Mental health nursing student helps out as HCA during COVID-19 pandemic

Rebecca Hackfath is among thousands of undergraduates to step forward and help during the pandemic

Mental health nursing student Rebecca Hackfath is among the many undergraduates who have stepped forward to care for patients with COVID-19.  

Ms Hackfath, a second-year student at De Montfort University in Leicester, is working as a healthcare assistant for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust on a dedicated COVID-19 isolation ward at Glenfield Hospital’s Bradgate Mental Health Unit.

She said: ‘Just because someone has a physical illness doesn’t mean we stop caring for their mental illness.  

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‘Some patients understand that they need to stay in their room and self-isolate, so it’s easier to reassure them. But with others, for example those who have conditions like dementia, it can be a very distressing situation. They can’t have visitors and they don’t understand why doctors and nurses are coming into their room wearing masks and gloves.

‘As well as looking after their physical well-being, we also have to monitor our patients for behaviours associated with their conditions; for example, they might be at risk of self-harming.’

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