Dr Gwennan Williams originally from Wales loves running, football, swimming and tramping. She’s making the most of her time in Gisborne learning to surf and play netball.
COVID vaccination offers hope, says a Gisborne Hospital doctor who during 2020 witnessed death rates in English hospitals at levels she’d never seen before.
“A lot of our patents were just so unwell that you didn’t even get to know them, they came in, and then they died,” says Gisborne Hospital general medicine doctor Gwennan Williams.
Dr Williams, 33, spent the past two years working in Liverpool, England, during that country’s devastating COVID-19 outbreak.
The experience has left a lasting impression and forms the backdrop to Dr Williams’ support for New Zealand’s COVID vaccine programme.
“Having had the vaccine you can confidently go back to your family, back to your fellow man, and know that you are not putting anyone else at risk of COVID. If anyone asks me if they should have it, I say ‘absolutely, why wouldn’t you?’”
In the United Kingdom COVID has 128,000 people. Some weeks at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital (LHCH) and Royal Liverpool University Hospital Dr Williams witnessed death on a daily basis.
She worked in the intensive care unit at LHCH where she was “dressed” ahead of each shift – much like a theatre dresser might assist a cast member with a costume.
Having put on her own scrubs (shirt and pants) Dr Williams would be helped with a hairnet and then a face mask specially sized for her head and face to ensure particles or droplets could not escape in or out. A clear visor went over the top. Next on was a gown, then one set of gloves to act as her skin. These were taped on. Then she put on a second set to act as normal gloves. Some staff also wore respirators.
“I always felt very lucky with the support I had at the hospitals I worked in. We were really prepared, had enough personal protective equipment, and received excellent training.”
It was exhausting working in multiple layers and face coverings. They are hot and uncomfortable, and they evoke Darth Vadar which could be intimidating for patients - some of whom hadn’t seen an unmasked human face for weeks.
“Looking into patients’ eyes I knew it was hard for them. It’s harder to maintain that sense of connection or humanity with so many barriers between us.”
Dr Williams says it was most striking when doctors had to tell patients their chances of survival ahead of going to intensive care and on to a ventilator.
“Someone may have been in hospital for six weeks with no visitors, and now they’re having a conversation with a doctor about receiving an anesthetic to go on a life support machine. The doctor has an obligation to say that they may have only a 50 percent chance of waking up. That patient has to receive the information from a masked face and with no family around.”
Through the difficult months of 2020 Dr Williams says she and her colleagues were adaptable and strong as they responded to the magnitude and scale of what was happening around them.
One colleague lost her father, aunt and uncle back home in Iran, yet continued to come to work every day.
“Back then yes, I was sad, but now I can talk about those days back in Liverpool, and not get tearful. I think that’s resilience in humans.”
It’s memories like this, and faith in the scientists working on COVID vaccines, that propelled Dr Williams to get vaccinated against COVID before she came to New Zealand.
Dr Williams says it’s perfectly normal if people feel some anxiety around the vaccine and she encourages people to put questions to the health professional they see most often.
One reason they might feel hesitant is that the disease is not frighteningly obvious to them right now.
“Be part of the bigger picture and do something good for the world.” Dr Gwennan Williams, Gisborne Hospital.
She says while East Coasters may not have visual reminders of this disease, COVID is still brutally moving through other countries and it doesn’t take more than a few international news stories to remind everyone of that.
“Even if you think personally you will not be affected by COVID, you could carry it, pass it on, and kill someone – just by having a cup of tea with them.”
“I’m excited about the vaccine and the hope that it brings. I would encourage everyone to take part in the programme. Be part of the bigger picture and do something good for the world.”