PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

Without it I play a game of Russian roulette
except this gun has more bullets and my death,
when it comes,
will be slow and painful;
a tragic treason behind the reason I came into this job in the first place:
with a desire, a want, a need, to help others.
Some call it a vocation.

I may leave this job for the same reason;
I stayed to help others, sick with this world-changing virus.
COVID-19.

We’re described as being at war,
assured that we will win the battle.
In the end.
But at what cost?
Sent to fight with no bullets or boots, I am not a soldier,
but the military metaphor holds.
I am on the front line of a different kind, a home front,
a theater of engagement with the same danger:

Death.

Which has taken colleagues—comrades—already.
A roll call, first and foremost, people, like you and me:
mothers, daughters, fathers, sons,
husbands, wives, lovers, brothers, sisters, friends….
Nurses, porters, doctors, support workers, surgeons,
healthcare assistants, specialists, technicians, locums, midwives….
Highly skilled professionals that our society needs to function effectively.
Who can we rely on in this critical time of need?

I’m a clinician, not an accountant nor a politician,
but the personal has become very much the political.
For what can be more pressing than an existential threat?
I go to work. I don’t come home.
Hardly seems fair.
So, a plea
for PPE.

Prime Minister, over to you.

Warren Paul Glover is a British Australian screenwriter, playwright, poet, and actor, based in Sydney. Warren’s work has been published, performed and/or screened in Britain, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, the UAE and the United States. Warren has a BA (Hons) in sociology and worked for 15 years in the health sector in London in research, policy and communication roles for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). Warren withdrew from a MSc in global health and public policy at Edinburgh University in order to concentrate on writing and acting. Warren has lived in Australia since 2010.