Every week, we worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Imagine the situation. When I went to bed at night, I was careful to put the phone nearby, because, since I was on call, I couldn't refuse to take a single call. The phone rang all night. The next morning, I had to be at the clinic to do my job from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That was where I vaccinated children and provided various kinds of care, in addition to emergencies. I was so exhausted. I didn't have time to eat or stick to any daily routine, which would have been beneficial for my mental health.
One time, I was asked whether I had vaccinated the right person. I was so afraid that I felt my stomach turn. My colleague said, "Isabelle, you're good," but that was when I realized that it could become very dangerous. I worked on incident management at the national office in Ottawa. We reviewed cases where mistakes had been made. At that time, I didn't understand how that could happen, and that's one of the reasons why I went to work in Ottawa.
We have to remember that we hold people's health in our hands. We have to exercise critical judgment in making decisions. Fatigue is a factor that weakens our judgment. I have also seen assessments done by colleagues who had been on call all night. After reviewing the assessments, I realized, the next day, that there were critical factors in connection with a medical evacuation by air, or MEDEVAC, and that a request for a physician on board had to have been made. That might have fallen through the cracks.