Coronavirus frontline: Aged care worker in hospital with coronavirus details her ordeal
A brave aged care worker struck down by coronavirus has revealed she now struggles to breathe and must now have oxygen pumped into her nose. Maria Bradford says frontline workers gamble their life to take care of the sick.
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A healthcare hero struck down with coronavirus has told how she now gasps for every breath as loved ones pray she will recover.
Maria Bradford, who works in aged care, is in hospital with doctors feeding her oxygen through a nasal tube.
The 48-year-old is desperately weak and there’s no word on how long she will require care.
Ms Bradford, speaking from her hospital bed through intermittent gasps, told the Herald Sun: “It’s a killer.”
“I am so short of breath. It just got me so quick. It’s very vicious.”
Ms Bradford, a personal care assistant at Estia Aged Care Ardeer which has been linked to 146 corona cases, showed no signs of the virus until Wednesday last week.
Her twice-weekly corona tests were negative and daily temperature checks didn’t detect a temperature.
Ms Bradford went home feeling unwell but by night couldn’t breathe — fiance Robert Smith phoning an ambulance which took her to Sunshine Hospital.
A 20-year aged care veteran and mum, she said her ordeal showed just how dangerous the healthcare frontline was.
“I am always there for my patients — I love them with my own heart,’’ Ms Bradford said.
“I am gambling my life for them.”
Mr Smith, who has tested negative to the virus, said Ms Bradford always showered immediately after returning from work while he put her clothes through the washing machine and sprayed her shoes with alcohol.
Ms Bradford tested positive to COVID-19 the day after she was admitted to hospital — doctors saying she had a lung capacity of just 40 per cent.
She has asthma and diabetes, increasing health concerns.
“She was really gasping – like you do if you run 20km,’’ Mr Smith said.
“I rang the ambulance and they came in and whizzed her out straight away. We haven’t seen each other since.
“So many people are praying for her.”
Mr Smith was in awe of his fiancée’s dedication to the elderly.
“People do not realise the sacrifice these people are making not just for themselves but their immediate families too,’’ he said.
“They are going to work to care for these people — and they don’t have to. Maria has put her health at risk for the job. People have to do it. She genuinely cares about these residents. Everybody deserves to be looked after, especially the elderly.”
Ms Bradford, whose story was first told in the Philippine Times, said through her work she had seen just how deadly coronavirus was.
“It’s not the flu at all — it’s more than the flu,’’ she said.
“People are just ignoring it — it’s just arrogant. What’s going on in the world at the moment, this sickness, is not funny.
“Think of others. Don’t be selfish.”
The couple thanked Estia management for their support.
They spoke as the State Government launched new commercials featuring real-life stories of coronavirus survivors including woman who spent 32 days in intensive care and a young mum still suffering some six weeks after diagnosis.
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