by Jessica Reincke, SuperCare Health
The spread of coronavirus in the U.S. has caused a lot of changes, with simple day-to-day routines being interrupted, restricted, or outright cancelled. I’ve certainly been worried during this time of uncertainty, scared about if I can make it through this lockdown with with a job and my health intact. My experience at SuperCare Health has reassured me that there are so many people ready to help and support in difficult times. Even as they put their own safety on the line, health care providers, like SuperCare Health, are stepping up to deliver care while doing their part to stop the spread of COVID-19.
I want to give you an inside look into how SuperCare Health continues to deliver care for respiratory patients, but has adjusted its operations in response to COVID-19.
Normal is Relative
When I joined SuperCare at the beginning of the year I would come into the office and see it filled with employees. I would hear their voices filling the halls – some in serious discussion, some with laughter, and all engaged in their day’s work. It was easy to take these normal times for granted. Just another day at work.
A couple months later I saw the office quickly shift from a bustling, social office full of employees to an organization responding to a time of crisis. Things were remarkably different, and yet the same.
COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 reached California as I started my third month at SuperCare Health. I felt like I had just become adjusted to the office dynamics of friendly faces, project challenges and the constant presence of birthday cake in the break room. Then, it seemed as though, overnight, posters had sprung up on every door and wall informing employees about ways to stay safe as well as how to properly sanitize against coronavirus in the workplace.
Sanitizers were also distributed in the office so that employees could continue to work without concerns of exposure. I also saw how SuperCare Health extended infection control protections to patients during this time. Emails, phone calls, and newsletters were sent out to educate patients of the virus and inform them that they would not see interruptions in their care and how SuperCare Health would continue to provide their therapy.
Stay At Home, Unless You Can’t
SuperCare Health is an essential healthcare service and is dedicated to providing necessary treatment to patients while still limiting their patient’s and employee’s exposure to COVID-19.
I don’t think I truly understood what that meant before now. I knew that hospitals and first responders were still working. I knew that grocery stores, while bought out regularly, were still open, but how do you take a bustling company with 22 locations and continue to serve patients when the state is in lockdown?
SuperCare Health sent employees who were able to do their jobs remotely home. They made sure everyone was equipped to work effectively outside of the office. But there was also a group who had to work on-site, had to ensure our inventory of equipment for our patients, had to deliver that equipment to patient homes.
The New Normal: Different But the Same
I do miss my normal routine in the office. Seeing those smiling faces, looking with frustration at a blank page while trying to find the words to fill it, taking for granted how the company just does its work of taking care of patients.
Even during this COVID-19 pandemic with all of California sheltering in place, SuperCare Health continues to deliver respiratory care. Things are different from when I first started with the company, but it’s also the same. It’s comforting to know people step up in times of uncertainty to give the support and reassurances we all need.
While it is easy to feel isolated during this time, remember that this is only temporary. If we all continue to do what is responsible and look out for one another then before we know it, it will be business as usual for all of us.