Final thoughts from Sharna

I’m still working on kind of how death is impacting me, because the strange thing, obviously being a social worker, unlike nurses and doctors who physically see someone who’s passed away, I don’t see that and people just seem to disappear or their name is rubbed off the board. So it can be quite difficult when you’ve worked with people long term and you genuinely do care about them and want the best for them, and then suddenly, they’re gone. It’s like you don’t get the same closure. So and the feelings around kind of death at the moment, I feel my feelings are kind of mixed up with my personal experience and also the fact that I’m not religious.

That adds another layer of confusion to it for me. So I’m still working on that. One thing that I– it has kind of brought up in me is the importance of like touch and like physically seeing and like being with people closely. That’s the one thing that I miss so much. Because sometimes, like patients will just want someone– just want to hold your hand while they’re talking about difficult experiences or like touch your arm. And sometimes you holding their hand is the kind of only like human interaction that they’ve had in a long time. That’s not just being for personal care.

It’s the– I don’t know, it’s really– it’s a really basic thing, but it’s so important, just to know that someone’s listening and that someone cares and is present with you in that moment. Whereas we don’t have that– I don’t have the opportunity to be that close to people anymore. And it’s not just patients, it’s like friends and family members when they’re having a difficult time, I just want to give them a hug. But your can’t.