“Any time you can help somebody, hold their hand and reassure them, make them laugh or feel more comfortable at their worst time, that’s rewarding.
I tell patients, ‘You’re safe, and we’re going to do this test to help the doctor diagnose you.’
I work as a Medical Imaging Aide in X-ray, which is quite a large area. There’s Nuclear Medicine, Ultrasound, CT scans, MRI scans, and X-ray.
My job is to help patients get ready for diagnostic exams, make sure they have the proper paperwork, and then I bring them down to the exam. I work all over the hospital. Everywhere there’s a patient, I go.
We want to make sure everything is safe, so it takes some coordinating and a lot of communication. We try to get as many patients through, who are waiting for life-saving tests.
Things are much harder with COVID. It’s definitely mentally draining. There’s a lot more things to check when I’m getting a patient, such as if they’re labelled as non-respiratory or respiratory. If they’re respiratory, then I have to make sure everyone is aware there’s a respiratory patient coming through the department because we don’t want anybody crossing paths with the patient.
I have to call when we’re on route and coming down an elevator, so that somebody can be in the hallway, clear the way, or make people stop so they’re not walking by the respiratory patients.
When I have patients who are trached, I wear an N95 mask, with all the other PPE gear, plus I put the face shield on top just so I have eye protection as well.
At first, it was so stressful and overwhelming. There were times when I thought, ‘I don’t know if I really want to do this right now.’ I think everybody felt like that. It was scary. But now, as you get a routine, you feel better about things, and the more you do it, the more confident you feel.
When I hear the cars honking in support, I get emotional because you feel like it’s a different world in the hospital than it is outside.”
- Leslie, Medical Imaging Aide, part of the health care team