Kelly Sherriff – Teaching Assistant at Luddenden CE School, Phil Wilson – Paramedic Clinical Supervisor at Halifax Ambulance Station, Maddy Wilson – Domiciliary Carer with Welcome Independent Living

Kelly: “The school closed on the 20th of March. A rota was put together so that most staff only had to go in once a fortnight. Although some of the team have had to go in most days. At the beginning it was only a small number of children sometimes as little as one child. It is definitely getting busier now and on some occasions we have had more than ten. It has felt incredibly strange and surreal, although the children seem happy enough.
We are looking to go back at the beginning of June. It is really worrying and most staff are incredibly anxious about this. We are not sure how social distancing will work with the tiny people. A lot of them need help with going to the toilet and washing their hands. Some of them are prone to having accidents. I just think it is going to prove very difficult to manage.
All we can do is get on with it and until we put it into practice we can't really say how it will be.
I just wanted to add that right at the beginning of the lockdown I set up a bedtime story for the children. It is on my Facebook page and I read every night at six. It is just a way of staying connected to the children.”

Phil: “I’ve been off with an injury for 2 months and went back 3 weeks ago so obviously when I left it was, as you would say, normal and clearly now it’s not normal! We’ve had some sad times at work – we’ve actually lost a colleague to covid-19, in fact it was his funeral today (Mark Stanley). I’ve known him a long time, 15 years – others there have known him 30 years, and we were unable to attend as we normally would, with a guard of honour because of social distancing, so we were able to line the route but obviously 2 m apart – that was tough and while we respect what’s going on, it’s difficult for my colleagues at the moment.
My team have been moved from our normal duties back onto ambulances which is Ok but it means we’re not there to support staff as we normally do – critical care jobs and welfare and support. So it’s having an impact on that as well. We’re having to wear PPE for every single patient so we’re there with bags and kit having to go maybe 3 flights of stairs with mask on – you can’t breathe but at least we can take them off when we come out of the hospital but I really feel for the nursing staff - it’s all day long -or ICU where their wearing it all the time.
We have specialised kit which we had to wear the first time – what we call the level 1 kit which blows air into a pressurised suit and then you can’t hear what your colleagues were saying. But we are getting used to it and I think there’s a lot of things going to change because of this – I think the PPE for us and for our patients now is here to stay which is probably a good thing. I think any of our respiratory patients will be masked up in future – it will just be the norm and that will help reduce the spread of flus and chest infections. It all seems ludicrous now that you would go to a respiratory patient without this gear which we used to do. That’s a possible positive thing out of this. It’s tough, but we’re getting on with it.”

Maddy: “I care for people in their homes – the change for us is that we’re going in with much more PPE so every single call we have to wear mask, gloves apron and sanitise and not allowed to take it off until we leave the building. It’s difficult as we have to do personal care - it’s the main part of our job – which is a lot of physical contact. Obviously we’ve got the PPE but it is quite difficult as we have to get close. I also suffer from anxiety and panic attacks so wearing the masks makes me a bit scared and you can’t always hear what someone is saying. Also we have a lot of customers who are deaf and its difficult to communicate with them as we would normally as they can’t see my mouth moving, which seems simple but is not. Some are OK and pretty well at ease with it all but some, especially women, are quite anxious and some have stopped the calls now because they don’t want people coming in – terrified that I’m going to give them something even though I’ve got all the PPE. I have split shifts and technically I should be showering between each but I haven’t time, its impossible. I work In Luddenden and Mytholmroyd, in two different areas which is also a risk. I go into the homes and do jobs for them – go to the shops, go to the chemist.
As a teenager it’s really difficult. I’ve just turned 18 and can’t go out to celebrate. We’re at an age when we just want to go out and travel and all these nice things and we can’t do it. It’s affecting mental health as well as I know a lot of people who are harming themselves and things because they can’t go out and see people and speak to people like that.”

18.5.20