What impact has the pandemic had on you personally and professionally?
Dealing with the pandemic has presented a significant number of challenges professionally ranging from understanding what the first lockdown meant in terms of how we continued to deliver our services to our communities, through to the extremely prolonged nature of these challenges. We have had to be remarkably flexible over the last year as the country has moved from tiers to phases to local lockdowns and back into a national lockdown. All emergency incidents present challenges but generally they are short-term in nature but dealing with the pandemic has been relentless. My resilience has been tested beyond that which I experienced previously and whilst I have always had a strong network around me I have drawn on it far more than ever before. Tragically I lost a member of staff to C19 and this has had a big impact on the Service especially his colleagues, so ensuring people have support networks they can access has been crucial. Our occupational health team have faced such a significant increase in demand for services especially mental health support whilst at the same time people who have been unwell with other injuries or illness have seen a reduction in NHS services available. All of this has continues to present challenges professionally and of course business as usual does not stop just because we are facing a global pandemic, which means I have to deal with that as well as ensuring the Service continues to be C19 secure and supportive of the ongoing C19 partnership efforts across Staffordshire.
Personally the biggest challenge has been in relation to not being able to visit my Mum for lengthy periods of time. Unfortunately my Mum has Alzheimer’s and Dementia and lives in a care home and I have not been able to see her since last October because of the various rules in place. Whilst I could have done video calls to her this is just not practical as she is not able to communicate in that way any longer and actually I want to hold her hand and give her a hug. I am hoping that the recent announcements might mean some changes to the rules for care homes and that I might get to see her in the next few weeks. I think like lots of other people the pandemic has highlighted what is important to me and whilst work is clearly important so is spending times with family and friends doing all those things we took for granted, going for a meal, going to the cinema and going to a live music event.
How has Covid-19 change your way of management?
I think C19 has reinforced the need for compassion and empathy in the workplace alongside all the other elements that make up being a manager and a leader. I have learnt how to chair meetings virtually and embrace the use of technology in support of running meetings but this has highlighted the importance of social interaction and the fact that whilst you can run meetings effectively online you cannot recreate those corridor conversations that happen naturally in the workplace. I do also believe that the impact on individuals mental health as a result of this experience has to change the way we think about mental health in the workplace. As an emergency service we already had a range of services for staff that supported them but I think we are going to see more people need this support and I really believe that we should be prepared for that.
Going forward, is there anything you will be doing differently?
At the start of the pandemic and at various times throughout it I know that I have worked too many hours and had a very poor work/life balance and working from home especially at the start contributed to that because I could not switch off from the issue at hand, which I would have done during the drive home at the end of a day. I have had to make sure I am stricter with myself and use different routines to make sure I take breaks and step away from the work and this will be something I take through into the future.
What has kept you hopeful during this time?
Physical exercise has been a big part of the way that I keep hopeful as well as knowing that the current situation will get better. Having things to look forward to has been really important and some of those things have been small and other things a little bigger, so getting a delivery of artisan doughnuts at a weekend through to booking a few days away have been key elements for me. I do find the winter months quite hard as I like to spend time outside when I can so the fact that the nights are starting to draw out and the weather is improving all help with a look forward to the future.
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