Pandemic Heroes: Two Sudbury hospital workers win national awards

Sudbury -

Health Sciences North in Sudbury is recognizing two of its employees for receiving a national award.

Dan Moulton, a chaplain at the hospital, and Laurie Reed, a social worker, were recently announced as the winners in the Healthcare Heroes category for the "Pandemic Heroes – Standing Up for Mental Health" awards program. It recognizes and celebrates individuals and organizations who took supporting mental health one step further during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Numb, completely shocked, incredibly humbled, a lot of gratitude, and I think Dan and I felt also that many people are worthy of this award and I think it speaks to the teamwork in ICU and we’ve dealt with so much change with COVID you know from social isolation to how we behave in public spaces but what hasn’t changed was our ability to work as a team and I think that’s what made us get through it," Reed said.

They are being honoured for how they worked together in the intensive care unit to connect families with their loved ones, whether they were standing outside the hospital's isolation room or miles apart. Moulton and Reed worked with staff in the ICU to set up visits over video calls.

"I think it meant a lot just to see because they hear a lot on the phone. Words mean one thing but like a video or actually seeing their loved one even trying to describe what ICU is, that they’re on life support. You understand what either the nurse or physician is talking about. So the nurses would give families, loved ones a view of what the patient was going through. It allowed families to have visits even though they couldn’t come into the ICU. it allowed that connection," Moulton said.

They also supported colleagues by talking through their experiences of grief, fear, and moral distress at the height of the pandemic.

"We all have our own home environments, our own life stories and people go through different things. And you know not seeing their parents or family they’re used to seeing all the time we all went through that isolation period through this time and then we’re trying to support others while we’re grieving ourselves. That’s a challenge," Moulton said.

All the recipients and nominees will be recognized at a gala event in Toronto this December hosted by mental health advocate and former Olympic rower Silken Laumann.