Meet the WOMEN of the YEAR
HEALTHCARE WORKERS ON THE FRONTLINE OF COVID-19
Healthcare workers are not heroes. Such is the stance of medical professionals across the globe as they fight COVID. Healthcare workers are not superhuman; they’re real people with real pain, fears and emotions, who’ve been thrust onto the frontline of a deadly pandemic. And we salute them.
It’s been nearly 300 days since Australia reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, which was found in Melbourne. Since then, the women pictured here – nurses at The Royal Melbourne Hospital – have worked in a pressure-cooker environment. They’ve endured gruelling hours, PPE shortages and periods of separation from loved ones, and they’ve watched patients suffer and die without family at their bedside. At the time of print, Australia’s death toll was 905.
The personal health risk has also been immense. “I was one of the first few staff members who caught COVID at the start of [Victoria’s] second wave,” says Michele Wigg, a nurse in the Acute Medical Unit. “I believe I caught it from an elderly gentleman; I knew there was a risk in nursing this patient. I was not able to physically distance from him due to the type of care he required, but I had to give him the same care that I would give any other patient. He tested positive at the end of my shift and died four days later.”
Wigg, who isolated in a hotel, was just one of thousands of infected hospital workers. As of October 14, 3500 health care professionals in Victoria had reportedly tested positive for COVID. Between July 1 and August 31, RMH identified 262 positive cases among staff.
But 2020 has also brought moments for pause and faint silver linings. “As the demand placed on our intensive care services grew, so did our camaraderie,” says ICU nurse Laura Gordon of her intense year. “We came together
