In between COVID-19 Journal entries, I have spent the past four months writing. I have been writing without thinking and, in the past eight days, since I last published my journal, I think I have begun to think a bit more before writing. Sometime in late February, panic overtook me. There was news of the …
This will be the last entry in my COVID-19 Journal. It is not that I won’t write about the Pandemic again, but, for me, this phase of my service to keep people safe from COVID-19 is ending. On June 30, I will return to the Youth Program fulltime. This is a picture of the corridor …
“Do you know what the best thing is, Dr. Beck?” “What’s the best thing?” “The best thing is that there have been over three months of the virus and no one I know has died. I was sure some people I knew would die and I was getting ready for it.” Since I had this …
As I prepare to leave the Surge Unit, I am thinking about how much I will miss the people who are working there. I will miss them individually and as groups – the large group who work days, the smaller evening staff group, and the overnight stalwarts. I am so glad the Child and Youth …
This phase of the COVID-19 pandemic is transitioning, and so am I. In nine days, I will finish working on the temporary Surge Unit where I have spent these last ninety-seven days. It is not a moment too soon. I am tired. I have been working in the hospital from 8:00 a.m. until at least …
The hot summer weather has started. I can feel the malaise of the past winter sweating out of me, as my body warms to the point of a fever. All those months of Saturday baking means that I have a freezer full of baked goods to enjoy on sunny Saturday mornings on the deck. I …
Today I was clearing off the dinner table after hosting my son’s birthday party when I heard the loveliest sound. It was the sound of a jet plane taking off from the Ottawa airport. I was mesmerized. I stopped and listened. I listened in much the same way that I had when I was small …
Yesterday various news outlets reported that there were many new COVID-19 cases in youth under 20. In fact, cases of COVID-19 in people under 20 were increasing at the highest rate of all age groups at this time. For those of us who work with youth, this is disheartening. Of course, the speculation is that …
Each day there are more and more youth speaking to me about how addiction and drug use has slipped into their lives during COVID-19. Today, I learned from a sixteen year old that it is more common for illegal marijuana to be mixed with “tiny” amounts of fentanyl in Canada than in any other part …
I am remembering last June. One sunny afternoon, I am interrupted by a very rapid, almost urgent knocking on my door. I open the door and there is a very tall, very slender young man in well-pressed but loose trousers and shiny new brown brogues. Whatever he is wearing to finish off this smart outfit …
