Life on the COVID-19 Frontline

Life on the COVID-19 Frontline

Marilou Virtucio, a healthcare worker at Sunnybrook Hospital

By Irish Mae Silvestre
The Philippine Reporter

For the last 12 years, Marilou Virtucio, 39, has worked as an environmental services partner at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. On an ordinary workday, she cleans and sanitizes operating rooms and spaces in the hospital’s burn unit.

But since March, her days have been far from ordinary.

Now, she works at the hospital’s COVID-19 unit where a regular workday means coming face to face with the virus.

“When COVID-19 started we only had two patients and my manager asked me if they could relocate me to the COVID-19 unit and I said, ‘Sure, why not?’” she said. “I just wanted to help.”

Despite her training and over a decade of experience, nothing could have prepared her for the realities of working in a COVID-19 ward.
Virtucio said there’s never a dull moment.

Cleaning means tackling overflowing linens, sorting garbage and disinfecting high-touch areas such as bedrails and phones. Each room requires a standard two-step cleaning protocol to allow chemicals disinfect the space. Cleaning staff are also expected to limit their time in each room to 15 minutes.

Prior to each shift, she dons PPEs such as a cap, hairnet, isolation gown, gloves, a face shield and mask; N95 masks are also available.

“I think I’ve lost weight from sweating under the PPEs,” she joked. “I get a headache because I sweat so much.”

Despite the physical toll, Virtucio said she’s grateful that the hospital places a high priority on ensuring that staff are well protected. Safety officers are assigned to check employees from head to toe to ensure that they have the appropriate gear.

“You feel confident enough to go inside [the patient’s] room because you feel protected,” she said.

But there’s also the emotional toll of seeing the virus and its effects up close.

“I was so scared,” she said, recalling her first few weeks at the COVID-19 unit. “I didn’t want to see the patients suffering. Everybody [in the ICU] is on ventilators but, eventually, you get used to it. That’s the saddest part; it becomes normal.”

Unexpected Sacrifices

According to Johns Hopkins University, there are 7,118,471 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide as of press time. And as the pandemic rages on, many frontline workers, including Filipino-Canadian health workers, become some of the victims of the disease.

“I feel really upset [about it],” said Virtucio. “I know they caught the virus because they didn’t have proper PPEs.”

Families of healthcare workers are only too familiar with the risks and sacrifices, both big and small.

Virtucio said that her husband was understandably worried when she first started working in the COVID-19 unit. She also hasn’t been able to see her sister’s two-month old baby because of the risk of exposure.

“When I told my son, who’s 19, and my daughter, who’s 14, they said, ‘I’m so proud of you mom,’” she recalled.

Processed with MOLDIV

New Realities

Like many, Virtucio feels anxious about the possibility of a second wave and the fact that it will take a long time for normal life to resume.

With plans underway for the economy to start reopening, she urges people to exercise caution. “It’s a serious matter and people have to take it seriously,” she said, adding that people should try their best not to go out unless it’s essential.

However, Virtucio said that the experience of working in the COVID-19 unit has given her a greater appreciation for frontline workers.
“I can see that everybody has a part here,” she said. “If we all do our part, we can [handle] this.”

But despite future uncertainties she said that even in the centre of the fight against the pandemic, there are still signs of hope.

“We have a lot of patient discharges,” said Virtucio. “When we see a patient getting better each day, we’re happier. It’s why we’re looking forward all the time, it means they’re getting better.”

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Employee Safety a Priority

“Sunnybrook has a robust safety program ensuring that we are working in compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and staying up to date with best practices with guidance from the Ministry of Health,” said Nick Tomiczek, Director, Occupational Health and Safety at Sunnybrook. “The Occupational Health and Safety Department at Sunnybrook works closely with leaders from Infection Prevention and Control, our counterparts at other hospitals and front-line staff; it’s a joint effort in ensuring the safety of all those at Sunnybrook.”