Covid-19, one year on: Melody MacGregor | Latest news

Covid-19, one year on: Melody MacGregor

Melody MacGregor

To mark the one year anniversary of the pandemic, members of Team UHDB are sharing their thoughts and reflections of their personal and work lives during Covid-19.

The pandemic will have had a very different impact on each and every one of us, so the one year anniversary since we started to see the first inpatients admitted is a good opportunity to reflect on the year gone and to look forward.

Today, Melody MacGregor, Research Practitioner at RDH, has shared a poem she's written, as well as one thing she'll be taking forward, leaving behind, and looking forward to after Covid-19.   

One thing I'll be taking forward ...

That through research, I have been part of a team who have contributed in helping to find treatment for Covid, provide valuable insight into the infection, and who are currently working on a new vaccine. I also got to meet lots of staff members that have enrolled in the siren study, that I would never have met otherwise. 

One thing I'll be leaving behind ...

The guilt that I felt at not being at work at the start of the pandemic because I was having a career break due to many bereavements, I had experienced in a very short time. I did return to work sooner than planned because I felt so helpless being at home, and although I couldn't help my family members I had lost, I could help others.

One thing I'm looking forward to ...

Is having a proper leaving party with all my colleagues that have either retired or moved jobs since the start of the pandemic.

Melody's poem

Patients in bubbles, staff all in masks,
Rushing around trying to complete all their tasks.
This pandemic is draining us, our energy running low, 
Please someone tell us, how much longer to go?

Patients alone with no loved ones near, I try and make time to listen to their fears.
But I cannot replace the loved ones they miss, their touch, their smile and even their kiss.
So, I give them my time, as they clutch their phones,
For it’s their only link to their loved ones at home.

As I see the patients' faces, with eyes full of fear, 
I wish that their loved ones were able to be here. 
For their love is the strength that will help them get home,
Home to their loved ones, where they’re no longer alone. 

I walk around the hospital, research patients on my mind, 
Hoping and praying, a cure we can find.
So, if you see me in my tunic of red, seeing a patient in one of your beds,
Remember research is the medicine to come and help me bang the research drum.

For all the patients we have helped along the way
We are glad we met you, but at home we hope you stay.
We have made a difference in this very long race,
We have done it with style and we have done it with grace.

So, all my colleagues be proud of what we do,
Everyone at Derby, yes, I’m talking of you.
Hold your head up high, we are doing our best,
Hopefully soon we can all have a rest.
 

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