Hello Denise, how are you doing today yeah today we’re going to start a one-on-one interview and the topic of my research is the experiences of female racialized personal support workers working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, I have your consent to record the video, right?

Yes

I will start with questions. Take me through your work history to this moment

I was working as a financial advisor, and it was hard to find a job so being someone who like to care for people I took the training to become a personal support worker. Firstly to secure a job for myself and also to be able to help the elderly in activities of daily living.

Can you share with me some of your experiences of the availability and reliability of the PPE during the coffee 19 pandemic?

Before the pandemic, I used to work in people’s houses and also in a long-term care facility, through an agency. As the pandemic hits we were asked to stick to one workplace. I decided to do the home health. It has not been easy during the pandemic. Upon arrival at the client’s house, I have to answer questions that they ask me. Questions such as “Did you change your mask how many gloves do you have on you and so on. Most of the clients will want us to sanitize our hands and wear a new fresh new mask before entering their house.

the company we worked at was experiencing shortage of mast at one point, they wanted us to change the mask just when it is soiled. Like I said earlier when we go to clients houses they want us to change the mask and wear a new one. We had limited mask supply giving to us, sometimes I had to use my personal money to purchase extra mask because I did not feel safe wearing one mask for a long period of time.

At first, we were not required to wear facial Shields and gown, then as the number of cases keep rising, we have to were required to wear the facial Shields, goggles and the surgical gowns before attending to clients. All the donning and doping was time consuming, giving the fact that we had to see many patients in one day.

How many patients did you see in a day?

Averagely of 10 to 12, sometimes even 14 and I had to drive from one client’s house to another.

What was the age range of your clients?

70 to 100 years

Were your clients required to put on PPE?

No, and that did. Not bother me because most of them are seniors who stay mostly an home. Other healthcare workers who come in wear protection. My greatest consent was those who have family members who live at home. They don’t feel obliged to wear the mask at their homes and will sometimes talk to us without maintaining the safe distance. Moreover, some of them will go in and out all the house, shopping and grabbing things from outside.

What motivated you to keep on working?

As a personal support worker working as a personal support worker tend to create that strong bord with your clients some don’t have any family members so if you don’t show up to make sure they have something to eat who is going to take care of them who is going to change the diaper. These are the things that really motivated me to go to work every day, because of the love and bond I created with my clients and again I needed to take care of my bills and expenses.

Did you have any consent from friends and family?

It was so challenging working currently. Besides the PPE shortages, when the numbers keep rising I always have my family and friends who show a lot of concern. They keep asking me to quit my job, saying this is not the best time to work as a PSW. I lose a close friend because I refuse to quit my job so she kept on avoiding me and won’t respond to any of my phone calls. I wanted to pick something else for his from his house she wouldn’t even let me into her house to pick up my stuff, because they look at me as if I am the vector transmitting the virus.

How did your relationship with your friends and family affect you?

I felt so isolated because no one wanted to come closer to me.

I had a co-worker who contracted the virus and the husband also contracted it from her. Her husband ended up dying. that felt really bad, seeing her lost the husband from trying to give back.

I was constantly having people calling me to tell me how the numbers are rising I had to find ways to filter all information I get. At one point I stopped watching watching the TV because it was really scary seeing all the COVID-19 related deaths in the GTA and across the country.

Was there a point when you felt the mask was not reliable?

The agency I worked with provided us with the regular disposable mask, not the secured N95 ones. Those ones were used mostly by nurses and doctors. but sometimes we just have to work with them for longer hours and maybe double them up and it was always limited in supply

so how was your workload during this time?

we had a lot of coworkers who just stopped working due to health problems and some were just scared of contracting the virus. At one point I was just standing alone, and the workload was so much on me. I had to attend to so many clients and also work longer hours.

With the workload that was given to you, do you think it was worth the extra pay?

The extra pay did not come up early on, it actually came out only in August 2020. I just feel PSWs deserve more than the $4 extra pay, because of the work that we put in.

Were you scared that you could contract the virus at one point?

In my agency, we were obliged to take the covid-19 test every week

At one point I tested positive to the virus

it was so scarry. I was quarantined for 14 days, that was my most scarry moment. In a foreign country, living alone, I thought that was going to be the end of my life. When I recovered, I kept of working and was more cautious.

With the vaccine in place, do you feel optimistic?

Although the vaccine is said to be voluntary, some family members will not allow anyone who is not vaccinated to provide care to their loved one.

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