It is now four years since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic. In the first few months of the pandemic, the stress faced by health workers was enormous. We weren’t sure what was going to happen, we were watching the initial news reports from China and Italy, and there was real fear that health workers on the front line would die, as they did overseas.
For me personally it was terrifying, yet I was inspired by the commitment shown by so many of my coworkers at John Hunter Hospital and elsewhere. They stepped up and committed themselves to keeping the system going, despite their own real fears. I know, that many of them were terrified of taking it home to their children and made special arrangements to minimize that risk.
I wrote this piece, published in Newcastle Herald, reflecting on the heroism that I was seeing all around me. I am still inspired when I remember the commitment and dedication shown by so many of the front line health workers at the time. We should never forget it.