'You just do the best that you can': Red Cross nurses share stories from front line in Red Deer
Two nurses with the Canadian Red Cross were deployed to the COVID-19 testing site in Red Deer to help provide relief for their colleagues who have been working around the clock to ensure public safety.
“I feel fantastic being able to come into my own province,” Shelby Bay, a registered nurse and clinical health specialist from the Red Cross, said. “Being able to help out which is going to relieve other staff to not have to be redeployed to the testing centre, pick up extra hours, or get that call for more overtime because they’re short staffed.”
According to George Rudanycz, the second registered nurse and a clinical health specialist with the Red Cross to land in Red Deer, said health-care workers at the site test up to 500 people per shift for COVID-19.
“I do let them know I’m a registered nurse and that often makes them feel more comfortable and a little less tense.”
“Not everybody wakes up in the morning being like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to have a swab,’” Bay laughed. “There’s lots of fear around the action of being swabbed – but we want to help them breathe a sigh of relief.”
- Military nurses expected in Alberta Monday but experts say more still must be done against fourth wave of COVID-19
- CAF, Red Cross, and health-care staff from other provinces heading to Alberta hospitals
Bay said they’ve been welcomed with gratitude by both staff and patients.
“You have to keep it light, you need to keep it light,” she explained. “Things get really, really heavy and you do get exhausted and it’s emotional this many months in. I’m emotional, everyone’s emotional but you just do the best that you can.”
“Nurses are trusted and respected. We are a major cog in the wheel of healthcare,” Rudanycz added.
“I think Albertans and all Canadians get the impression now that really nurses work fairly hard. They’re working long hours and long shifts and they’re remaining on duty.”
Rudanycz has been a nurse for more that 40 years and still takes great pride in the work he provides and the team he gets to be a part of each day.
“I’m glad to know that I can make a difference. That’s why I’m here: to make a difference, and today, it’s Alberta and somewhere else maybe when I’m finished here.”
As for Bay, she maintains a positive attitude in her day-to-day life and is supported by a “unicorn” partner who helps ensure the moving and heaviness doesn’t overwhelm her.
The patients she helps help her, too.
“It’s really those quiet moments with patients. It’s not the big grand glorious heroic things that make me get up in the morning,” she said. “It’s those tiny conversations of appreciation.”
Bay told CTV News Edmonton she will be in Alberta for at least two weeks but will make herself available as long as she is needed.
“Wherever I go, I just bank on an open-ended ticket,” she laughed.
Bay and Rudanycz are two of 13 Red Cross medical personnel deployed to Alberta.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Tropical fish stolen from Beachburg, Ont. restaurant found and returned
Ontario Provincial Police have landed a suspect following a fishy theft in Beachburg, Ont.
U.S. FAA launches investigation into unauthorized personnel in cockpit of Colorado Rockies flight to Toronto
The U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a video that appears to show unauthorized personnel in the cockpit of a charted Colorado Rockies flight to Toronto.