**Hermes Chat**

I did, many, many years ago. Back then, Blue Mountains wasn’t even a national park.

To answer your question, yes a koala came and sat on my lap - we visited a park somewhere, I forget the name but it was a tour. The tour guide reprimanded me for having a koala on me (I told him he came and sat on me) and insisted I remove him because of the dangers of its claws (it never hurt me, not even a scratch btw) I feed him & kangaroos food purchased at the site for them. The animals were super friendly at that park. It was an amazing experience considering all the animals were in the wild.

I even went on the Yellow River in Darwin (Northern territories) where the film Crocodile Dundee was filmed. I saw wildlife you only see in Australia on that river.

I could tell you so much more about that country... I had gone backpacking for 6 months and saw everything in Australia except for the west coast (Perth) because I didn’t have enough time to go. (Australia is about the size of the USA)

Indeed, it is a long flight to go there from the USA although I would tell anyone that is interested in going to not think twice and go. Aussies are extremely nice and welcoming. I would not hesitate one bit to return given the opportunity.

G'day mate! :smile:
I used to go hiking in the Shenandoah mountains in Virginia when younger. That would have been a great time to travel as you did. I love the fact that the koala came and sat on your lap. I have read that they like to sit. There's a you-tube showing a teenager being approached by a determined koala. The kid was standing with his legs apart, prompting the koala to scramble quickly and lightly over the underside of his legs as if it were a Roman arch. And then started to retrace the arch but the kid's dad grabbed him.

There is something human about koala expressiveness. During the drought the koalas somehow knew to approach people for water. There's a ton of you-tubes showing people responding to their thirst.
 
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Don’t let the fires of the South stop you from visiting that beautiful country. The people are so nice.... plus so many beautiful wonders to see down there and koalas are almost everywhere in Australia.
If we do make it I'll probably have to go to a sampling of zoos, animal sanctuaries, and a koala hospital. I don't think we're going to see them in the wild b/c so many eucalyptus trees have died in the fires. Which is ok. DH told me that the travel stuff he looked at warned that only young people should do the outdoor things. I know of several people who went and they all said it was beautiful. As a senior citizen, the big challenge is stamina. So a nice zoo with chairs and a snack bar and the odd koala shambling over to climb on my lap would be just the thing!
 
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well, i dont think we had a chance to get things back to normal as the coronavirus took over :sad: i am in melbourne and only had a chance to hold koalas in our open range zoo, they r very pressures. :smile: i hope this goes away soon and we can return to enjoying the beautiful nature and life down-under! let me know if u r coming :smile:
I understand it's a spectacular place. :smile:
 
Sanity check how is everyone doing ? Are you in quarantine? I am in Manhattan and we are staying indoors to socially distance. Not gonna lie this is freaking me out though. I'm keeping my sanity by browsing handbags online
It is a freaking-out event. B/c I am retired I don't go out that much, I have hobbies. However, now that it's recommended to stay home I am suddenly bored out of my mind. Which is nuts. But considering the alternative -- being seriously ill -- I can live thru being bored out of my mind. I feel for you @hephephippo, as NYC is the epicenter of the virus at this time. It's just such a scary situation. Take care of yourself and be well.
 
I am not bored. I am terrified. I am in Seattle and my husband and I both work in healthcare in direct patient care. Things are really bad here and our whole hospital is being converted to critical care from medical floors and expected to somehow increase our bed capacity to 3x capacity within weeks, but not allowing proper PPE due to shortages/not wanting to scare nurses who need to be face to face with patients constantly and don’t have access to proper PPE. I am on maternity leave for another 3 weeks, though my husband is back at work now. Things have changed just in the last few days. One of my colleagues just died after being exposed. I am wondering if I should resign and give up my whole life’s work and career to try to save my life, or if it will even make a difference. No sick time or leave time will be approved for the foreseeable future without a +Covid test, so that’s not an option. I hope the news we are getting from China is true and things will improve after a few more months. What would you do? Would you resign? I have 2 weeks to decide. Last week I was terrified my city would go into lockdown, now we essentially are but some people still go out and congregate in public. Now I am terrified if they do not order us all to stay inside.
 
