Stories from Healthcare Workers: Part III
The global pandemic of COVID-19 has brought Healthcare Workers from the safety of inside hospitals and offices to the forefront of the news. They are not only the most compassionate and selfless people, but also family, friends, and some are Buddhist. How has Buddhism influenced their perspective as a healthcare worker/student? Please join us in showing appreciating those that keep us healthy, by allowing those in the background to share their stories.
Lauren Asaba
She/Her/Hers
Employee Health Nurse at UW Medicine
Seattle Buddhist Church
We are all dependent on each other, it feels like. I appreciate the work that everybody does to keep everybody safe. It takes a village to handle COVID-19 safely and effectively. I rely on the screeners who screen everyone walking through the doors, the security, the custodial staff. My job now, I have monitored any exposures of people coming through the emergency, even after the fact they test COVID-positive. Speaking of COVID, I appreciate the work that everyone is doing to keep the community safe to try to decrease the numbers here. The forefront of what I am doing, it feels very different. I do feel very lucky that I am exposed to all these amazing workers in the hospital and I do have a great appreciation for all the work that people do. I am dependent on them - we are all dependent - on them to care for all the people that come in to care for ourselves and each other. It takes all of us to work together. We are all putting our best effort to get this under control. I guess I haven’t really thought of it. I guess I have been shaped by my Buddhist upbringing: my parents were Buddhist, my grandparents were Buddhist. I hadn’t thought about it in terms of shaping what I do as Buddhist, but I suppose it does. I don’t think I’m doing anything different than what my colleges are doing. We are all working hard to keep everyone safe here.
I want to say “thank you” for putting the community first. They are really there to get the numbers down and open up again. I see a lot of dedication and hard work. I see very little complaining and fear. Everyone is doing their part.
Tammy Matsumoto
She/Her/Hers
Registered Nurse Certified and Public Health Nurse at O’Connor Hospital
San Jose Buddhist Church
I enjoy the interaction with people. I like taking care of people. I like seeing them get better if they are ill. Being a Buddhist has influenced my work in a couple of ways. The original hospital I worked with was a Catholic Hospital. They did a lot of things that Catholics do, and as Buddhists, I’ve never been exposed to those things before, things like Ash Wednesday. I had to go into a patient’s room, and I had no idea what Ash Wednesday initially until my coworkers explained it to me. I remember walking in and thinking, “she has dirt on her forehead, what’s going on here? Should I say something?” Good thing I didn’t because I later saw nuns going around into people’s rooms. I realized something must be going on. I spoke later to a coworker and she explained it to me. I tried to be respectful of it, but it was interesting. In terms of managing patients as Buddhist, I try to be more empathetic. In terms of COVID, I try to explain to my patients in not necessarily a Buddhistic way. Buddhism focuses on interdependence: everything relates to each other. With COVID, it’s super clear: if my patient is not wearing a mask and she is positive, not only is she affecting me, but also whomever I am exposed to, and also her family and whomever they are exposed to. At the hospital, you are only allowed to have a significant other or a person with you, if you are admitted. If you are not admitted, you are by yourself. Being alone by yourself can be very intimidating. When you are dropped off at a hospital, it is very isolating, especially if you have anxiety. So, seeing how you are connected to each other, and how you can relate to them can make a big difference for the patient.
I guess my message to healthcare workers now would be, “keep doing what you are doing, you’re doing a great job.” I think the public is a lot more aware of the sacrifices we make now, we get more positive reinforcement from our patients than we used to. Stay vigilant. Stay safe.
Ellen Higa
She/Her/Hers
Pharmacist at City of Hope National Medical Center
Orange County Buddhist Temple/San Jose Buddhist Temple
Before all of this COVID stuff, on a day-to-day basis, when we go into the cleanroom, you always wear like a mask, head covers, down gloves. And so now with COVID, we're finding out that we are having a shortage of our PPE. That’s a scary thing because the reason why we wear all of that is to protect the patient, so that we don't accidentally contaminate whatever IV product we make. Before whenever you go in and out of the IV room, you would always put new mask things on. But now since there's a shortage, you keep your mask in a paper bag, so that you save it for the whole day. Just because there’s not enough. It's really bizarre. As far as hand washing and using alcohol, hand sanitizer, things like that, we have always done that so it's kind of interesting. Cool! That's because our population is immunocompromised, so they are at higher risk of maybe getting infections from the hospital. It's horrible to find out you have cancer. I think that just knowing that all of the patients are really going through a lot helps me focus better at work. You know even though there are some things that are kind of crazy, or it just seems like maybe it's a really long day. But in the end, you know, I'm just at work. Other people are really fighting for their lives. I think Buddhism really helps put into perspective that it’s bigger than just me. Our hospital is really really just trying to help people combat a longstanding disease.
We can help support everybody else like, “Hey, let’s do this a little bit longer!” Unfortunately it's because of the pandemic, but it's really neat the amount of education that's coming out about any kind of contagious disease. Hopefully not too many people are getting too sick, but overall this will help us be better.
Garrett Sano
He/Him/His
School of Nursing at Fresno State
Fresno Buddhist Church
As a new graduate registered nurse, I had a lot of expectations for the world of health care, but I also had moments that nursing school did not prepare me for. School gave me a lot of knowledge but I was lacking real world experience. The experience to make quick decisions and apply my knowledge for my patients. These experiences coupled with knowledge develop wisdom. Wisdom allows for insight, judgement, and understanding. However, being a nurse is not just being wise, there is also showing empathy and compassion. Being able to make my patient comfortable in a place as uncomfortable as a hospital is important. Patients must sleep in strange hospital beds and be woken up to have their vitals taken or blood drawn, all while being sick. During what is considered a patient’s darkest times, it is essential to have a nurse who will not only have the knowledge to treat them, but genuinely care for them. Therefore, I try to apply the Buddhist values of wisdom and compassion into my nursing care. These are qualities that I see in many great nurses. Those who have a balance of both the wisdom to treat patients, but also the compassion to care for them. As a new nurse I will continue to develop my wisdom and compassion so I can provide the best care for the patients who put their trust in me.
