Excerpt from July 23rd 2020 article in the Australian Journal of Pharmacists:
How have a Hockeyroo, a community pharmacist and a pharmacy intern been coping with the stress of COVID-19? We hear from them
This week AJP and Pharmacists’ Support Service (PSS) brought a third webinar in a series aimed at helping pharmacists, pharmacy interns, students and pharmacy staff to navigate the stress associated with the current pandemic.
‘Staying afloat on the wave of COVID-19 and beyond’ saw Hockeyroo goalkeeper, registered nurse and RU OK? Ambassador Rachael Lynch share the difficulties she has been through over the past several months.
Speaking from Kalgoorlie in WA, Rachael said her team was leading into the Tokyo Olympics “which was all very exciting—and then COVID came along and changed everything for all of us”.
“I was working one day a week at the hospital [as a nurse] as I’ve done for 10 years, even leading into the Olympics we were training six days a week and on my day off I’d go to the hospital. With COVID we went from full-time training to absolutely nothing,” she said.
While her hometown is actually Melbourne, where all her friends and family are, Rachael decided to stay in Perth to commit her time to helping as a nurse during the pandemic and she now work for a private company providing COVID testing around WA.
“I guess the whole experience has made me reflect and take some time to figure out who I am as a person. The Olympics was my goal and that was taken away,” Rachael said.
“While it’s obviously devastating to have the Olympics cancelled, I don’t think the word ‘devastating’ is relevant because there’s people who are dying.”
Things that have helped her during this time include:
- Having/finding a purpose
- Creating routines
- Staying connected with friends and family
- Seeing a psychologist regularly
- Regular exercise
....
Continue reading the full article via: https://ajp.com.au/news/its-a-tough-time-but-there-is-life-beyond-this-pandemic/