Dareth Watts
PCA II, Oncology Clinic, 10/9/20
I have been working as a PCA with cancer patients for twelve years. People think that working in the cancer department would be sad, but the patients are amazing. They have the best attitudes and they will fight this.
Yesterday, we had two patients finish their treatment, and it's a big deal around here! We give them a piece of paper that says congratulations and everyone signs it. When they walk out the door they get to ring a bell! It is just such a good feeling to get them through the treatment. It takes people about a month or more to get through the treatment and they don’t have to come back in until maybe six months later.
We have not had a lot of patients finish recently. Because of COVID, many patients have pushed back their treatment. We can't hug and just there's nothing better than wrapping your arms around a patient to say congratulations. But, we tap elbows now and that has still been nice. I'm a big hugger and patients come in that are crying and upset and I can't give them a hug! It's really hard and tough.
I enjoy so many things about my job. I love the patient interaction and being able to have different conversations with patients to check in on how they are feeling. and see how they are feeling. Just getting to talk to them and hearing them tell me that they don’t need to take certain meds anymore makes me feel so happy. It is such a good feeling for them and being a part of that feels like such a good thing.
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My second family is here at work. This is where I am needed, so I need to be here. I have relationships with the cafeteria, housekeeping, the nurses, the lab and basically every department that impacts the patients’ care. I moved here from Worcester to Marlborough and these relationships were built over time. A patient needed knives, so I grabbed a handful from the cafeteria because we needed them in the drawer. We have patients who come in and need a lab immediately and because of my relationship with the lab I can help get that done for the patient. It is nice that I can ask for what is needed and sometimes they can do what is needed and sometimes they can’t. But if I never introduced myself and talked to them, I would not be able to just go down there and ask for the things that are needed.
If I were to give advice, it would be to be patient with patients and your coworkers. Not being patient and having a temper is not going to help you get very far in the medical field. Everyone has bad days — most days might be fine but there might be a day where your coworker just is having a bad day and is taking it out on you. Just let them do that and go on with your day. You have to keep relationships with people because in this field relationships help us to care for the patients in the best way possible.