Nurses caring for coronavirus patients spat at, called disease spreaders: 'Society needs us more than ever'
Many nurses caring for coronavirus patients have alleged that they are being abused and discriminated against in public. They also claimed that they are being spat at and called "disease spreaders" by the public, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
The RCN said that it has received anecdotal reports of community nurses receiving abuse while working in uniform. Calling abuse of nurses “abhorrent behavior”, the RCN’s director of policy, Susan Masters, told The Independent: “These were community nurses who had to go into people’s homes and were in uniform. Members of the public who saw them called out to them and said they were ‘disease spreaders’.”
She continued, “We don’t know how big this problem is, it is anecdotal, but it is unacceptable. We can’t have nurses who are running into the fire when everyone else is running away being abused. They are going in to see patients and caring for them when everyone else is keeping their distance,” adding, “The public need to understand that nurses are socially critical and right now society needs us more than ever.”
Recently, a nurse named Reizel Angela shared on Facebook how she was racially abused by a couple at a train station when she was on her way to a night shift at a hospital. “A man elbowed my rib, intentionally pushing me to the side, the female partner then shouted racial abuse saying: “At least we are whites you f***ing c***. I felt the need to share this experience as it has really affected me in a way that I couldn’t even begin to explain,” Angela said in her post.
She continued: “I honestly don’t feel the need to seek revenge or reciprocate the hatred thrown at me because I’m not one to go down to that level, but what I really want is to turn this pain into power and move it towards the GOOD. The coronavirus is not an excuse for ANY kind of discrimination. PLEASE PLEASE STAND UP AGAINST IT. And if you are guilty of it, reflect and educate yourselves.”
Angela ended her post on a positive note, saying, “We MUST learn from the humanitarian lessons taught by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the time to LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER AND BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER, in this time of global crisis; kindness is the best and most effective response.”
In the wake of the global health crisis, England’s chief nurse Ruth May has also appealed to people to contribute in the fight against Covid-19. She said: "We’re asking all supermarkets to allow all of our healthcare workers easy access to buy their food and vegetables. I’d also make a plea for all the public to show kindness.
"We’ve heard that people are spitting at our nurses; this is just not right, they are working very hard. I would want to make sure we all play a part in this coronavirus fight.”
In her interview with the Sky News, May referred to a video posted by a critical care nurse who was left in tears after she could not buy basic food items in stores after her 48-hour shift amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Fifty one-year-old Dawn Bilbrough, from the city of York in England, posted a heartbreaking video online, appealing to people to stop panic buying. “I'm a critical care nurse and I've just finished 48 hours of work and I just wanted to get some stuff in for the next 48 hours. There's no fruit, there's no vegetables and I just don't know how I'm supposed to stay healthy.
“Those people who are just stripping the shelves have basic foods you just need to stop it because it's people like me that are going to be looking after you when you are at your lowest and just stop it please!" she said in the emotional clip.