What Has Been an Upside to Covid?

Some random thoughts as to the positives that have come out of this year long disaster. Specialties School Article

What Has Been an Upside to Covid?

I ask this because for the most part, I am typically a glass is half full girl. I really try to see the upside of life and not get too bogged down in negativity. My resolve has been tested mightily this past year. As with all of us, SO many things in my world have been cancelled, postponed or just eliminated.

1- My son's wedding was postponed, but that has given them (and me) more time to save. We are looking forward to a great celebration at the end of this Summer.

2- I cannot see my mom in long term care but the upside of that is that she is very well taken care of, much better than we all would be able to do if she were living alone. She was admitted just about a year before this started and she has thrived for the most part. Her facility has done a remarkable job to keep the few positive cases they have had, from spreading like wildfire. A remarkable feat.

3- I miss seeing my family on a regular basis. With a granddaughter (14m)  living 600 miles away, I am SO thankful for the technology that allows us to Skype and video chat as often as we want. I miss my siblings and their families but we have made the effort to communicate more by phone, text, Skype etc. It is a good thing!

4- My son worked in food service for a number of years in a conference friendly town that is just about shut down. Food service is hard work and often (in his world) promises of advancement did not come through. He has made a career change and is thriving! He wishes he had done it years ago. He is selling a higher end car for a well established chain. Someone there has taken him under their wing and he is thriving.

5- For as long as I can remember I have worked 2 jobs. I got laid off the 2nd one as the LTC didn't want cross contamination from my primary (school nurse) job. I could always use the $$ but truth be told, it became more of a habit than a need over the past few years. I really enjoy my weekends and the knowledge I don't have to go out in really crappy weather anymore. I may or may not choose to return when they call (and they promised they would).

6- My principal has a new appreciation for the role I fulfill in school and just how important it is to have a full time nurse. Not every school does and that is so sad. He has gone to bat for me on several occasions as needed and let me take the lead in situations where it was needed. I have done a tremendous amount of education for staff and faculty and kids. I have append a lot of time on the phone with parents this year, in some really in depth conversations. I have gotten to know some parents that I had never needed to to connect with before. It has been (mostly LOL) a  pleasure!!

7- My state has rolled out vaccines relatively smoothly and I'm due for my second in another week or so. The best part of it is the change in needing not  to quarantine post travel or post unprotected exposure. I personally am not crazy about the masks but I wear it religiously and I suspect health care will see a fundamental shift to mask wearing, much like we moved to gloves after the AIDs crisis. It makes me feel better that if a kid is in here that is Covid-19 positive, I will be better protected than I have been all year.

These are just a few. I know I am blessed to be working full time. I am SO grateful for that. I hope and pray that there never will be another time like in our lives. 

I told you all I'm a glass half full...so it begs the question, who is pouring???

Happy Friday Folks! Be Well!!

#PandemicsAlwaysEnd  #schoolnursing  #sleevesupformyvaccine

10 Votes
NutmeggeRN

About NutmeggeRN, BSN

A school nurse 27 years, RN for almost 38.

2 Articles   4,624 Posts

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Love this! Thank you for sharing. My positives are being able to spend more time with my family and learning how to make bread. ?

6 Votes
Specializes in Community health.

I recently had an orientation for my new grad-school program. It involved a lot of “Here’s how to use Blackboard” and “Here’s how to pay your bill online.”  This was, of course, a Zoom orientation. And I thought, “I can’t believe that a year ago, this would have required me to drive an hour to campus, find and pay for parking, find the auditorium, and sit there for three hours.”  Zoom was totally sufficient for this and it saved so much time, gas, and money for everyone!

10 Votes
Specializes in kids.
9 minutes ago, CommunityRNBSN said:

I recently had an orientation for my new grad-school program. It involved a lot of “Here’s how to use Blackboard” and “Here’s how to pay your bill online.”  This was, of course, a Zoom orientation. And I thought, “I can’t believe that a year ago, this would have required me to drive an hour to campus, find and pay for parking, find the auditorium, and sit there for three hours.”  Zoom was totally sufficient for this and it saved so much time, gas, and money for everyone!

Good for you! My whole grad program was online-9 seven week classes. Gah!! I'm glad that's done but it really flew by! Best of luck to you!

2 Votes
Specializes in School nursing.

I've made to regional school nurse leader meeting for the first time ever this year. I couldn't get a sub before. Now they are virtual, plus COVID allowed to hire an LPN that I hoping should be able to keep when things head back closer to new normal and the meetings are in person again.

5 Votes
Specializes in ICU/ER/Med-Surg/Case Management/Manageme.

This pandemic has been rough on the clinic I work in.  It is a clinic for seniors and as you might imagine, they were afraid of coming in for several months.  Actually, it could have closed us.  The positive side is we didn't let it.

