21 Apr Vicki’s Covid19 Lockdown – Practice Manager, Wife, Nannie

My name is Vicki and I am the Practice Manager at Thackeray Dental Care.

My lockdown started later than some as we at Thackeray’s dental tried our best to stay open amongst the uncertainty with a skeleton team x 2 should 1 get ill and stop us.

Little did we know 4 days in the government guidelines would stop our best efforts and we were forced to close our doors.

During the last 3 weeks I have had many friends & my sister all with toothache and although we are here answering the phone giving advice our hands are tied as to what we can do, which is frustrating to all concerned.

The government have been slow to open the emergency dental hubs again frustrating, but did anyone ever die from toothache and our stretched NHS have more to worry about.

As the practice manager I am still working along with Emily supporting Simon & dealing with admin, but our days are different; they’re strange and lonely and don’t have a lot of work satisfaction as it’s patients we want to see.

After work my evenings weekends are usually filled with glorious grandchildren of which there are 5 to keep me busy & feeling loved and I, like many, am missing them more than I could have imagined. I will never say no to babysitting again, don’t tell my husband I said that.

So the spare time – what to do with it? Well the house is cleaner than it’s every been and the ironing pile no longer fills the spare room. I have re-found my love of cooking & baking as it’s no longer a chore. I think our grandparents would be proud how inventive we are becoming and that we are not wasting food. Keep fit & exercise are not my thing, but I’m even considering jogging.

If this was a rehearsal for retirement I know now your days need structure and your week needs routine to save you from the trap of the pj’s.

We all need friends & family and a need to be needed gives a feeling that’s necessary to be emotionally fulfilled.

So I’ll end now taking some time to reflect and plan for when I choose to retire making sure I treat it with the respect it deserves as what this time is teaching me is not everyone has the luxury of time.

Stay safe x