As Ireland's healthcare workers continue to work diligently and selflessly to treating those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, we spoke to former Ireland rugby star Fiona Steed about her role in healthcare.

Steed is currently Group Lead at Allied Health at the University of Limerick, where she coordinates staff that are among frontline workers of many healthcare disciplines and she spoke of the initial fear among staff prior to the onset of the pandemic.

She praised the management at the University of Limerick for putting enough in place prior to the first case of Covid-19 in terms of critical care, to offset any potential influx of patients suffering from the novel coronavirus.

Steed was careful with a word of warning regarding where we are in Ireland with the battle against the virus.

"We are certainly not out of the woods, and it is too early in the modelling piece to see, whether we have reached peak," said Steed.

"People could get complacent and that would have catastrophic consequences for people in healthcare, so it is too early yet to say that.

"The first couple of weeks, there was a lot of nervousness around, certainly with my own staff - it is the fear of the unknown. There were a lot of WhatsApp messages going around of the absolute travesty in Italy, and China before that.

"It sharpened the mind but heightened the anxiety, so it is important to balance that with what you can control.

"We control the way that we react, the way we work and what we put in place. What we focused on was making sure that we had supplies , best practice and looking at the evidence for what we are doing and preparing the best way we can."

"We continue to adapt and change," Steed said of the continually-altering landscape for healthcare workers on the frontline.

Formal Friday

Every day thousands of people put on their uniforms to help us. So this Friday, April 24, we are asking everyone to dress up to support them.

There is just one rule - if you dress up, you donate!

On #FormalFriday you can work-from-home in your old debs dress, tackle the housework in your wedding suit or exercise out the back in your fanciest going-out look.

Head to offtheball.com/donate to give what you can and show your appreciation for our frontline heroes.

• Mater Foundation: supporting frontline staff in the fight against Covid-19
• Beaumont Heroes Appeal
• Together With Our Heroes: Temple Street and CMRF Crumlin
• Mercy Hospital Foundation, Cork
• University Hospital Limerick
• St James's Hospital Foundation
• Cork University Hospital Charity
• Feed The Heroes

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