As a group, we came together to show more support and concern for each other than we had at any time in the past.  We spent time brainstorming things we could do to offer support to our clients and ways we could help them feel safe.  We developed 2 new grant-based programs that will likely carry on for years to come.  Our hours were cut a bit (not much) but several of us volunteered hours to develop the programs, etc.  (And some of our grants require we have X number of community volunteer hours per year.  These hours typically came from our "volunteers" but now some staff have now added to those hours which will look great on our grant submissions).

It hasn't been an easy year and I really don't want to repeat it, but some good things came out of it.

6 Votes

My husband's company realized that his team is more productive working from home, so his role has been switched to fully remote.  This means we're moving out of the expensive city we live in (since he doesn't need to live near work) to an area where we can actually afford a house and a yard.

When I tell people I'm a school nurse they no longer say "oh that's cute" and now actually ask me real questions about my job--how we're handling being open, safety, transmission rates.  They realize now that there is nothing "cute" about this role ?

I feel more respected by my colleagues and administration.  It's amazing how involved I was in our re-opening when compared to other schools in our area.  It's nice to see my knowledge respected, and my principal often calls me the "COVID expert."

Also--slightly silly upside--but my senior dog has had the best year of his life.  He got to go on vacation (we drove to see my in-laws after quarantining for 2 weeks this Summer) and see the ocean and spend time playing with his dog-cousins, he's had someone home with him daily for nearly a year, and he's even lost a pound from all the walks he's been on.  He's old, probably only has a year or so left in him, but since I'm childless he's my little baby and it makes me so happy that he gets to end his life being so happy.

15 Votes
Specializes in ICU/ER/Med-Surg/Case Management/Manageme.
1 hour ago, BrisketRN said:

Also--slightly silly upside--but my senior dog has had the best year of his life.  He got to go on vacation (we drove to see my in-laws after quarantining for 2 weeks this Summer) and see the ocean and spend time playing with his dog-cousins, he's had someone home with him daily for nearly a year, and he's even lost a pound from all the walks he's been on.  He's old, probably only has a year or so left in him, but since I'm childless he's my little baby and it makes me so happy that he gets to end his life being so happy.

As an avid lover of dogs, you can't imagine how your comments warmed my heart.  And it's not silly!  He's part of your family.  

My 14 year old dog died in March.  I, too, am childless.  I've cried buckets of tears because I never got to take him to the beach.  Now logically, I know he went many places, many lakes, many pools, walked every trail in a 50 mile radius, but that beach thing has always stuck with me.  But now, for a bit of an upside - just a bit - when he died, people at work were incredibly, unbelievably, and amazingly supportive (and still are).  This pandemic provided time for that support that I desperately needed.  So there!  ?

7 Votes

My senior mastiff started having some issues in the fall, and in December was diagnosed with bone cancer.  I was able to spend much more time with him than usual during his last month of life.  I'm devastated that he's gone, but so grateful that school was remote so I was able to have more time with him and more time to grieve before having to force a happy face at school. <3

8 Votes
Specializes in ICU/ER/Med-Surg/Case Management/Manageme.

I don't have much to say other than I truly understand your heartbreak. I'm happy you were able to bn e with him during those last days. Can you imagine how you would feel if you had had to rush off each day, leaving him alone?

Sometimes we have to dig deep to find our silver lining and sometimes it takes a long time to find it. But it's always there. Somewhere. Hugs to you.

4 Votes
19 minutes ago, RedKat said:

My senior mastiff started having some issues in the fall, and in December was diagnosed with bone cancer.  I was able to spend much more time with him than usual during his last month of life.  I'm devastated that he's gone, but so grateful that school was remote so I was able to have more time with him and more time to grieve before having to force a happy face at school. ❤️

❤️❤️ I am so sorry you lost your pup, but so happy he was able to be with you in his last month.

3 Votes
1 hour ago, DallasRN said:

As an avid lover of dogs, you can't imagine how your comments warmed my heart.  And it's not silly!  He's part of your family.  

My 14 year old dog died in March.  I, too, am childless.  I've cried buckets of tears because I never got to take him to the beach.  Now logically, I know he went many places, many lakes, many pools, walked every trail in a 50 mile radius, but that beach thing has always stuck with me.  But now, for a bit of an upside - just a bit - when he died, people at work were incredibly, unbelievably, and amazingly supportive (and still are).  This pandemic provided time for that support that I desperately needed.  So there!  ?

I'm so sorry you lost your dog.  It's tough and too often people just don't "get" the heartbreak (unless you're surrounded by hardcore dog lovers).

Funny thing about the beach--I though my dog would love it but he hated it so much.  Loved being on a boat, loved looking at the ocean, HATED the beach & tried to run away.  It sounds like your boy had a very good life and got to see and do so much.

5 Votes
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