Registered Nurse (RN) at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC), Anna Harris was assigned as one of the charge nurses on the designated COVID-19 inpatient unit in April. As a mother to three young children, she says her biggest fear has been bringing the virus home to her family.
Anna was looking into options that would allow her to isolate from her family when the partnership between PRHC and Trent University – making residence rooms available for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic – was announced. She says the news came as “a huge relief,” and she was one of the first PRHC employees to move into Gzowski College.
“Making the decision to leave my house and move into Trent was not easy,” says Anna. “It’s an uncertain time. Everyone has their own decision to make, but with so many unknowns, I felt like moving into the university residence was the best decision for me and my family. The decision to self-isolate became the one thing I could control during this time.”
Nicole Glover is an RN in the Emergency Department at PRHC, and an alumna from the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing.
She has been taking advantage of the housing partnership to support herself and her family in a different way. With two young kids at home, working night shifts can be difficult. Rather than staying at Trent full-time, Nicole has been using the residence as a place for her to rest when she’s working night shifts.
“The constant changes that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought at work, as well as to my personal life, have absolutely taken a physical, mental and emotional toll,” says Nicole. “Knowing that I can get a sound sleep at Trent when I’m working night shifts, and that there is a place for me to go if anything changes and I feel like my kids or family are at risk, is reassuring.”
“I want to thank PRHC and Trent for making the transition to living away from home as easy as it could be,” adds Anna. “All the little things – the signage to guide us to the right parking lot, the visible security guards and amazing housekeeping staff, the welcome sign and even supplying laundry detergent for us – have made a big difference.”
Learn more about the PRHC and Trent partnership. PRHC healthcare workers who are interested in learning more can email askhr@prhc.on.ca.
A special thank you the community for their generous support of this initiative through donations to the PRHC Foundation’s COVID-19 response fund. A portion of the fund will be used to fund ancillary accommodation expenses for PRHC’s frontline healthcare workers.
