File 004: Frances Cavallaro interview by Dr Gregory de Moore

file

4 May 2023

Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Oral Histories

9682691

1 audio file (37 min.) - digital, WAV, stereo (48 kHz, 24 bit)

Frances Cavallaro, enrolled nurse and union representative, works in the Assessment Centre at Cumberland Hospital. Frances recalls her experiences working in the Assessment Centre during COVID-19. The Assessment Centre is the main reception area at Cumberland Hospital for new patients – some of these are known patients being transferred from other hospitals; others are ‘walk-ins off the street’ who are unknown to the hospital and who may be very disturbed in mind and behaviour. During COVID-19 all such presentations were regulated, and attempts made to keep patients physically separate in the Assessment Centre because of the infective nature of COVID-19. Frances recalls the distress of her initial contact with a COVID-positive patient, and what it might have meant for her own health. She recounts the recurrent traumatic thoughts she still has several years after the COVID pandemic started.

In copyright:
Copyright holder:: State Library of New South Wales
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Recorded at Cumberland Hospital, 4 May 2023