(The Canadian Press)

By Josh Hall

tracking the virus is important

Nurses doing great job with COVID-19 testing

Jun 17, 2020 | 9:29 AM

Thank goodness for amazing nurses.

That’s my biggest takeaway from getting tested for COVID-19 recently.

My results came back negative, which was a huge relief on multiple levels, namely because I am immunocompromised because of the medication I receive for my Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

But allow me to expand on the nurses thing.

Having covered all three anti-racism protests in Red Deer earlier this month, I heeded Dr. Deena Hinshaw’s request that everyone who attended an event get tested for COVID-19.

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I’ve been dreading getting tested since the pandemic began because, as I said to the nurse who called me from Alberta Health Services to book my appointment, “I’m a wuss,” or at least can act like one sometimes.

Surely, I can’t be the only one who wasn’t keen on having that giant Q-tip stuck all the way up through my nasal cavity.

Lo and behold, they switched things up at some point to a throat swab, but that still made me antsy because as I’ve repeated to different dentists during my adult life, I was born not only with the gift of gab, but the extreme gift of gag.

I can’t understate how kind this nurse was that I spoke to on the phone. My anxiety had spiked after Dr. Hinshaw addressed protest attendees, but this nurse quelled it mightily.

The morning of the test, I was fine, but as soon as I was on my way to the assessment centre, a five-minute drive from home, the butterflies returned.

However, once again, and not really to my surprise, the nurse at the testing facility to whom I explained my life story could not have been more considerate and empathetic to my anxiety.

I asked, and neither of the nurses I dealt with could tell me their names due to confidentiality, but if they’re reading this, I want them to know how grateful I am.

I don’t want to sound woe is me because we’ve all had a rough go of it the last 12 weeks, but I will admit that it’s been considerably tough at times for a lot, if not all of us in news to grind through the daily slog of COVID-19.

Many, many people have dreaded contracting the virus, and we all know getting sick would be just another log on the dumpster fire that 2020 has become.

As for the test – open your mouth as wide as you possibly can, and it’ll be over in two seconds.

Swab in, scrape against the tonsils and back of your throat, swab out. Think about choking on a popcorn kernel for a couple seconds.

On that note, I offer my sincerest apologies to the nurse for coughing in her face. That was my gift of gag acting up, but at least we now know your face shield doesn’t have COVID-19.

If you do happen to talk to AHS on the phone about booking your appointment, and you go do the test, if you are helped by one at the hospital, or if you know one personally, thank a nurse the next time you get the chance.

I’m truly not sure what we’d do without them.