Lack of support for long COVID patients leaves N.B. woman feeling 'abandoned'
CBC
Sonia Aubé, a social worker with the Department of Social Development in Bathurst, feels like she has gone from hero to zero in the span of a year.
In early 2021 she volunteered to be part of New Brunswick's rapid outbreak management team in her region. Comprised of different health-care workers, the team, also known as a PROMT, is deployed to long-term care homes and other vulnerable settings when a COVID-19 outbreak happens.
Aubé, 51, says helping others is a big part of her job and her personality and she stepped up right away.
"This is my calling — and I really thought I could help … but then I got COVID."
Aubé hadn't yet received her first shot, when she responded to the outbreak at an Edmundston special care home on Jan. 22, 2021.
She tested positive for the virus 10 days later and was quickly isolated at a chalet near her home in Petit-Rocher. Her symptoms included a loss of taste and smell, fever, fatigue and body aches but never anything serious enough to require hospitalization.
"I was followed by Public Health for the whole two weeks," Aubé said. "A lot of people came to bring me gifts and food — you know, on the porch — and came to see me through the windows."
She felt supported by her employer and fully expected that her health would return, and her life would go back to normal.
"But let me tell you, when I got out of the chalet and came back home, I felt like the world just gave out on me."
At the time, Aubé had never heard of long COVID. She had no idea why she was developing new symptoms that included brain fog, headaches and the feeling that she was spinning. She kept telling herself that if she could go back to work and get back into her routine, she would be fine.
On her first day back, she was proud of herself and felt her co-workers were proud of her too.
"They made this line of applause … because they thought I was a hero. You know, going there and then getting COVID and then coming back to work."
That feeling didn't last. Aubé found herself lost in her tasks at work, unable to do the job she had done for 25 years.
By the third day, her co-workers were so worried that they called Aubé's daughter to come and get her.
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