UHDB colleague bravely reflects on thoughts of the pandemic at national remembrance event
A UHDB Nurse bravely shared her thoughts and memories of working through the pandemic at a national remembrance event last week.
NHS Charities Together held the remembrance service at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire on Friday. The event was held as an opportunity to “reflect on the impact of the pandemic for everyone, as well as wider ongoing loss being felt across the world”.
Fliss Pass, an acute oncology clinical nurse specialist based across Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital Burton, worked on Covid-19 wards throughout the pandemic. Speaking at the event, she shared her account of caring for a Covid patient as she approached the end of her life.
Fliss said: “As healthcare professionals, over the last two years, we have often found ourselves in impossible situations.
“When we had to arrange Zoom calls with people’s families to say goodbye, the tears in their eyes were heart-breaking.
“I still can’t imagine the pain it caused families to lose their loved ones in this way.
“Afterwards, we would be left alone with our patients at the end – sometimes the only person who could stay by their side and hold their hand as they died.
“As nurses we are used to people dying and talking about death, but the pandemic broke me. And today I am still trying to come to terms with days like those, which were without doubt the hardest in my career. It was so difficult to be there in those moments and witness so much loss, but I felt honoured to care for my patients, and will never forget what we went through together.””
Other frontline workers from across the UK were also at the event sharing poems and testimonies. Ten blue heart wreaths were laid to represent different parts of the workforce, patients, and global losses and sacrifice.
Ellie Orton, chief executive of NHS Charities Together, said: “NHS and social care staff have given so much over the last two years, working with dedication and commitment to care for us all, and tragically many have lost their lives in this service.
“Today we honour and thank them for everything they have done – including those who continue to make sacrifices every day, as the NHS recovers from the most challenging time in its history.”
You can watch the full memorial service here > (opens in new window)