Gamma Chapter Report

Good bye 2020, hello 2021! We must admit it, 2020 has been a memorable year for everyone! This is not a year that we will forget soon.

While 2020 has been challenging for everyone, here are some of the challenges that the MDRD technicians in our region had to face.

Many of us had to adapt to a new work environment in 2020. We started to wear face masks everywhere in the department and throughout the hospital. We had to re-teach and monitor basic activities like hand washing, and cleaning of workstations. Let’s not forget the questionnaire that we must fill out every day when we come to work…and every time that we step outside of the hospital and come back in! And do not think that you can enter the hospital though any door!

While we enjoy having coffee break with our fellow coworkers, we had to get used to having coffee and lunch alone or in very small groups…. sitting far from each other and only removing our mask to eat. The cafeteria and coffee shop were closed for a while, then opened again but offering limited choices. We were not allowed to pour our own coffee or soup anymore…someone did it for us. We learned to be careful not to cough because all eyes will be on you wondering if you are infected with COVID-19.

We now must monitor how many people are in the change room and are only allowed four people at once. Some of us had to change our working hours so that we do not all arrive at the same time.

Surgeries were cancelled/postponed, and many technicians were re-assigned to other duties. Many of our technicians went to work for housekeeping temporarily and were a great help in making our hospitals the cleanest place in the city. They were disinfecting door knobs, handrails, walls, bedrails, elevators. Some of us were reassigned to greet patients and hand out masks at the hospital entrances, while others were moved in MDRD to new duties and new shifts. Many technicians had to start working weekends again because the main operating rooms were moving the cases to the weekends. Everyone was great; no one complained. We were grateful to still have work!

We had to learn to reprocess many different things that we would have never thought that we would reprocess. For example, we started reprocessing N95 masks as well as many critical disposable items that we completely ran out of and were not able to source.

In our region, being on the border of the province of Quebec, many of us live in Quebec. At one point the borders to Quebec were closed, and we were forced to go through a police roadblock on our way back home. That was quite strange and made us realize how fragile our freedom was.

Although we were not terribly busy at work, 2020 was stressful for all of us. Please know that you all did a wonderful job and that you should all be proud of yourselves for not giving up and helping our health care system get through this tough time.

All the best for 2021.

Cheers,
Nathalie Legault