Posts Tagged ‘Covid Crisis’

I barely feel like an Actress or an ER Volunteer…

Remember how they said ER Volunteers could come back to my hospital last month? Well, we’re still not back.

Waiting for my COMEBACK!

Charlayne, my supervisor, had us take a brush-up written test. Did that. Aced it. Then a health check-up. Did that. Then we had to get a flu shot. Did that.

Then she sent an email about a mandatory Booster. Have that.

Then she added a Zoom meeting to go over all over the new Covid rules. Sat in on that.

We learned how we must now enter the hospital through a tent, then wait in line for a temp check, then pick-up two hospital masks (to be worn at the same time) and then get a daily badge to wear in addition to our regular badge. Haven’t done any of that yet, because Charlayne’s now supposed to tell us one-by-one when we can go back.

This is starting to feel like waiting for a callback…

To make things worse… haven’t heard from Dr. A in forever...

Or my Agent!

I’m SO OVER IT!

Oh, and I can’t take my homemade goodies to the doctors and nurses anymore because now the staff isn’t allowed to eat in the hospital!) But, it seems like the hospital isn’t the only organization that keeps changing its mind because the CDC is continually Covid-confused too.

On the good side…

Since I’m not doing anything I haven’t made any MISTAKES lately. haha.

And since I’m on auto-Purelling as a way of life after working in the ER for so long, I haven’t gotten Delta, Omacron or any kind of Covid yet. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and I’ve been going on okay-during-Covid-WALKS with a really cute boy in my neighborhood whose name I’m keeping private at the moment;) Not exactly romantic, but at least we don’t have to wear masks and he can see my smile:)

Hang in there Evie, haha …

KINDNESS is our secret weapon

Last week I heard very sad news. I’m still in shock. It doesn’t feel real. A friend, a fellow actor I know, I mean knew, ended his life.

It hurts too much to discuss details. And I want to protect his wife and child’s privacy… they’re devastated…

What I, what we, need to figure out is how to help all of the hurting humans in our country who are “on the verge” or already “acting-out” after nearly 15 months in isolation.

Covid did a number on all of us —

It’s no surprise that after all we’ve been through, we’re freaking-out and blaming one another other in crowds, on planes, at games and at home. So many of us are still stuck without a job, without security, without a way out. It’s a mental health nightmare that isn’t getting enough attention. Depression is rampant.

We’ve got to start connecting with each other, hearing each other, putting ourselves in each other’s shoes.

This was then…

I don’t know how humans handled the pandemic the last time. In 1918 they didn’t have TVs or cellphones, or computers. They couldn’t distract themselves with Zoom.

It sounds even worse than what we’ve experienced, but that’s hard to imagine…

…this is now.

If you or someone you know seems depressed or suicidal, or just has a few worrisome warning signs, do whatever you can to offer help.

We tried in the case of my friend. We got him into a facility, but his good acting may have fooled the professionals into thinking he was doing better than he was.

Suicide is one of those decisions you can’t take back, unfortunately. Questions go unanswered… the people you love most hurt the most, creating an open wound that lasts forever after…

Watch for Warning Signs —

Crisis Help —

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Teen Line Online

Thanks for reading. Take care of yourselves out there <3

xo/evie

Niles, my hairdresser-bestie, and I live in the same building. He’s in my “bubble” so we have dinner together a lot. Monday before last dinner on his balcony was like any other since March. His housekeeper, Hortensia, was there cooking, cleaning…

On Tuesday Hortensia’s sister was sick, so she got tested. On Wednesday sis learned she’d tested POSITIVE. So Hortensia tested, and yes, unfortunately: POSITIVE.

Niles got tested and said it was “easy-peasy” at the drive-through set-up at the Veteran’s building, plus he got his NEGATIVE results within 24 hours.

I went to the website,  filled out the forms, watched the video twice (“don’t drop anything”) printed the receipt with my number… so far so good.

On Saturday I was psyched to go. The line was long, but kept moving. It took about an hour to go through. One of the masked guides told me to go to Tent #1. When I got there, I asked the next masked guide if there would be another Tent #1 and she told me there would be. She asked if I’d been there before.

No it’s my first time.

She explained that up ahead they’d tell me what to do… piece of cake, right? Uhhhhh… not exactly for me.

Passing a sign PUT ON YOUR MASK, I eventually I got to a window where a guy asked for my number and then attached a sealed plastic bag with the test kit on one of those extended grabber things and pointed it to me in my car.  After I grabbed the plastic bag, he told me to roll up my window, which I did.

