Five Years Later: Surviving the Covid-19 War

Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. I remember the day as if it were only yesterday. The memories are vivid in my mind; the heartaches of losing friends and numerous patients leave an emotional scar in our hearts that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. The fear remains that another pandemic might come and change our world again.

I wrote this about my burnout:

At the beginning of April 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic burnt me out. 

I remember waking up in bed, physically drained from a fitful sleep and emotionally shattered by the friends and patients we lost. I debated calling out sick that morning because I dreaded hearing the frequent overhead pages for the code team. For the first time in my long nursing career, I was at a crossroads I never thought I could ever be at; I thought of quitting. I wanted to run as far away as I could, away from dying patients, away from the heartaches. But I could not abandon my staff, so I stayed resolute in fighting alongside my courageous staff in that dreadful war.

Five years later, I feel privileged to be part of the army of healthcare staff worldwide who battled the war. Today, I browsed through the photojournals that chronicled our fight. 

Yes, we survived. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. It was just taking one day at a time, putting one step ahead, until finally, the vaccine came, and later on, we finally took off our mask.  

I am not the only one remembering that day. The burnout and the PTSD that followed were real. 

Five years later, these are just distant memories for most. I know that for all the healthcare workers who struggled through the "war," it was an emotional and challenging process to move on to the new normal. May we all support each other as we learn from the past, and hopefully, we will not have to go through this again. I celebrate the resilience of these nurses and all those who continue to make a difference every day.

We are bruised but still standing.

Covid Diaries:

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