CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Things have changed at Laniado Hospital
The deputy head of the infections department Dr. Talia Fein explains how things have changed so dramatically for Laniado and in Israel.
“Up until a few months ago we always knew that there were a lot of different types of Corona Virus but the Novel Corona Virus either didn’t exist or we didn’t know about it.
We were aware what has been happening in China and it has been inevitable that it was going to spread and come over here, which we are not surprised about. However, we are surprised how much it has taken over all our daily lives and how we have seen such a big change eg: staying indoors, not going to parks etc.
In terms of the hospital the way we are working is completely changing. We are talking about isolation, how we are to dress as well as the staff shortages, who are unable to come in to the hospital due to self isolation. Also we are stopping visitors and therefore seeing a dramatic change to our day to day lives.
There are different types of patient. Either suspected or proven patients. For the moment when we are meant to be examining patients who are ‘proven’ it means getting completely dressed in protective clothing including a hazmat suit with visor, N95 mask and gloves.
In terms of the suspected patients we still have to wear protective clothing, gloves, masks etc, but the clothing is a slightly different to the proven patients. This means we are constantly changing our clothes accordingly, being up to date on the guidelines of what is allowed to be worn when approaching patients.
There are now a few different issues here (in Israel) including no schools and nurseries. My children are little with my eldest only 6, so my husband has been looking after them every day so he can’t go to work or alternatively my sister has been helping.
My parents are in the high risk category both over 70 with immunity compromised, so despite wanting to, they haven’t been able to help directly with our children which is difficult. In terms of if they are worried about me, my children are too young to correctly understand. My husband is always now reminding me to make sure that I am dressed correctly when I am seeing patients”.