Our frontline healthcare professionals live separately from their
families while fighting Co-vid-19, causing global effect. During this
time, our mother healthcare professionals are yearning for their
children mostly and they are experiencing their most difficult Mother's
Day in their life.
Dr. Canan Gönen who is one of our intensivists in Ankara City Hospital
said that she began her active duty when this pandemic era started and
she tried to overcome the hard times with her team colleagues.
Saying that their happiest moments in fighting the pandemic were the
moments when they sent the patients home to meet their lovely ones after
being discharged, Dr. Canan Gören, ''To be beneficial for people,
getting them to meet their lovely ones.. This is the only gain we
have.''
Stating that they worked to perform their duty by being distant from
their families as healthcare professionals, Dr. Canan Gönen ''I have a
three years old son. I haven't seen him for 2 months. My husband is also
a doctor, working in another pandemic hospital, we haven't seen him for
2 months. It is a challenging process physically and psychologically
both. When we look back, as a physician and as a parent, it is going to
be a period that we would do what needed to be done and being proud of
it.''
Intensivist Dr. Canan Gören emphasizes that healtcare professionals
always worked under tough circumstances. ''This is not only for this
period of time. Our educational life, residency period, heavy duty
conditions and meanwhile our personal life we try to cope with are
divided into categories and we try to manage all. We have been going
through tough times. Healthcare professionals should never be
mistreated. We treat all the patients here as if they are our mothers,
fathers or children. In my opinion, we always deserve fair treatment.''
She spoke.
Our anesthesiologist and reanimation expert Sevil Baltacı Özen shared
her experiences during the pandemic; ''The process is exhausting and
hard. Sometimes it is very sad, sometimes it puts a smile on your face.
All of us become so happy when we cure the patients and discharge them.
I have 28 months old son. From the beginning of this process till now, I
haven't seen him. We have been staying at the hotels and guest houses
organized by The Ministry of Health.
"Her daughter asked ''Won't you come back again?"
A nurse named Nilay Çetinkaya who has a three years old daughter has been working actively
from the very beginning of the pandemic. Çetinkaya when she was told to
pack her things up because they wouldn't go back home: ''I have a three
years old daughter. We were told not to go home and stay here. When I
packed my bag for the first time, my daughter asked me: ''mom, won't you
come back again?'' Those were tough times. I packed my bag, we were
ready for everything. I also packed my daughter's bag since there was
nobody to take care of my daughter, so from time to time, I go home
while being afraid of it. She says ''mom go and take a shower, then we
hug each other. I can hear these words from a three years old kid.
The sacrifices we have made here are for patients to be cured. The
patients themselves also make huge sacrifices in the hospital. People
should be more careful by considering us and our children not to violate
our rights. The world is going through this process. We should think
about other people as well as healtcare professionals and we shouldn't
be selfish. People should stay at home for them. They should be careful
when they go out and we need them to pray for us and our children."
"The sunny side of the coin is that our profession reminds of motherhood."
Elif Turna who has been a nurse actively for 26 years, has
three children. She expressed that her kids staying at home needed care
like her patients. She said that the process was hard for herself
either. She underlines that nurses play an important role in the
treatment of the patients. ''Patients need psychosocial support. We are
here for support socially as nurses since they don't have any relative
or visitor.
Saying that her children were so anxious about her, Turna: ''The sunny
side of the coin is that our profession reminds of motherhood. Our roles
other than treatment. Our protective, supportive, educationist and
caregiver roles and motherhood go well together. Looking after patients
in this Mother's Day doesn't keep us away from this mood.''
"I have seen my child three times.''
Our nurse Sultan Baran said that she was going to be on duty in Mother's
Day for 24 hours. ''We have been drawn into a different kind of vortex.
To be a mother is nice of course, you feel the warmth in every way
possible. I haven't talked with my child today. My child stays in my
mother's house, I stay in a hotel. I have seen my child only three times
within 2.5 months. The only thing makes me happy is our discharged
patients going their home nicely. Our only wish is to meet our families.
During this time, we should stay at home and follow the rules of
hygiene. We come to the hospital and work as you stay at home."