Forskningsprojekt > Nordic Network: A care crisis in the women-friendly welfare states? > Nyhed

Read one of the vignettes from the Postscript: A Care Crisis in the Time of Covid-19

Care research does not take place in a vacuum, especially in the context of a global pandemic that has magnified the care crisis dynamics discussed in this book. Perhaps the Covid-19 crisis will actually give impetus to more enduring, transformative restructuring of care and justice. And yet there is only limited room to reflect on these developments in the format of academic book chapters written mainly in the pre-coronavirus period. How then can we make sure to position this book in its time, so that you, the reader engaging with our discussions, get a sense of the unsettling, disruptive context in which it has been finalised?
Hospital

 

This postscript brings together a range of vignettes by some of the book’s contributors on dimensions of coronavirus-related developments in their respective context. Taking the care crisis concept as reference point, each vignette describes a concrete moment, development or process that offers reflections on the discussions in the book within the coronavirus context. 

In this first online pre-print, Carsten Juul Jensen’s poetic rendering of an interview with a nurse volunteering for the Covid-19 unit conveys a feeling of how mundane and at the same time existential hospital care is, on so many levels. The remaining vignettes will be posted on the project website during 2021.

 

Published in

Lise Lotte Hansen, Hanne Marlene Dahl, Laura Horn (eds) (2021) A Care Crisis in the Nordic 真人线上娱乐lfare States? Care work, gender equality and social sustainability (Bristol University Press)

Contact: Lise Lotte Hansen (liselh@ruc.dk)

 

Nurse Karen Works in the Covid-19 Unit in a Hospital

Carsten Juul Jensen (Professionsh?jskolen Absalon)

A poetic representation inspired by critical feminist methods to provide an interview with Nurse Karen who voluntarily accepted work at a unit for Covid-19 patients. The interview was conducted in spring 2020 in a former Department of Medical Gastroenterology.

 

真人线上娱乐lcome

we showed up for our first shift

at a department that was totally deserted

like a bomb everyone had run from

no:

chairs, tables, beds, duvets, coffee cups or people

the introduction poster for the bedpan washer had been removed

many of the nursing staff stand shoulder to shoulder by the computer

 

A menopausal lady

hot flashes

hands sanitised for 30 seconds

 

blue lab coat tied around the waist and neck

blue mask tied well on the back and squeezed tightly around the nose

 

face shield on

gloves preferably long on

ready to care for patients

Mrs Jensen needs help with:

bed bath

getting dressed

wound care

eating

45 minutes blue lab coat untied

hands sanitised for 30 seconds

gloves off

hands sanitised for 30 seconds

blue lab coat stripped off

hands sanitised for 30 seconds

mask off

hands sanitised for 30 seconds

face shield off

hands sanitised for 30 seconds

 

make sure to only touch the clean parts, the parts that have not been in contact with patients

 

the menopausal lady is soaked as if she has run a half marathon

the lady needs to go to the changing room in the basement to change her uniform

 

did I sanitise my hands when I moved the gloves from the wrong bin?

 

Patients

Woman of 45 years is discharged

falls in her home

can’t breathe

readmitted

 

No one will die alone on my shifts

sitting in a lab coat, mask, face shield and gloves

holding hands

can the dying lady feel empathy behind my mask

in the visible part of my body – my eyes

 

The lady with dementia

who is already confused about where she is

thinks she has landed on an untouched planet

among people in blue with masks and face shields

who are you?

 

Remember that the doorknob is unclean – friend: sanitise your hands

 

COVID-19

The hygiene nurse knows all the hygiene rules

not afraid of infection

heavy breath

 

Covid-19 negative

 

training for the run across the Storeb?lt bridge for a half marathon

must give up after 12 km

can’t anymore

 

Covid-19 positive

 

Sick

fever with breathing difficulties in a big house isolated from family

 

Healthy

back in the Ambulatory Endoscopy Clinic

Covid-19 unit closed

tired

heavy breath

 

Hope to be ready for running a 4k in the future