HOPE IN THE TIME OF CORONA
DURING COVID-19, GLIMMERS OF HOPE EMERGE SHOWING LIFE IS NOT ALL BAD ‘I WAS ADOPTED’
As a nurse, Sarah Dunn is used to looking after people. Being the recipient of help is not in her nature and asking for it, even less so. It means that when she was added to the new Facebook page Adopt a Healthcare Worker, she was initially wary.
“I’m very independent,” she tells New Idea. But at the same time long shifts and empty supermarket shelves meant buying even a few staples was becoming stressful.
That’s where Penny Chalhoub came in. The mum of three wanted to contribute and joining the Facebook page to offer healthcare workers help with shopping, babysitting or walking their dogs was the perfect opportunity.
“When Penny reached out and asked what I needed, I asked for a few essentials like mince and pasta. I was blown away when she turned up with so much more,” Sarah, 36, says.
Penny arrived at Sarah’s home with bags packed full of shopping as well as a basket of lollies and snacks for the nurses on Sarah’s ward.
“She came back recently with freezer meals and refused to let me pay for more shopping,” Sarah says. “I’m so grateful. It’s an amazing initiative and has shown what community spirit we have in all this.”
When Bree Castel discovered she was carrying identical twins, it was whirl of excitement as well as worry. She and husband Ross, 36, had struggled to conceive for two years and now one of the eggs she’d had implanted via IVF had unexpectedly split.
“Suddenly I had a high-risk pregnancy with worries about complications and interventions,” Bree, 36, says. After two miscarriages, she was all too aware of what could go wrong.
But ironically, Bree’s pregnancy went perfectly – it was just the world around her that was falling apart.
“I was about 34 weeks when the coronavirus hit the headlines, and as time went on I realised how it would affect the birth of the twins,” Bree says.
After baby boys, Otis and Bower, arrived on March 27, Bree was in hospital for a week with only Ross allowed to visit. “The hardest thing was that their big brother, Hunter, 4, couldn’t meet them,” Bree says. “But being visitor-free meant I could really immerse myself in my newborns. I also shut off social media and the news and had a complete detox from corona, which I’d been so consumed by before the birth.”
Having two healthy, miracle boys is positive enough in itself, but Bree is also couching the isolated situation she’s in now in the most positive terms.
“I’m at home calmly nurturing the boys as it should be. We’ve had kerbside visits so family and friends can meet them from a distance and, perhaps best of all, they’ve provided the ultimate distraction for Hunter!” she smiles.