Message from Our Staff: Time to reflect on what is truly important

By Pricilla Lum, Senior Executive, Operations & Resources

My greatest challenge was not having a proper chair to work on. For a start, I thought I should give sitting on a dining stool a shot. However, just a few days in, I realised that was a terrible idea. I developed terrible aches all over my body. That was just first week into the circuit breaker. Several days after, realising that working from home may be the new normal, I threw down the white flag and succumbed to investing in a proper work chair. It was then that I finally understood why the queue outside IKEA had been so long just before the circuit breaker kicked in. 

To embrace the national and worldwide effort to contain the spread of Covid-19, I cancelled my trip back to Perth that I had been looking forward to since last year. It was definitely a tough, yet necessary decision. Keeping both my dad and extended family members, all of whom all fall in the high-risk age group, safe is more important. I didn’t want to harm them with a hug, embracing instead the fundamental principle of medicine of “first do no harm” (in Latin, primum non nocere). To cope, I am staying connected with my family and friends through frequent video and phone calls; sharing lighthearted moments and checking if they are healthy and safe while Australia’s transitioning into winter, also the peak time for the seasonal flu virus.