A former nurse has contracted Covid-19 after returning to the frontline during the outbreak.
Michele Ibbs, a businesswoman from Wolverhampton, was exposed to the deadly virus when one of her elderly patients ‘wrongly tested negative for the coronavirus’.
The 57-year-old, of I’m Your PA, had been working 12-hour shifts at a care home when she began to develop extreme tiredness, breathlessness and a sore chest.
Her patient, a man in his 70s, suffered an epileptic fit after a stint in hospital where he had tested negative for Covid-19.
He was placed in isolation, however, after working in close proximity while treating him, Michele believes she contracted the virus.
She said: “I didn’t appreciate how hard it would hit me once it got hold, I wasn’t prepared for the fear that would set in and the emotional roller coaster.”
Following the government’s call for former healthcare professionals to return to the frontline to help with the outbreak, Michele signed up to a nursing agency and was sent to a residential home for around 30 elderly patients.
This number has now doubled due to an influx of patients recovering from non-Covid-19 related conditions to ease pressure on the NHS.
In order to prevent her staff from becoming jobless, the businesswoman returned to her former profession to earn an income so part of her team could be furloughed.
After testing positive for Covid-19, Michele was incapacitated for a week and relied on close friends to deliver essential food and household items.
A local business, Trades 247, donated much-needed PPE to the residential home that she had been working in.
Michele says: “Having spent a week recovering and sleeping 90 per cent of the time I know how incredibly lucky I am to have not been admitted to hospital. I had a sore throat, sore chest and achy flu symptoms.
“I’d wanted to do my best to look after my staff through this difficult time. The income from nursing meant I could afford to use the government’s furlough scheme. I have seven staff and have now been able to furlough four of them on full pay.
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“Now I am getting better we have lots of exciting plans for our future. But I won’t let the fact I’ve had Covid-19 ever put me off nursing. It’s absolutely a calling and I can’t wait to go back. I’m taking things one day at a time.”
Michele added: “We need to be kind to each other, you don’t know how others are feeling. Keeping a sense of humour has helped me so far.”