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What do other health care workers do in a situation like yours? What is PPE? Was there anything in your deceased co-workers medical history that you know of that would have increased their vulnerability compared with your situation? If you can, stick it out for as long as possible, kinda like what the British say (in movies I've seen), "Get on with it." Because I wonder if down the road you might feel guilty if you bailed on the patient care. This is kind of what health care is, right? Being on the front lines. Covid-19 is not necessarily a death warrant. People do survive. If I were you I'd be scared out of my mind too. But if everyone bailed when they were scared then there would be no health care system to rely on.
Of course, this is easy for me to say b/c I'm not on the front lines.
 
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What do other health care workers do in a situation like yours? What is PPE? Was there anything in your deceased co-workers medical history that you know of that would have increased their vulnerability compared with your situation? If you can, stick it out for as long as possible, kinda like what the British say (in movies I've seen), "Get on with it." Because I wonder if down the road you might feel guilty if you bailed on the patient care. This is kind of what health care is, right? Being on the front lines. Covid-19 is not necessarily a death warrant. People do survive. If I were you I'd be scared out of my mind too. But if everyone bailed when they were scared then there would be no health care system to rely on.
Of course, this is easy for me to say b/c I'm not on the front lines.

Thank you eagle. PPE is personal protective equipment, like gowns, gloves and masks. Our hospital is asking volunteers to make masks at home!! It is unbelievable. Our patients are on the most advanced life sustaining treatments and technologies and they want us to sew our own masks which would not protect us well enough to interact with sick patients. My husband successfully obtained some masks from China thankfully and they arrived today. I am not in an especially high risk group, but I have a newborn and toddler at home and my parents are elderly. Babies seem to be at a lower risk also, but my life might as well end if anything happened to my kids somehow by my actions and choices. I am currently on maternity leave for anther few weeks, that’s why I am deciding now whether to resign or take the risk of going bacj. My thought overnight was that maybe I can ask my obstetrician if she can write me a note that there is a medical reason that I can’t come back at the time I am required to.
 
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I am not bored. I am terrified. I am in Seattle and my husband and I both work in healthcare in direct patient care. Things are really bad here and our whole hospital is being converted to critical care from medical floors and expected to somehow increase our bed capacity to 3x capacity within weeks, but not allowing proper PPE due to shortages/not wanting to scare nurses who need to be face to face with patients constantly and don’t have access to proper PPE. I am on maternity leave for another 3 weeks, though my husband is back at work now. Things have changed just in the last few days. One of my colleagues just died after being exposed. I am wondering if I should resign and give up my whole life’s work and career to try to save my life, or if it will even make a difference. No sick time or leave time will be approved for the foreseeable future without a +Covid test, so that’s not an option. I hope the news we are getting from China is true and things will improve after a few more months. What would you do? Would you resign? I have 2 weeks to decide. Last week I was terrified my city would go into lockdown, now we essentially are but some people still go out and congregate in public. Now I am terrified if they do not order us all to stay inside.
When a place gets to be like New York City, I think it's really hard to avoid catching an infection. If you resign and you still come down with the virus, the resigning wouldn't have precluded virus exposure. It seems like a lot of places will get overwhelmed with the virus similar to NYC. Yet I'd be hesitant to resign if I were you. Your skills sound hugely valuable. What does your DH say being as he too is in the line of fire, so to speak?
 
Thank you for the compliment, Nicole. I hope everything works out for you during this complicated time. Math?
Is that like administrative math to cover shifts and anticipated patient load or is that epidemiology probabilities?
Whatever, it sounds challenging especially now.

Ah, no, direct patient care, but as I work in critical care all of my patients are on ventilators so my treatment of them can be mostly done with a calculator and entering in orders on a computer. Generally we do physical exams as well, but now are being asked to limit this to protect ourselves and the patients. However, currently all staff are being pulled into other roles, namely screening patients for covid at entry points to the hospital. In addition, think of all of the other hospital employees I will be next to every day (10,000 employees at my workplace).
 
