Essential work behind the scenes
KENTVILLE, N.S. — When the COVID-19 pandemic essentially shut down the province in March, many people were sent home as businesses shuttered and people hunkered down to wait out the early days of the virus' arrival in Nova Scotia.
While paramedics, doctors, nurses and other health-care workers were expected to keep working, people developed a new appreciation for the term “essential workers.”
It wasn't just the emergency workers. The category included truckers who kept food and other products moving between Nova Scotia and the rest of the world, and between Canada and the United States, and grocery store workers who made sure the food made it into the hands of Nova Scotians.
But across all those sectors, in a time of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and a renewed focus on handwashing, were those who kept surfaces clean and wiped down in a battle to prevent the spread of the virus.
Tracey Schofield of Berwick is an environmental services worker in the emergency department at Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville, N.S. Going back into the building after the outbreak meant a whole new level of alertness.
“It's a more thorough cleaning of everything,” she said. “Handrails, monitors, everything is done three or four times a (shift).”
The start of the lockdown meant a change in her way of thinking as she approached her work.
“It has to, because you don't want to get sick and you don't want any of your coworkers to be sick, or take it home to your family,” she said.
On her first day at work after the pandemic reached Nova Scotia “I wasn't scared of it, because it was going to be everywhere anyway,” she said. “It's just making sure you're doing everything properly in the hospital setting.”
There was no more coming into work ready to go in her hospital scrubs. She had to come to work in her own clothes, change into her work clothes and leave them there when changing back into her own clothes at the end of the shift.
That, and personal protection equipment along with frequent hand washing and sanitizing, meant she had little fear of taking the virus home from work.
Schofield’s daughter and three grandchildren live with her. She said they had no concerns knowing what her job is and the environment she is working in. She had her own apprehensions, which have eased with her knowledge of the precautions being taken at her workplace.
But, she said, she knows the virus scared a lot of people.
She said she recognizes that truck drivers are going into hot spots whenever they travel to Ontario, Quebec and the United States.
“That's scary. I wouldn't want to be them.”
Schofield said it seems slower at the hospital right now because people don't seem to be coming in as much.
With the changes put in place at the hospital to keep people separated, there are days that it takes more people to cover the required number of cleanings under the new protocols.
“With our waiting room now it's all glassed in around every chair. That's a lot of work. It takes an hour and a half to do the waiting room, as opposed to half an hour before.
“I do my best to keep everything top-notch. I'm very picky.”
She's a lot more diligent when she's shopping because of what she knows.
“I'm sanitizing my hands when I go in, I wipe the stuff down. If they gave me a bottle I'd probably clean in there.”