Singapore—Perhaps being a health worker is never an easy job but during a virus outbreak, so many brave men and women work tirelessly day after day, putting aside their own lives to save others.
One such worker here, Benjamin Ong, who goes by the name Benzeemin on Instagram and who works at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), recently posted an update on the turn his life has taken since the beginning of the spread of the Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which originated in Wuhan, a city in central China and has gone on to infect more than 40,000 people all over the world. It’s death toll recently surpassed 1,000.
Mr Ong posted a photo on Instagram on Sunday, Feb 9, with the caption “My battle scars.” In it, he talked about the hardships he has gone through in the front lines of the outbreak, including that fact that he and his partner have had to cancel their wedding reception because they cannot take any time off. His partner is also a frontline health worker.
First, he talked about the amount of protective clothing they need to wear.
“U wear every level of protection needed to ensure u are contacted with any of this virus and to not bring the virus back to the loved ones at home. You wear face shield/ goggles / N95 some even wear PAPR at work, trust me it ain’t easy to breath (sic) wearing any of those (N95 & PAPR) and with all that protection on, u work quick and fast, catching your breath with every step u make because LIVE (sic) MATTERS.”
N95 is a type of mask that filters out particulates, and the PAPR is a Powered Air Purifying Respirator, also used for filtering the air around the person wearing it, as well as providing air back via a hood.
He then describes how exhausting the work is.
“After finishing your shift sweaty with tiredness, aching back, sore calf, painful ankles.”
The Annual Leaves (sic) of the front line personnel have been stopped, and they are not allowed to leave Singapore at the moment.
And, “worst of all,” as Mr Ong writes, “is when you have to cancel your wedding reception because both you and your significant other are front liners and you both are needed to fight the ‘war’ because LIVE (sic) MATTERS.”
What is also heartbreaking is the rudeness he encounters when he is on the way home, with people treating health workers badly.
“Now after work U shower and wear back (sic) your uniform with pride, u take public transportation just to go home and rest because tomorrow is another day of “war” but when u board the train or bus. People raise their voice at u saying u bring germs/ virus with u, that u are infecting other people and that u are INCONSIDERATE but u just be quite and leave the train or bus because u are tired after work to (sic) tired to explain ur situation.”
Sounding heartbroken, Mr Ong ends his post with this:
Now u tell us how are we suppose to feel or react?
Are we not human like everyone else?
Don’t we have love ones too?
Don’t we wish to go on a holiday too?
All got to say is,
I am a front line staff and this is my story.” -/TISG
Read also: Morning brief: Wuhan coronavirus update for Feb 11, 2020