Resilience is our work

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency medical services workers have had to further build their resilience to meet the challenges, both material and psychological, that the pandemic has introduced into their work practice, which in itself requires a certain resilience. But perhaps the very fact that they already possess this aptitude has allowed them to move forward through the various waves of COVID-19 and continue to look to the future.

Healthcare workers involved in the emergency medical services are certainly the most used to resilience, because they have to do their work in ever-changing conditions: in homes, on the streets, in crowded places as well as in isolated places, on a mountain path as well as on a summer beach. The COVID-19 pandemic has further tested this resilience, both materially (examples include the difficulty of working in already complex environmental conditions while wearing full personal protective equipment, or having to wear them quickly so as not to delay departure for an urgent mission, but without compromising the correctness of the procedure) and above all psychologically: at the peak of pandemic, after several waves and many months of hard work, they were in fact at the end of their rope. Emergency Rooms were totally saturated, thousands of patients have been transferred to the Intensive Care Units, patients being transported to the hospital seem to wonder if there will be a return journey, sometimes there wasn’t even enough ambulances to help everyone: the pandemic feels endless and there have been moments when hope was lost. But these people, who have had to experience the devastating consequences of the pandemic in the most direct way, have finally found a way to be resilient once again and to continue to look to the future with hope.