When a place gets to be like New York City, I think it's really hard to avoid catching an infection. If you resign and you still come down with the virus, the resigning wouldn't have precluded virus exposure. It seems like a lot of places will get overwhelmed with the virus similar to NYC. Yet I'd be hesitant to resign if I were you. Your skills sound hugely valuable. What does your DH say being as he too is in the line of fire, so to speak?

I think it is more about delaying it until there is some treatment on the horizon or at least better resources available - at least until we are allowed to use protective equipment when we do see patients and screen incoming. I will not resign if I can think of a way to delay going back. I wish I was more devious, since I just had a baby recently, I’m wondering if there is some medical reason I can propose to my obstetrician to get a medical waiver to delay coming back for a month or two. My work is currently not approving any request for medical or vacation leave for the rest of the year unless it is for a very serious reason. Any ideas would be appreciated. Anyone reading this, feel free to DM me.
I am a critical care dietitian, but what that role looks like really is that I just get anthropometric data, read ventilator settings and then do math to write orders for the correct IV or liquid nutritional support for people who are not conscious to eat. Technically I could do my job 99% as well from my home. My husband is a physician, so we have access to the full hospital computer system at home through his login, and I use it all of the time to check on my patients. I suppose I could propose to my department lead that I could work from home initially? Since there need of workers is so dire. I doubt it would be approved, but it is worth a try. My husband is back to work already, but as a physician he is exposed to more risk but also has access to protective equipment (though not adequate) that is prioritized for them right now. So currently he is somewhat self quarantining in our house (our bottom floor is a full large apartment because I am an introvert and this was my wedding gift from him). I am taking care of the babies now so he doesn’t need to get too close to them.
 
I think it is more about delaying it until there is some treatment on the horizon or at least better resources available - at least until we are allowed to use protective equipment when we do see patients and screen incoming. I will not resign if I can think of a way to delay going back. I wish I was more devious, since I just had a baby recently, I’m wondering if there is some medical reason I can propose to my obstetrician to get a medical waiver to delay coming back for a month or two. My work is currently not approving any request for medical or vacation leave for the rest of the year unless it is for a very serious reason. Any ideas would be appreciated. Anyone reading this, feel free to DM me.
I am a critical care dietitian, but what that role looks like really is that I just get anthropometric data, read ventilator settings and then do math to write orders for the correct IV or liquid nutritional support for people who are not conscious to eat. Technically I could do my job 99% as well from my home. My husband is a physician, so we have access to the full hospital computer system at home through his login, and I use it all of the time to check on my patients. I suppose I could propose to my department lead that I could work from home initially? Since there need of workers is so dire. I doubt it would be approved, but it is worth a try. My husband is back to work already, but as a physician he is exposed to more risk but also has access to protective equipment (though not adequate) that is prioritized for them right now. So currently he is somewhat self quarantining in our house (our bottom floor is a full large apartment because I am an introvert and this was my wedding gift from him). I am taking care of the babies now so he doesn’t need to get too close to them.
A whole apartment? Wow. Nicole, I simply do not know how to respond to your situation at this point. If you get leave and no one else does there will be resentment. There will always be some joker that makes a fuss about people not being treated equally. Do you have a nanny or some caretaker for the kids? I just don't know what to say. What does DH say?
 
A whole apartment? Wow. Nicole, I simply do not know how to respond to your situation at this point. If you get leave and no one else does there will be resentment. There will always be some joker that makes a fuss about people not being treated equally. Do you have a nanny or some caretaker for the kids? I just don't know what to say. What does DH say?

I’m honestly not worried about resentment at work, but I think it would simply not be granted because they could not allow special treatment in my case. My husband’s colleagues are starting to fall ill...one is doing very poorly...I thought this was all a bit sensationalized a bit until now, but it is very serious. Yes, we do have a nanny, but she needs to go to the grocery store, get gasoline etc herself and who knows what other possible exposures, she does not live in our house. I guess we all just have to do the best we can in a very hard situation.