This blog entry is dedicated to my fellow active and former porters, who have passed away between March 2020 and April 2023 (which is commonly understood by WHO as time of Covid pandemic).
Namely – Elbert Rico, Oscar King jr, Mark Hardesty, Fernando Alverado and Łukasz Kloza.
And if their friends and families read it – my intention is to honour them, not to cause any further grief.
We will meet again, one day, in different dimention.
First of all, i would like to mention that i am not a literary or movie critic of any sort, neither i aspire to be somebody described as „opinionated”.
The main reasons that i do mention about this three-part TV drama is the fact that I have been working in biggest Oxford hospital for the past seventeen years.
And it did happen that (for a rather brief period of time) i have worked alongside doctor Rachel Clarke, which did her medical and non-medical degrees in Oxford – and worked in A&E department of John Radcliffe hospital back in 2009, currently performing her duties in Oxy’s second biggest, Churchill Hospital.
It is also worth mentioning that mrs Clarke has worked as a media journalist before, with her reportages shown by ITV and BBC respectively.
Having all that brought into a perspective, one cannot really be surprised when reaching for any of her three published books, among which „Breathtaking” is the latest.
Rich language and good style of writing – yet with solid dose of criticism towards the whole System and government visible under the surface of her words, often filled with yet another kind of emotion.
This real, human. Being either frustration, compassion, sadness – but with glimpses of joy and pride shining even through the darkest of clouds.
Those are feelings very close to many people working in various roles for National Health Service, in every part of this country.
(even despite the fact that majority of them probably won’t admit or express these emotions publicly…which mrs Clarke duly notes in her book).
And they were no stranger to this medical doctor, journalist, wife and mother being confronted with first wave of new, deadly virus spreading through our globe in early months of 2020…
I have put my own thoughts about first months of pandemic and our joint struggle with it on (virtual) paper back in May 2020 – you can find the link to my original article below:
Yet this ITV drama revoked all those dreadful and painful moments once again.
Few times i had some difficulty to watch further on. And, in my humble opinion, that means this piece of TV work ticks most of the correct boxes. Otherwise i’d be left totally indifferent.
Disbelief. Confusion. Sense of doubt. Arousing anger and frustration. But most of all, initial high volume of FEAR, the feeling which in theory should be almost unknown to fully trained and experienced hospital staff, regardless of their job description.
It is all there. Shortages of supply, desperate decisions (like in the scene where staff starts using clinical waste bags as their impromptu PPI…well, it wasn’t THAT bad in JR, for sure, but still…). Seeing your fellow colleagues either seriously overworked, to the limit of exhaustion – or absent from work while isolating or feeling ill.
In my case, two of such work mates have never returned on duty. Or rather – started their eternal shift in Heaven.
A good friends outside line of duty, passed away like 24 hours apart, just before Easter.
(which, considering high level of Catholics and their spiritualized observance of this holidays, seems almost symbolic).
Their pictures are still displayed in main office of our department, as a tribute and fitting memory of these solemn times.
Times during which their families were unable to neither organise nor to attend their funerals.
Times when some bunch of wilful idiots (or maybe „insiders”, orchestrated by government or some higher Powers That Are) have created temporary „Tik-Tok” trend of people in scrubs dancing and prancing around with music in the background a way too far, seriously undermining the reputation of hard-working hospital staff.
And the above word „people” instead of „hospital staff” has it’s certain purpose.
Because:
a) getting even huge amount of hospital scrubs by some civilians isn’t as difficult as you may think
b) these dances look like being rehearsed and choreographed for some long period of time, definitely not being just some random impromptu of bored NHS staff
and c) at least i haven’t seen any members of JR personnel doing similar clips – and we are talking about few hundred people on every shift being simultaneously on duty and experiencing (mostly in May 2020) some serious „downtime” at work (which is something we, porters, were used to years ago).
This bad publicity, additionally fuelled by numerous reports of empty hospital wards and corridors…Yes, that part is true, we have had probably the lowest number of patients in over a decade, but it was all related with government’s announces and decisions – and also overpowering lockdown restrictions.
But – what mrs Clarke and makers of this TV series duly noted – all of this didn’t lift a pressure a single bit. On the contrary, just added extra weight to it.
Personally, i was very cautious when it came to use all of these extra bonuses which we have been somehow awarded with. Didn’t ask for discounts (heck, until now i haven’t used my „Blue Card”), don’t have a car to benefit from free parking, NEVER claimed my priority for entry to supermarkets.
As i knew, deep down in my heart, that all of these neither won’t save more lives nor resurrect our friends.
But at least we can do our bit to help in this global fight. Every minute, on every shift.
Despite of what some viewers can make of this series (which – what is worth noting – so far achieved high marks from both critics and reviewers on IMDb), my sincere “thank you” goes to Rachel Clarke, screenwriters Jed Mercurio and Prasanna Punawarajah, director Craig Viveiros and of course Joanne Froggatt for her portrayal of dr Abbey Henderson.
You all did a great job (unlike many people in charge, in various governments worldwide…).
dreamingspire 