Poverty Teaches You How to be a Survivor

In times like these, I take a moment to reflect on my past and the things I have learned.  This is why it is important to not forget about your past. Do not ignore the lessons you learned during the hardest times of your life.

I am no stranger to poverty. I remember the times we had to eat rice for three days in a row. I am no stranger to the cheap packs of noodles and other cheap processed foods to get by.

Poverty has taught me how to be a survivor and ironically, that is something I can use even now, especially in nursing. 

When you're impoverished, you learn fast how to make things last. You learn how to make meals on the cheap and how to make every morsel of food count. The same goes for nursing. We need to make our products last and count in every situation of possible exposure. We can do this by assessing which patients we feel are most at risk for exposure, as well as those exhibiting possible symptoms of Covid-19. Hospital settings will require stricter use of personal protective equipment and they need all of the supplies they can get.

Poverty also teaches you to look ahead. It teaches you to be prepared in case things get bad. Unfortunately, expecting the worse is part of the impoverished mentality. When you experience scarcity, you learn quickly to never get too comfortable when things start to go awry.

So how does this translate to the current pandemic the world is experiencing? It means that all of my red flags are going off saying " WE ARE NOT PREPARING ENOUGH". We need to be proactive now and act like we are already in an outbreak. We should be doing this to contain an invisible virus from spreading to our most vulnerable people. I have already asked a close friend of mine to sew some masks in preparation for a shortage. We can be spreading the word for all who sew in the community to start making masks asap. This is important for safety, and to contain the spread of the virus. We need to pressure our leaders for more support by getting more protective equipment, medical-grade cleaners, and to take their front line staffs safety seriously. We are no good to people if we are sick ourselves. This goes for all who are considered essential workers who may have exposure to the public. We should be cracking down on those in the community who blatantly refuse to social distance through fining or some other form of discipline as a deterrent. This doesn't mean we need to become vigilantes towards other community members, it means our authorities are taking the public's safety seriously by containing the potential spread of the virus.
We can be looking towards other countries in outbreak and learn from their successes and mistakes.

Instead, I feel nothing but chaos. Our governments are not communicating and in agreement with each other. Small towns are not working together to come up with a plan of how to handle an outbreak. Instead, we are all doing our own thing and hoping for the best. Do we even have a plan?

For the first time, a lot of people are starting to feel what it is like to have limited access to food and services. It can be very scary and fear is a natural response to the unknown. This is the reality of our impoverished populations who constantly feel the fear of the unknown. Always wondering where their next meals are coming from and do they have enough money this month to put a roof over their heads.

I hope this experience will change some perspectives going forward and I hope that we can come together soon and create a plan to contain the spread of the virus if/when it officially hits our small communities.