Calgary nurse: Post-pandemic life not back to normal

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency on Friday.

This is a major step toward the end of the pandemic that has killed more than 6.9 million people across the globe, but according to Fiona Villamar, Calgary neonatal intensive care nurse, life is not back to normal for frontline healthcare workers.

“The pressures are still there. I mean the mental health aspect of what this did to everybody…We haven’t had a break as nurses. We haven’t had time to really process the after-effects of the pandemic,” said Villamar.

Villamar says despite the announcement, health protocols of masking and sanitization are still strictly followed throughout Alberta.

“It’s officially ended on their (WHO’s) terms. As per nursing, I mean, I don’t know how quickly it’s going to come down the pipeline,” Villamar said.

“Probably, the majority of the healthcare workers at this point…I think there’s been a huge toll on our mental health. Just the levels of burnout are a testament. The level of people leaving the profession are a testament,” she added.

According to research from 2022 Workplace Strategies for Mental Health, 66 per cent of nurses in Canada report experiencing burnout and mental health issues. But Villamar says she has found ways to help her de-stress.

READ MORE:

• A COVID legacy? When doctors say we should still be masking up

• WHO downgrades COVID pandemic, says it’s no longer an emergency

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“Meditating, it’s a big like how am I supposed to calm my mind and calm my thoughts? And so, floating gave me the opportunity to actually slow down in order to get into that state. We’re all at a point where we need to process what happened and process where we sit within this whole system,” she said.

National Nursing Week starts on Monday and local businesses in Calgary are set to go out of their way to show their appreciation to frontline healthcare workers. This year, one Calgary business, Clear Float Spa, is offering free floatation sessions for stressed nurses.

The founder of this local business in Mission, Bryce Weeks, says they understand the mental health challenges of healthcare workers and it’s a small gesture from the business community.

“We started this initiative back in 2019 because we recognize how challenging their job is and during nurses’ week, there are lots of businesses out here that give back, and for us, this was the biggest impact we could make,” said Weeks.

He stresses, in this post-pandemic world, not only healthcare professionals, but everyone needs to find destressing techniques that will help them deal with everyday stresses in a better and more efficient way.