Stories from the Heart of Australia, the Stories of Its People
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O UR GIFT TO Y O U Stories from the PENNING THE P ANDEMIC EDIT ED B Y J OHANNA S K I NNE R & JANE C O NNO L LY Inner Cover picture – Liz Crispie Inner Cover design – Danielle Long Foreword – Johanna Skinner and Jane Connolly Self-Isolation – Margaret Clifford Foreword Late in 2019 news reports of a highly virulent virus were emerging from China. No one could imagine then what would follow. As a general practitioner working at a busy Brisbane surgery, I really did not think that it would affect us that much. How wrong I was. Within months, the World Health Organisation had named the virus COVID 19 and a pandemic was declared. Life as we knew it was changed, perhaps forever. I was fortunate to be part of a practice that had put protocols in place should the worst happen, but even so, I felt overwhelmed by the impact on the patients that I was in contact with daily. They poured their hearts out with stories of resilience, heartache and lives changed irrevocably. I contacted my friend Jane, an experienced editor and writer, about my idea to collect these tales into an anthology. In less than five minutes, she responded enthusiastically and became its senior editor, bringing her years of experience and sharp eye to detail to the anthology. Together, we spent many weekends over pots of tea and Jane’s warm scones reading the overwhelming number of stories and poems that the public entrusted to us. Our greatest regret was that we couldn’t accommodate every piece we received. Statistics, timelines, government responses, the strain on world economies and health infrastructure all dominated news sources. But the voices which were missing were those of ordinary people coping in extraordinary times, those impacted by the spread of the virus and subsequent measures taken to manage the pandemic. As well as asking patients to write down their stories, we put out a call to the community in an effort to capture the diverse experiences of different sectors. The stories in this anthology are stories from the heart of Australia, the stories of its people. They put a human face on an unprecedented pandemic and capture the uncertainty, anxiety, resilience, courage, and humour which hallmark responses to cataclysmic events. Stories from the Heart is a social portrait, told through poetry, essays, and recounts, in which the voices of ordinary people give an insight into their day to day life under lockdown and isolation. The stories reflect individuals’ attempts to make sense of new circumstances and provide insights into their efforts to create a new normal in a strange and unpredictable world that by necessity became more insular, isolating, and challenging. The anthology provides a unique record of the impacts, both direct and indirect, positive, and negative, that COVID 19 has had on everyday lives. Journey into the heart of a pandemic with these Stories from the Heart. Johanna Skinner and Jane Connolly (Editors) Contents Self- Isolation – Day 1 ............................................................................................................... 8 Life Begins ......................................................................................................................................... 9 Emma’s Story .......................................................................................................................... 10 Pregnancy During COVID-19 ............................................................................................... 13 Time has Slowed, Down ........................................................................................................ 16 Medical Stories from the Frontline ......................................................................................... 17 Thoughts on a Career Bookended by Viral Pandemics ................................................ 18 Australian Medical Women – Bracing for the Tsunami of the Pandemic Together . 20 The Heart of the Matter ........................................................................................................ 25 Reflections from a GP ........................................................................................................... 27 Luna and You ......................................................................................................................... 30 Diary of a Pandemic ............................................................................................................. 31 It Gives you Purpose .............................................................................................................. 34 From the Practice Manager ................................................................................................ 37 ICU Nurse ................................................................................................................................. 39 Masks ........................................................................................................................................ 40 From the Psychiatrist’s Couch ............................................................................................. 42 The Physiotherapist and the NDIS ....................................................................................... 45 A Speech Pathologist’s Perspective .................................................................................. 47 The Tooth Fairy in Iso .............................................................................................................. 50 Resilience ........................................................................................................................................ 52 Self-Isolation – Day 9 .............................................................................................................. 53 Gratitude ................................................................................................................................. 54 My Corona Experience Started with Fire........................................................................... 57 Punctuating the Day ............................................................................................................. 60 Retired Nurse ........................................................................................................................... 63 The Best in the Worst of Times .............................................................................................. 65 The Land of Topsy-Turvy ........................................................................................................ 68 The Right Question ................................................................................................................. 70 Loss and Longing ................................................................................................................... 73 Confined to Quarters - A Personal Reflection .................................................................. 76 Wellbeing at Work ................................................................................................................. 79 The Kids add their Voices .......................................................................................................... 82 Lord of the Rings in my Backyard ....................................................................................... 83 My Name is Lily, and I am Nine Years Old ........................................................................ 85 Selection of Stories from students at Iluka Public School ............................................... 86 My Thoughts on COVID 19 ................................................................................................... 90 My Corona Experience ......................................................................................................... 91 My COVID 19 Experience ..................................................................................................... 94 Lessons from Isolation. ........................................................................................................... 96 Home-schooling ........................................................................................................................... 99 Pearl, Queensland .............................................................................................................. 100 Benigne Aislado .................................................................................................................. 104 Messages of Love ............................................................................................................... 107 Isosceles ................................................................................................................................ 109 Doing Rona Time ................................................................................................................. 111 On the Farm ......................................................................................................................... 117 Awesome - Awe-Sum Or-Some – A time for the Ages! ............................................... 119 Teachers need their students as much as the students need their teachers ......... 122 Reflections on COVID-19 in Canberra ............................................................................ 125 We are all in this together! ................................................................................................ 127 The Creatives and the Arts ....................................................................................................