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A woman who caught coronavirus while working in "forgotten" care homes has told how she battled back to continue looking after others.
Lorraine Laker works at Rogers House Residential Care Home, in Drewery Drive, Wigmore, and had to isolate for nearly a month after contracting the disease.
She said: "There was an awful lot of pressure when things got serious and we had to close the home to visitors.
"We were one of the first homes to do that and it was so sad explaining to family members and residents why they couldn't see each other.
"The scary thing was the lack of testing for all of us workers – the government didn't make it easy for us to get tests.
"It felt like we had been forgotten, both with testing and PPE equipment."
The Gillingham mum contracted the virus a few weeks into lockdown and "within hours" of feeling unwell she was shaking with a fever.
"It felt like we had been forgotten, both with testing and PPE equipment..."
She said: "I knew I needed an early night and to regroup over the weekend so I was ready for Monday, but by Sunday, I got up and tried to start preparing our roast dinner and I couldn’t even peel the potatoes. I was so hot, I couldn’t breathe properly and within four hours it had really got a grip on me.
"The shaking and fever was just incredible. I felt so cold but was boiling hot to touch. Straight away I went upstairs and isolated from the rest of my family. That’s when my whole home set-up changed for the next 25 days.”
The 56-year-old, who lives with three key workers, was able to get a test through the prison service, who her son works for.
“I don’t even remember getting tested," she said.
"I know I scared my family and I missed them so much while I was in isolation – they lived downstairs and I lived upstairs.
"I missed the whole of April. It took me 25 days before I could finally get up. It was such a nice day and I managed to get to the garden to enjoy it, which did take me a while and I had to take a four-hour nap once I was there.
"Then, day-by-day, I managed to do a little bit more, but wow I was frustrated.”
After battling off the virus and having a second Covid-19 test come back negative, Lorraine decided to return to the front line.
She said: “I feel so upbeat now. I was naturally nervous as there is so much we don’t know about this illness but coming back to the home has just been wonderful.
"We know we can get tested now, we have a good stock of PPE and we can just carry on caring for our residents as we always have.
"Families have been so lovely, sending us beautiful cards and saying how grateful they are for the staff here, and knowing on a Thursday they are clapping for us, that is so humbling.”
The whole home has now been coronavirus tested and some staff are even trained to do it, including Lorraine.
And she's gradually getting back to normal – with the help of bacon flavoured snacks.
A spokesman for Rapport Housing & Care said: "It is so wonderful to hear Lorraine is back to her old self. However, she is still missing her sense of taste and smell, but she did happily tell us that she ate a Frazzle and could get a tiny taste of the flavour.
"Her words of advice – stop and smell the roses…or the Frazzles!"
