The neighbourhood - Phase 2

Introduction:
Since I’m making a project that is mainly about the changes that came through a disease I wanted to interview someone who is working in a hospital. I asked some of my friends and one of them gave me the contact details of Stephan. He’s working as a night carer and has a very hard job. The talk was very nice and I learned a lot about what was going on in the German hospital in Remscheid.

How have you been living these past few months? Usually I ask if it was stressful or relaxed, but I guess it was pretty stressful in the hospitals, right?

Honestly, no. It's actually pretty quiet. Most people just don't go to the hospital anymore because of Corona. And so there is not much going on here. The people who come have appointments but the walk-in customers are gone. It has rather become more relaxed for me.

In my project I try to capture the changed body language and behaviour of people. How did you experience that? Did the people in the hospital behave differently?

Definitely, yes. I always have to work in the hospital with mask, gloves and complete changed clothes. Of course, we always make sure that everything is kept very clean anyway, but now even more than usual. So also office rooms etc. The cleaners also clean twice as much as usual, so people feel more comfortable. They are afraid that visitors will bring in the virus.

But visitors are allowed to come normally again, right? That was completely forbidden for a while.

Yes, there are still stations where it is forbidden, for example in the intensive care or the baby ward. These are of course danger zones. The allowed visitors have to stay in their rooms and there are no common rooms at the moment.

How can I imagine your profession? What are your responsibilities?

I work as a night carer from 10 pm to 8 am and take care of the patients, hand out their medication etc. Sometimes I feel a bit like a nanny. Now for example, the patients are not allowed to go out to smoke in the evening and it is often difficult to teach them. Even at normal times it is often difficult to keep everybody under control.

Was it difficult for you to remember to keep your distance, to stay at home etc.? And how did you have contact with the patients? How much distance do you keep, for example?

None. Of course I keep a distance of 1.5 meters to young healthy patients and sometimes a little bit more if someone coughs, but with old people who have had leg surgery, for example, or with babies I work with, you can't keep a distance. I have to help them, pick up the babies and so on. But that's why I always wear full-body protective gear. I'm not allowed to work with things from home. I need everything twice. A spare pair of glasses, a spare cap, spare socks and spare shoes. That way it's safe.

The whole world has changed, people greet differently, everyone communicates in a new way, and that happened within a few weeks. Don't you find it interesting to see how people can change their behaviour in this short time?

Yes, I think so too, although I have already done many things that have people now changed. In the hospital we already greeted each other with elbow greetings and wore protective clothing. But also here it is sometimes different. For example, when an elderly person wants to shake my hand and I politely refuse, they sometimes look very confused. They just don't understand the whole thing that is going on very well. Or if it happens that someone throws up then my behaviour is completely different now. Now I pay much more attention to small splashes that spread. Before I removed it, cleaned myself and could continue working, but now there is also the danger that I have traces on my clothes and so I change them.

So now you have to do your job more precisely in all parts.

My last question concerns how we feel about each other during the crisis. I feel much more connected to everyone because I know that there is a problem we all have to deal with now. Do you feel the same way?

I rather feel less connected. I always work at night and sleep during the day and so I don't notice most of the things anyway. I only see friends and family on weekends or when I have a day off.