Alright I wanted to start out with a really awesome intro about me! However I just need to write and get this out so you will just have to wait to learn about me!
Here it is March 30th 2020, Covid-19 and No this is not an episode of 20/20 and I am not Barbara Walters although this nightmare we have been living, sure feels like it.
Yes 2020 has started out as one of the worst years for humanity. Why you ask Covid-19 came into our world and has been changing life ever since. I recall hearing of the Coronavirus back in December 2019 and being concerned, mostly concerned to hear of how contagious and quick it took down this city called Wuhan. My real worry and fear began when I was seeing news of airplanes full of Americans being brought back from China, then quarantines and cruise ships, Seattle, and Kirkland Lifecare center, having case after case, and so many lives lost.
Who knew this would ever come so close to home! My home! No one ever believes this will happen to them, no one ever believes things will get this bad until it does! Then bam it’s in your face and reality is slapping you upside your head.
Fear and I mean full on fear hit while I was picking up my daughters who are 8 and 6 from there small elementary school, Friday March 13th yes Friday the 13th…. Gov J Inslee of Wa announces the closures of all Washington schools until end of April, shock kicks in and things were very real, my husband messages me and announces he will now be working from home to be with our girls.
That day I hear of empty shelves and people panic shopping, no toilet paper or hand sanitizer to be found, the week before I thought to myself all these people are over reacting and it’s just like Y2K all over again, people shopping, stocking and panicking like the stores will close and we will all starve. Friday the 13th finding out my children would be home for over a month and all of a sudden I will have 5 kids home full time and a husband, I decide it’s time to go shopping stock up for the weekend. Winco 4:30 pm Friday the 13th of March, pulling in to the parking lot we knew this was not going to be good! One there was not a single parking spot to be found, hundreds of people and no shopping carts left. Living on the border of Canada and having our Canadian neighbors shopping is very normal, however the fear is the border will close and the shoppers are clearing the shelves. It seemed so surreal walking in Winco, the shoppers were actually so calm, they appeared in scared and terrified of what we were all seeing, immediately we go to the paper isle, just as I expected no toilet paper, no tissues just paper towels, then I think Rice, rice isle cleaned out! Then having a large family and knowing we bake and make most things from scratch I go to the flour isle, yes you got it! No flour and no sugar, beans are next, I manage to find a few cans of beans and I find myself panic shopping. I am so shocked at what is happening I just start grabbing and shopping for items I know I didn’t need yet. Walking isle to isle and seeing shoppers wearing gloves and masks, isles are full shelves are empty and yet people are kind and compassionate with each other. The fear is real, this is new for every single shopper and employee in the store. Sure we have seen people panic shop when a big storm was reported to be coming our way. Like 2019s “Snowmageddon” the big snow storm the hit Seattle that didn’t end up being as big as predicted. Walking through winco it felt like a zombie apocalypse and the shoppers were zombies in this trance of just buy everything. Hundreds of dollars later my husband and I are still in shock, like what is happening? Is this real? We had a 20 minute drive to another town to pick up my 13 year old step son, still in a panic and thinking of all the items I was unable to buy, I asked my husband to drop me off at another store while he picked up our son. Finally in the store, same thing happening here too, people panic shopping emptying shelves, fear of the unknown kicking in for us all, talks of full lock downs and the Army Nation Guard heading our way. Fear and terror was created.
Later that night I call my father whom is almost 76 and battling cancer, I inform him what we saw in the stores and ask him to please try and stay home, a lonely widow and shopping is one of things he enjoys, he enjoys getting away from home and talking with the people he sees and meets on his outings. He tells me he has only 2 rolls of toilet paper left, I explain to him the shelves are empty and he insist on going shopping the next morning. After a week and a half and 5 different stores and trips he still could not find toilet paper, Myself trying to social distance out of fear of getting him sick with his weak immune system and still being a smoker of 50+ years, I shop for myself and find a jackpot of TP. Special delivery and we stay 6+ feet apart
Myself I work in healthcare, I always thought of my job as important or should I say Essential, however to save PPE for real healthcare workers, I find myself unemployed, I am CDA Certified Dental Assistant, 18+ years found myself temporarily unemployed. Yes I know I sound like a whiny little spoiled brat but I was not prepared to lose my job.
So much of me is my job as a Dental assistant and clinic manager, I felt helpless, I am trained to protect and sanitize and sterilize, more then anything I’d like to be of use, take a course to be a CNA and help take care of patients and nurses and Doctors.
We in dentistry have been asked to stop work, stop work until May 18 th 2 months from now, ordered to save PPE unless it’s a true emergency. What is a true emergency? Is it a broken tooth or an old filling falling out. No! A patient must have an exposed nerve and pain to classify as an emergency, swollen face and pus leaking infection, broken temporary crowns or crowns that come off, if that’s an emergency, then what’s the risks to myself and my patient, now new protocols will be in place and hopefully keep the risk low.
1st can I just say that dentistry is very advanced in protecting its patients and it’s health care workers. Universal precautions are always in place, treat each and every patient as if they have a virus or disease, protection from blood borne pathogens and viruses like HIV, Hepatitis A,B,C. And now Covid-19.
Immediately I signed up and took a CE course on Covid-19 in the dental office, really not a whole lot changed, dentistry already uses PPE, sanitizing and sterilizing, the things we can do different, screen patients before they come, do they have symptoms, take temperatures, have patients wash hands upon arrival, prevent patients from sitting to long in waiting rooms, have patients use a 1 minute bacterial mouth rinse, ask patients to not touch face or dental appliances, wear PPE from start to finish with each patient and change out after every patient, the aerosols are the biggest concern, using cavitrons and dental drills, aerosols travel in the air, covering patient, Dr., Hygienist, and Dental Assistant. We now will need the use of N95 masks or double mask, wear disposable gowns, hair caps, and covers for our shoes, safety glasses and protective shields. Dentistry will forever change and life itself will for everyone change from this thing called Covid-19. What a bad nasty word.
Dee’s World 