"Racialized people were disproportionately affected." COVID-19 and critical health care in Ontario

“It was hard to watch most people from racialized communities being disproportionately affected by COVID-19. I remember walking into an ICU [in a] hospital that was located in a predominantly white neighbourhood. But over 80% of the beds were occupied by racialized people. And I was shocked, like, why is this happening and why are these people more affected than any other?
“Most of these people live in crowded housing. Most of these people do not have paid sick days. Not everyone has a luxury of staying at home when they’re sick…
“And when we had lockdowns, most people didn’t have support, especially racialized communities, people who don’t have their extended families here. It was a struggle...
“How do you expect a nurse to come to work while having little ones at home to take care of, and there are no extended families to help and they still have to pay their bills? Whether in good faith or not, people will have to put food on the table.”
- Birgit, a critical care and emergency room nurse who worked through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you for your service, Birgit.
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WELLNESS SUPPORT
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OUR WORK
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STORIES OF COVID'S HIDDEN CRISIS: MORAL INJURY AND HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS
This national interview series is part of Healthcare Salute: Thank You for Your Service, an ongoing surveillance and knowledge mobilization plan to support the needs of Canadian healthcare providers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. That project is led by Dr. Margaret McKinnon, Principal Investigator of The Trauma & Recovery Research Unit at McMaster University.
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A SPECIAL THANKS FROM HEALTHCARE SALUTE
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers from across Canada have participated in our research on “COVID-19-Related Stress, Moral Injury and Minority Stress in Healthcare Workers and Public Safety Personnel in Canada.” Their struggles, heartbreak, courage, and resilience have inspired and moved us, and formed the bedrock of our research for our Healthcare Salute project. We are deeply grateful and committed to sharing their experiences and our research through this project.
We would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to our funders, the Public Health Agency of Canada, for giving us the opportunity and the autonomy to share our research with the larger Canadian audience without bias or restriction. This work would not have been possible without their generous and arms-length funding support.
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