I’ve had several conversations recently, all on the same topic; whether by phone, via ZOOM, through text messaging, or even using DM (direct messaging) over on Twitter and Instagram. Which topic, you ask? Whether we’ve all learned anything from this year, at either a personal or societal level; through the pandemic and the many social justice movements that have come to the forefront of the news over the past twelve months.
It has been a year of strangers coming together to help each other, and of long overdue respect for people providing essential services – from farmers, food service, and grocery workers to refuse collectors to hospital and care teams. A time of supporting local companies, and of shopping at small and family businesses.
It has also been a period of protests and unrest, of new concerns and fears meeting head-on with decades-old – even centuries-old – inequities. Perhaps nowhere has this been more evident than in healthcare, particularly within the current pandemic.
A virus named “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” (1), which causes an illness called “coronavirus disease (COVID-19)” (1), has thrown the world into turmoil that has clearly shown the disparities that continue to exist in healthcare.
Those iniquities exist far beyond healthcare, into childcare, education, and more, but my focus is bioethics – or biomedical ethics – so I tend to focus on the healthcare aspects in all of this.
Tonight I participated in a more organized discussion of these topics, of the impacts of 2020 on healthcare, as part of the weekly Healthcare Leadership (2) chat over on Twitter. Feel free to join in, on Tuesday evenings at 2030 ET, using the hashtag #HCLDR.
Each week one of our two editor-moderators will post four questions to be discussed during that week’s chat, as well as some background information on the subject and links to relevant articles, books, and other resources. This week’s topic was “Looking back at 2020”. The four questions to be discussed, from today’s HCLDR blog post (3) were:
- What have you learned about yourself in 2020? Or what lessons has society learned?
- What are some of the positive things that happened in 2020 – either personally or broadly?
- When you look back at 2020 a few years from now, how will you remember it?
- What should we never forget about 2020?
These questions so closely mirrored the conversations that I’ve been having over the past few weeks – with friends, colleagues, and fellow patients (whether with chronic pain, invisible illnesses, or rare diseases) – that it felt as though tonight’s online chat was the culmination of all of them. Because of this, I’ve decided to share my comments from this evening’s Twitter chat here – with you.
Before you read any further, why not take a few minutes to think about how you’d answer these four questions yourself. The ones that have two parts are worth considering as separate questions; that’s what I did!
I’ll go get a cup of tea, to give you a minute to think about what you would have said… bearing in mind that there’ s a limit of 280 characters (letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and symbols) for each “tweet” on Twitter. That’s why my brief replies sometimes seem stilted or even cut-off… it’s also part of the style of Twitter.
Have you thought about your own responses to these four questions about 2020? Feel free to let me know, over on Twitter or Instagram, whether there were any similarities or differences in our perspectives; unfortunately I’ve had to disable the comments section here on the blog because of my CRPS-related cognitive issues.
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), by the way, is the rare disease that stole my career and my dream job from me, and causes excruciating chronic pain along with a whole list of autoimmune and neuro-inflammatory symptoms. Putting that aside for now, let’s get started with our little review of 2020, a year to which I think we’re all more than ready to say goodbye!
1. What have you learned about yourself in 2020? Or what lessons has society learned?
What have I learned about myself in 2020? That…
Living with CRPS neuropathic chronic pain, autoimmune symptoms, and a cognitive impairment = Resilience & strength that I can share with others
I REALLY miss hugging friends; how we say “Hello” in Montréal
What lessons has society learned in 2020?
That public health teams need to better communicate with disparate & diverse populations – particularly those who don’t rely on traditional media for information
And that
Hopefully that each of us needs the same access to healthcare – no matter how we look, where we live, or what we believe
+ To respect those who provide healthcare, collect waste, staff groceries, deliver parcels…
What has society learned from COVID-19?
. That public health teams need to better communicate with disparate & diverse populations – particularly those who don’t rely on traditional media for information
. That health literacy should be part of school curricula!
2. What are some of the positive things that happened in 2020 – either personally or broadly?
Personal positives in 2020
My wonderful husband semi-retired in June, because of my cognitive issues from #CRPS rare disease, so we’ve been able to spend more time together
We’re both better together
(I could do without cognitive impairment + chronic pain though)
Positives for society at large in 2020
. Diversity & rights actions
. Hopefully a greater awareness of need for better science communications & health literacy
3. When you look back at 2020 a few years from now, how will you remember it?
How will I look back at 2020 in a decade?
Hopefully as the year my family & friends didn’t lose anyone to a global pandemic, fueled largely by
. Political mismanagement & interference in public health
. Selfish individuals who put their “wants” above others’ lives
And hopefully I’ll look back at 2020 as the year that meaningful change began for “All Lives Matter”…
In particular for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples here in Canada
Also that so many of us who already lived with some social distancing or isolation – from chronic pain, rare disease, chronic illness – were able to provide support to all of those for whom this was a new experience
4. What should we never forget about 2020?
That each case number – whether recovered, COVID-19 long-hauler, or passed – was a person with loved ones…
A person who meant the world to someone
It will be an epidemic of grief, next
Looking ahead
What were your replies to these questions? What came first to your mind, and what stuck with you, as you looked back on this year? Feel free to reach out over on Twitter or Instagram to let me know!
As we approach the holidays, I wish you good health, happy moments, and well-being. We may not be able to spend time with our loved ones this year, but I do hope that you can at least speak to your family and friends by phone or by video call.
For pandemic safety reasons, my husband and I won’t be seeing our families over the holidays, even though both our widower dads and our sisters all live right here in the same city. It will be rough, but each of us knows that we need to keep apart this year so that we can all see each other next year… with no one missing.
Whatever you do at the holidays, whichever of them you celebrate, stay safe and keep well. I’ve never been a person for New Year’s Resolutions, but after this past year I have decided to take a step towards an artistic dream that I’ve been harboring since childhood. Stay tuned! As always, thanks so much for stopping by the blog.
References
(1) World Health Organization (WHO). Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it. Webpage: Home/Emergencies/Diseases/Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)/Technical guidance/Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it. 2020, undated. Online. Accessed 15 Dec 2020:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it
(2) Joe Babaian and Colin Hung; Editors. Rasu Shrestha, Don S Dizon, Kate Donovan, Rahul Nayak, Tom Varghese Jr., Dan Dunlop; Advisors. About HCLDR. Healthcare Leadership. Healthcare blog. 15 Dec 2020. Online. Accessed 15 Dec 2020:
https://hcldr.wordpress.com/about/
(3) Colin Hung. Looking back at 2020. Healthcare Leadership. Healthcare blog. 15 Dec 2020. Online. Accessed 15 Dec 2020:
https://hcldr.wordpress.com/2020/12/15/looking-back-at-2020/