Meet the doctor who worked on the frontline of the pandemic
'Lockdown Changed My Life' is an ITV Calendar series where we invite people to share their experiences of the coronavirus pandemic.
A doctor who worked on the frontline in Hull says her life changed when Britain went into lockdown six months ago to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Overnight, Dr. Stephanie Hill found herself redeployed to intensive care trying to treat critically ill patients who were dying from a new and very contagious disease - called coronavirus.
Stephanie says the experience ''made her grow up as a doctor'', and she's still coming to terms with what she saw over the last six months.
''At the beginning it was all very unknown, and we were all very scared. That was petrifying; we didn’t know how severe it was going to be when it hit us, if it would hit us. We didn’t know what would be expected of us,'' Dr. Hill told ITV News.
She added: ''We knew there were doctors over in Italy getting very poorly, young healthy doctors. That was petrifying.
''We had two weeks where we spent it running the drills, learning how to put on all the PPE. That was scary too because we knew by putting this equipment on we were going to be protecting ourselves and our patients.''
Dr. Hill says the experience on the frontline affected her mental health.
''I think my lowest point of lockdown for me was after the dust started to settle. Whilst we were in amongst the patients looking after those with Covid, there was a good team morale and there was good support for the NHS - we were getting through it together.
''But once that all calmed down, I had more time to myself to think about the things I’d seen and that I’d been through. Only now, maybe a few weeks ago do I feel I’ve got back to myself after that.''
Dr. Hill says she wants people to be safe and follow the government advice to help combat a second wave of the virus.
''I think lockdown made me grow up as a doctor. It made me learn to work in unknown circumstances and I’ve learnt the importance of those around me and family.
''So my message is: that I’ve been there, I’ve seen it. We need to be doing as we’re told, we need to be wearing our masks, we need to be socially distancing. We need to be taking this seriously because what I saw was serious.''
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