After that something went wrong, because I followed the car in front of me for awhile without stopping and noticed that the driver dropped something in a receptacle and continued to drive on. I had no idea what he was doing since no one had told me to take the test yet and there’d been no place to stop and do what was shown in the video. I continued in the moving car line, a little nervously…

The next masked guide told me to get into Row 3, which I was aware wasn’t Row 1, but I figured maybe I didn’t have to get to Tent #1 after all.

Then, after I’d been there an hour my car line exited out! I FREAKED and pulled over to the side as quickly as I could.  Frantically I opened my plastic bag, but in my nervousness, the white gauzy circle-thing fell to my car floor. Noooooo! (“don’t drop anything.”) I speed-dialed Niles.

Am I supposed to take my test in the car and send it somewhere?!

No– didn’t someone watch you take the test?

No, and Niles —  I accidentally dropped my white gauzy-circle thing!

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At my hospital ER Volunteers are still on “Pause” for Covid, but this week we all got emails saying it’s time to come in for Flu Shots. It’s a mandatory situation for anyone working in our hospital, so we always get them.

Gotta be honest, going back to the hospital after 6 months forced leave felt a little eerie, like walking into a black-and-white Twilight Zone episode where things seem normal but not. Fewer, quieter people walked through the lobby. Hardly anyone was sitting. No Volunteers behind the Information Desk. Just a guard.

Masks are mandatory in the hospital, even on outside bridges. I avoided elevators, wore rubber gloves to open doors and skipped using the restroom.

A nurse whisked me through the vaccination process – I barely had time to fill out my form. Probably was there eight minutes tops, and that included a short, socially-distanced wait in line.

Thinking about everyone in the ER…

I took the outside stairs down to the ER and hung out by the automatic glass doors just long enough to wave to Anthony Chan, wearing a face shield over his mask, triaging a patient.  It didn’t feel right to walk in, yet…

Dr. A’s car was the parking lot, so I left him a cute note on his windshield. I wonder when he’ll find it…

I miss all my friends/co-workers — Dr. A, Anthony Chan, Mira, Tyrell, Miguel — even Charlayne.  I miss the patients and their families, the EVS workers, the paramedics, the doctors, the nurses. I miss helping. I miss giving hugs. I miss being in on the action. I even miss the bad coffee in the employee lounge. I especially miss the non-paranoid, non-mask-wearing me.

Who knows about Covid, but at least I won’t get the flu…

I’m glad I got my flu shot at the hospital because I’ve definitely built up a lot of anxiety about the place. It felt less scary than I’d anticipated. But not going-back-to-work comfortable yet.

So strange, these times. Fears get magnified. The known feels unknown. Normal feels like an unattainable dream…

Frontline Workers will be among the first to get the Covid vaccine. Is an ER Volunteer a Frontline Worker? Google doesn’t have the answer. If Google doesn’t have the answer, what’s the world coming to?

I sometimes wonder… a lot actually…

(I wonder how he liked the note…)

Man do things change! As many of you know, I volunteer at an ER at a big hospital in L.A.

When I started I didn’t want to be there — the blood…the yuck… the smells…  

But after a while I started feeling the gratitude from patients and families as I’d try — Evie-style — to make their stressful experiences a little less stressful.  Suddenly I wanted to do more, be there more, help people more… Things started to change… or was it me who was starting to change?

Working up-close-and-personal with doctors, nurses, EMTs, CPs, guards, clerks, environmental services, and administrators, I saw how hard they all worked in their shared goal to give the best patient care. I gained a new respect for them and what it took to be them.

Surprisingly, they started appreciating me too — or was it my chocolate chip cookies?

Courage In The Time of Coronavirus

But, now that Volunteers have been put on leave because it’s too dangerous to be there, I’m soooo worried about my ER family: Triage Nurse Anthony Chan, Charlayne my Supervisor (don’t tell her I said that), Miguel the ER Guard and Dr. A... especially Dr. A… They’re all putting in in 12-16 hours a day, with a shortage of PPE, surrounded by Covid 19 germs…  

From time-to-time I post about the heroes among us — ordinary humans who do extraordinary things in the life-threatening situations.

Little did I know that I’d know some…, in the scariest of situations in the scariest of times… they’re so vulner… I hope they’ll… I can’t even…