COVID Update

Dear patients,

As I sit in my garden writing this, basking in the glorious sunshine , it has made me reflect on the last two months, the good times and the bad. I should, and wish that I could be in work right now. Both Jon and I feel as though our ‘hands have been cut off’ and the frustration of not being able to help people is immense. It took a while for us, but I think that every one of us has accepted that this is just totally out of our control.

Firstly a big thank you to every one of you! I have been overwhelmed with the loyalty that you have shown and the patience and understanding that you have demonstrated when we have had to postpone appointments. It has made a difficult time tolerable knowing that you are such a great bunch of people. I also wanted to say that we will ensure that your dental health hasn’t suffered by working as hard as we can when this over to catch up on treatment, examination and hygiene appointments that we have been unable fulfil over the last 2 months. To our plan patients – a huge thank you for continuing to pay your fees as it is allowing me to keep the practice open and staffed at the moment, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

When the chips are down, you really see what humankind is capable of. I just want to give a big ‘shout out’ to my team. They really are incredible. The way that we have pulled together over the last 2 months makes me so proud. We are using skeleton staff, so some members aren’t in work at all, but the communication has been fantastic! We have a weekly “zoom” meeting (I didn’t even know what this was pre-covid!). Plans and ideas are abundant as we all eagerly await the announcement that we can fully get back to work. PPE, Hepa air filters, new routines, shift working, the list goes on. We are all determined to keep the staff and and you safe and get back to a semblance of practice life as soon as we can.

If you don’t follow our Facebook page – I urge you to! The team have all helped in preparing posts, some funny, some serious, but it shows the commitment and the passion that they have and again, I couldn’t be more proud!

On a personal level I’m grateful that the last 2 months seemed to have flown by. I think that we could all agree that the weather has been a huge help (although my farmer husband doing the rain dance as we speak, may not agree!). I have spent lots of weekend time being a ‘farmer’s wife’ and the boys have had to tag along too, but when would they ever have had an expanse of time to learn so much from their Dad? They have really enjoyed herding cattle and celebrate every successful movement with such enthusiasm, it really is a joy to watch. My Mum was a primary school teacher in St Fagans (back in the day), and she recently told me that the reason that the school summer holidays are so long is because historically in the 6 weeks we now have as holidays, there would be very few children in school – they were expected to help at home on the farms. From their school log they could see that the numbers were massively depleted during July and August.

Home schooling for me has been the biggest “covid” challenge, I take my hat off to all you teachers out there, I really look forward to my working days for respite and half term has been a welcome relief!! English has been the hardest! I use science and maths every day but I cam’t remember the last time I heard ‘onomatopoeia’.

In summary, we are all looking forward to finding our new ‘normal’ and I really hope that we can see you all soon- Stay safe.

Sian
xxxx