Just before the pandemic hit her site, Margaret worked at another facility helping out. No one really knew what was happening, and everyone took day to day because the information shared changed by the hour. Margaret was sent back to her home site, Langley Lodge when COVID started to spread at an unexpected pace. First, a floor was created for the COVID sick residents, and Margaret cleaned daily in the hot zone. As COVID spread throughout the building and fear took hold. She was one of the people who showed up every day with only a few hours of sleep between shifts.

Margaret spent every day, hour upon hour, talking employees off the ledge so that they came to work and stayed at work. She worked side by side with housekeepers, dietary, and laundry maintenance; she did whatever job needed to be done at that moment. Margaret worked day after day in the positive areas. She was the first on-site and last to leave to the point of exhaustion. Many tears later, the facility and Margaret survived but changed forever.

The lower-spectrum jobs in facilities were rarely recognized or discussed. To me, they are my unacknowledged heroes. Without housekeeping cleaning the rooms daily, attempting to keep infection lower to beat the virus was challenging. New processes began in long-term care that were previously only seen in hospitals, and we tried new ideas to see if they worked. The residents’ home became a war zone, and processes changed hourly to try to beat an invisible foe.

I have nothing but high respect for her and every other worker who puts residents before their own families. In my opinion, that is a true hero.

Submitted by Corrine Burns