In these special times, it is even more important to be mindful of each other and the world around us. That's why at Uniglobe Alliance Travel and goMICE took the initiative to dedicate ourselves weekly to social agencies and offer some extra help to those who need it. Are you curious about all the wonderful experiences of our colleagues? You can read it here!
Until recently, Eveline, Uniglobe Alliance Travel Manager Operations Goes, was helping weekly in the Covid department at a healthcare facility in her neighborhood. The Grazia picked up her story and turned it into a beautiful article, which we are of course proud to share with you below!
'Covid department needs all the help extra badly now'
Originating from: Grazia/2021
Normally, the life of Eveline (36) revolves around travel. She loves going to faraway countries works at a business travel agency. But when everything came to a halt, she decided to start helping out in healthcare.
By: Eva Munnik
EVELINE: "The last trip I took was to Canada. Together with my boyfriend Martin and our three-year-old son Vik. Vik went to South Africa when he was seven months old. I gave him the bottle in the middle of the bush among the wild animals. I love traveling because I love discovering new places and I also love photographers. Traveling is not only a hobby but also my job. I am a manager at a business travel agency. At Uniglobe Alliance Travel we book all parts of a work trip for companies: the flight, hotels, rental cars. When corona came, at first we thought it would all be okay. We hoped the worst would be over after a few months. But it took longer and longer and longer. Right now we are booking only ten percent of what we normally arrange for business travel. Sometimes, for example, mechanics really have to go somewhere and they get special permission to travel into that country. The rest is all at a standstill. when there is talk of contracts of my employees that may not be renewed, I feel desperate. With each new press conference, our hopes are dashed again. Some members of staff are fed up with the uncertainty and are leaving on their own, which makes me so sad, because I don't want to lose those people. Fortunately, our company has a very strong foundation and we will manage."
Source: Grazia 2021
Confused
'When things got even quieter in October because of the second wave of corona infections, my colleagues and I decided to see if we couldn't make ourselves useful somewhere. I called around and care facility Ter Weel near us in Goes was immediately enthusiastic. They run a special Covid ward for infected elderly who need care or cannot stay at home with their families because of quarantine. I help there as a hostess and man the phone, which is very nice for the caregivers who normally have to do that on the side. Often relatives call how their loved one got through the night, or the pharmacy about certain medications. I also order lunch and put meals in the elevator upstairs. Because of contamination risks, I don't normally come into the ward itself, but the other day they were short of hands when handing out meals. Then they asked if I wanted to help out. I had to wear a protective suit: one of those aprons that your arms and legs go into, a hairnet, goggles and a medical mask - much more comfortable, by the way, than what we wear in the supermarket. For the first time I saw the patients, which took some getting used to since I have zero experience in healthcare. In the ward where people were well clear, I enjoyed walking around and serving food.
What did get to me was the patients who are psychologically confused. One lady was demented and said, 'Where am I? Where are my things? Every five minutes she would ask again. k didn't know how to deal with that. I've always said that care is absolutely not for me, I'm just not that caring and patient. But despite that, I really enjoy the fact that I can contribute something to the Covid department. They desperately need all the help right now. Care was always a bit of a far cry, but now that I see how much time it takes to take good care of people, my respect has only increased."
Source: private photos Eveline
Empty calendar
"My colleagues in the travel industry and I are kind of hoping that there will be some more travel after the summer, but of course it all depends on vaccination and what the government allows. I have my ups and downs, sometimes I do think: will it ever work out? I myself would so love to travel again. With my family I was actually going to America in 2020, taking an RV to Denver to Salt Lake City. I had it planned out to perfection and was so looking forward to it. We first moved it to 2021, but I cancelled that too. Hopefully we can do it in 2022. Sometimes I regret that, but you learn to live with it and honestly, sometimes an empty schedule has quite nice aspects. You enjoy the 'little' outings more. In the meantime, it's nice to at least be useful in the care facility."
