Living with Covid

LIVING WITH COVID-19, 20, 21 & 22

The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed lives…and it is not over. Having spent nearly two years in Melbourne, with what they are calling ’The World’s Longest Lockdown’, I have experienced first hand, how the loss of control, loss of human connection and fear of illness can affect people.

People lost their jobs due to lockdowns, they could not find new work due to lockdowns and everyone spent months alone with restrictions on how many hours we could leave our homes and how far we were allowed to drive.

After the first year, the effects of the lockdowns started to show. People lost their homes because they could not earn a living. There was a ban on attending weddings and funerals. People could not enter hospitals to be at the bedside of dying relatives or sick children. Every cafe and meeting place closed, the beaches and parks were off limits…people took to meeting on the street for an hour, coffee in hand, just so they could see a friendly face.

People wore bathrobes and pyjamas to the grocery store. It felt endless and hopeless…and instead of being a place of rest and solitude, home because a friendly (sometimes unfriendly) prison.

As a Registered Nurse, I have met many elderly people who, afraid of getting COVID and dying, are not going to the grocery store as often as they should. They are living on crackers or bread and water for a few days a week, when they run out of food. With no family to help them and constantly feeling afraid, they are not coping and not eating.

COVID has taken its toll on everyone who has experienced it. If you feel that your experience or your fear of COVID has changed you, or is still affecting you, let’s talk. We can chat over zoom or on the phone. If you don’t want me to see your face, that’s ok too. Let’s try and put the pieces back together so you can move forward wth your life.

Jan Bradley, RN

Registered Counsellor