Sylvie Habash, a nurse and Merck employee, is supporting her public health colleagues
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s why she chose to do so.

“In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, I knew without hesitation that I wanted to help the health care network. As a nurse by training, I wanted to act in solidarity with my peers and get involved in this historic crisis, so I offered my support to the public health department, where I worked in 2010.

A crisis management team made up of public health specialists, nurses and epidemiologists, among others, is working tirelessly to respond quickly to positive cases of COVID-19. I had the opportunity to help them by conducting epidemiologic case investigations. The investigations consisted of assessing patients’ health, determining their risk factors and types of acquisition, ensuring measures were respected, and, more importantly, identifying any close contacts they had while contagious in order to act quickly with those people to break the chain of transmission. Targeted interventions followed, whether in their workplace, health care facility or seniors’ centres. The data was transmitted to the provincial level, then to the federal level, and finally to the World Health Organization.

This enriching experience allowed me to witness the virus’s impact and severity on people’s health, to contribute as a health care professional by helping my colleagues and, above all, to fully appreciate all the work the public health department and its nurses are doing in the background to quickly control the transmission of this virus.

In closing, I would like to thank Merck for giving its staff the opportunity to support the community in a variety of ways in the face of this crisis, which, as a nurse, I particularly appreciate.”

Sylvie Habash, BScN