On our team
Dr Eleanor Gaastra explains how international sport has prepared her for the fight against coronavirus
Dr Eleanor Gaastra has been training relentlessly over the past few weeks. Each day has a regimented rhythm between work, rest and recovery. The Wales lacrosse captain, however, is not preparing to lead her country into battle against England and Scotland in the home internationals, which had been scheduled for next week. She is working tirelessly as an intensive care doctor to prepare for the fight against coronavirus.
“We are expecting more cases in the next weeks,” she tells The Sunday
Telegraph between shifts at Salisbury District Hospital. “It has been a slightly different atmosphere in that we are doing far fewer routine operations. We have been preparing the hospital for the increased pressures of intensive care. It does link into sport that we are training for something.”
Gaastra, who is a specialist registrar anaesthetist, is not one for self-aggrandisement. She certainly is not keen to be described as a “hero” – as so many working in the NHS are at present – but does have a special skill to help fight this pandemic.
As an anaesthetist in intensive care, the 31-year-old Cambridge graduate is in demand because operating a ventilator is part of her usual day-to-day role.
Gaastra is keen to emphasise how her work in the hospital has been aided by what she has learnt on the sports field, as she trains junior doctors who may be unfamiliar with the intensive care environment. “What I think sport has given me is that when I am on the pitch, I am quite a supportive player. That is going to be key going forward with the coronavirus,” she says.
“I am going to be supporting other doctors who might be outside their comfort zone. We will see junior doctors redeployed to other areas. Some who might not usually work in intensive care will be working with us, so it is really important to support them in their roles and to teach them.
“As anaesthetist and intensive care doctors, we are in the spotlight now because our day-to-day job is putting people on ventilators for various reasons. A ventilator is a machine that helps people breathe; either breathes for them or gives them extra help breathing. We would usually be the doctors people look to, to put people on ventilators. That is why we are going to be particularly important in this scenario we are going into.”
While the technical element of her role is a priority, Gaastra believes the biggest challenge will be the emotional one. She describes the environment in intensive care as “compassionate” and her voice breaks as she explains she and her colleagues will not be able to physically embrace families or patients at times of consolation or reassurance.
“We would often be delivering good and bad news in intensive care and we will often be the people that give the mother or father or husband or wife a hug. If a patient dies in intensive care, the nurses cry with the family. They are very involved with them, so it is going to be incredibly difficult for us as a speciality and as a profession.
“A big part of intensive care is not only looking after the patient but the family as well. That is key for us, keeping them in the loop about what is going on. I think that will be a really big challenge for us with coronavirus.
“Various local hospitals have different policie policies, but visiting will be restricted and we will be communicating a lot more with families by phone, which is difficult. That is probably what will be the hardest thing, not being able to support families as much as we normally would.”
Despite this, Gaastra is remaining positive. Lacrosse training has been replaced with runs alongside her husband, Ben, a neurosurgeon at Southampton General Hospital.
“My husband is very supportive because he understands the pressures of medicine, high-stakes decisions and stress,” she says. “We usually debrief our shifts by going on a run together, which we are still managing to do.
“Everybody in the country’s life has changed. The focus is obviously on coronavirus – and so it should be. So, my focus has changed too. Lacrosse has currently been put to one side. Our major championships are cancelled and my main focus is to look after my patients, and then I must look after myself, so my most intense training, which is very sport specific, has stopped. My training has now changed more to help maintain my physical and mental health, so I can stay healthy for my patients.”
Although sport seems secondary, many may be surprised to learn that Gaastra and her Wales team-mates, who are the fifth-best side in the world, must pay to represent their country as they have no sponsor. “While we try to have as professional a set-up as possible, we all dedicate huge amounts of time and our own money as well,” she says. “There isn’t much funding for women’s sport, but particularly for lacrosse. The fact we pay to play is a big part of what we do and it is a shame we have to constantly think about the cost of what we are doing as well.”
Although Gaastra grew up in London, she qualifies to play for Wales through her mother, a native of Merthyr Tydfil. She is now using her experience of having played in three World Cups to prepare for the months ahead. “There are a lot of similarities between being an anaesthetist and captaining your country. I have the responsibility to lead the theatre team. It is like being part of a sports team in that sense,” she says.
“Everybody does have their specific role to play. We work a lot in intensive care and anaesthetics about flattening the hierarchy, making sure anybody can raise concerns, that everybody has an important role to play. So, while we have leadership roles and team player roles, we try to make sure every role is as valued as others. Communication is key in sports and medical teams. It is a big thing that we work on. We do a lot of practice and training on how we communicate with each other.”
Comfort has come at these testing times in the form of support from those across the country who clapped for NHS workers on Thursday night, but Gaastra has the added support of her lacrosse team-mates cheering from afar. “Having their support through all this has been huge. We are a team; we support each other like family. I have played with some of these girls since I was a teenager. I am very lucky to have them at this time.”
‘The hardest thing for us in intensive care is not being able to support families as we normally would’