On the frontline

Antipodeans on the helipad at Micaela's workplace overlooking London. Micaela (right) with Grace from Greymouth (left), Charlotte from Palmerston North and Nia from Tasmania. Pictures supplied

Micaela Scott graduated from Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology in 2015 with a Bachelor's degree in medical imaging. She has been practising now for four and a half years but back in 2018 had decided there was more to life than work and set off to explore the world.

“I had a ‘now or never' discussion with a friend of mine in the same profession and we decided we'd make the move,” she says.

“I applied for an Ancestry Visa, and after working at Middlemore Hospital for two and a half years, I moved to the UK in August 2018.

“I always knew I wanted to be based in London. It's where a lot of my friends were based, is easiest to travel to/from internationally, has loads of work, and there's always a lot going on in terms of events.”

The UK went into lockdown at much the same time as New Zealand so she had to make a quick decision.

“I think moving home would have crossed nearly every Kiwi's mind who lives abroad. Of course I'd rather be with my family during this time.

“However, I decided to stay — I have a well-paying job, a roof over my head and the opportunity to help people in need and an already struggling National Health Service (NHS).”

Micaela works as a radiographer at one of the largest and busiest teaching hospitals in London.

“Covid-19 is a virus that affects the lungs, so I've mainly been doing chest X-rays. Anyone who presents at the A&E with a temperature, cough or shortness of breath has a chest X-ray.

“A lot of patients admitted to hospital require follow up chest X-rays throughout their stay to see how their lungs are progressing.

“I also work very closely alongside the intensive care unit (ICU) performing portable chest X-rays. This is where the sickest patients end up. They have all been placed in a coma and are intubated (this means a machine is breathing for them) to try to allow their body to heal. Many of them are attached to special machines called ECMO — this oxygenates their blood as their lungs are failing to do so. These patients are very unstable, so require a lot of imaging if they deteriorate in any way. Sadly, fifty percent of these patients are dying.”

Micaela said the UK government didn't act quickly enough when the first cases of coronavirus were discovered there.

“The spread occurred rapidly, particularly in London, a very condensed city of nine million people.

“In early March, about two weeks before lockdown, supermarkets were chaotic.

“Everyone was panic-buying and there was literally no food left on the shelves. I was genuinely worried I was going to starve.”

The Trust she works for declared a major incident on March 11. Every hospital has a plan in place when major incidents occur, such as natural disasters, pandemics and terrorist attacks, where there is going to be a large influx of patients into the hospital.

All outpatient clinics and elective surgeries were cancelled.

“As part of this, our whole rostering system changed and we were appointed to work in set teams. My bosses were expecting at least 50 percent of us working in radiology to fall ill.

“I fell ill mid-way through March as did a lot of staff around at the same time. They were not testing any NHS staff at the time.

“Testing of staff at my Trust didn't start until the beginning of April. Over 1000 staff where I work had to self-isolate at once.”

“Twenty-two wards were converted to Covid-19 wards. Six of these were intensive care units. We had up to 540 positive cases in the hospital at once.

“The ICUs were completely full of nearly 100 critical patients who had tested positive. Our operating theatres even started to fill up with ICU patients as there was no more room to house them.

“The hospital fast-tracked the opening of our brand new 60-bed critical care centre to relieve the pressure from other ICUs in the hospital.”

Micaela experienced the highest number of deaths in one day at her hospital on March 30 where 24 people died from Covid-19.

The UK has now surpassed 20,000 hospital Covid-19-related deaths.

“As of April 25, we've had 371 deaths from Covid-19 at my hospital alone.”

The UK went into lockdown on March 23 and the situation now is much the same as it has been for the last month and a half, she said.

“Our workload in the ICUs is still very high. We performed 2300 portable chest X-rays in March — I expect April to be higher.”

However, hospital admissions are on the decline, particularly in London.

“The CEO of my Trust recently announced that we've successfully discharged just over 1000 patients treated for Covid-19 at our Trust alone.”

On a typical day Micaela works a 10-hour shift and had just completed a set of three 13-hour night shifts to help give the permanent staff a break.

“Now, my day at work mainly consists of X-raying patients who are suspected or confirmed as having Covid-19.

“A large part of my day is spent in the ICUs — we tend to X-ray these patients in a round, one by one.

“My biggest ICU round to date is 17 patients in a row, which takes three hours. Doing this in full PPE (personal protective equipment), is hot and exhausting work.

“On busy days, the only chance I'll have to sit down in my 10-hour shift is on my 30 minute lunch break.

“On my days off, I usually spend getting in some exercise and resting up before I have to go back to work and do it all again.”

One of the hardest things is the dealing with the anxiety she feels as a result of the stressful work environment. She also misses seeing her friends and worries that she may not be able to do any travel for some time.

“My thoughts are constantly consumed by this pandemic — it's all over the news, my social media timeline and I'm surrounded by it at work. At one point I was even dreaming every night about being at work dressed in PPE.

“The demand for our services is huge. These are some of the sickest patients I've ever seen in my career, and the majority of them are in their 50s, my parents' age.

“I'm often left feeling mentally and physically exhausted at the end of each shift.”

For those struggling with living in isolation, Micaela said it was important to remember this is not going to last.

“It's for the greater good. You're doing hospital staff and vulnerable loved ones a huge favour by staying at home.

“New Zealand is leading by example with how they've handled the situation and is being praised worldwide. Imagine how many more cases or deaths there would be if we weren't in isolation?”

She is doing the same as most people to keep herself safe — staying at home and only leaving the house for work, exercise and to go grocery shopping once a week.

At work there are strict PPE guidelines in place.

“We wear PPE for every single patient we come into contact with, even if they're not suspected of being infectious, and must wear a face mask in clinical areas at all times. We're no longer allowed to wear a uniform — we wear scrubs that get disposed of at the end of each day.”

Miceala's parents were due to visit in June but had to cancel, so she was very disappointed as she hadn't seen them in two years. She had always planned to come home in December and is still hoping this will be possible.

It will be the first Christmas she has had with her family in four years so that gives her something to look forward to.