reduced. I think it’s really important as justice is an important part of our society.
“We need to ensure that witnesses are looked after and cases are being looked after – and the complainants and defendants.”
She said: “I have prosecutors and administrative staff working across Wales keeping business going as best we can.
“I think the prosecution service is really important so I’m glad we are seen as key workers.
“We’re clearly not on the frontline