b'DEMENTIA CAREFacing difficult decisionsin a pandemicThe Dementia Isolation ToolkitBy Dr. Andrea IaboniE arly in the pandemic, I noticed how many morealso having a severe impact on the well-being of individual decisions I needed to make every day. In both mypatients I was caring for. personal and professional life, even simple decisions suddenly became more difficult. I was constantly weighingSometimes this left me angry and sometimes it made me the risk of COVID-19 with other important needsforwant to avoid my work. Luckily, I had access to a lot of myself, my family, my colleagues and my patients. support. I talked to my colleagues, including a bioethicist when there were especially difficult decisions. I realized At work, the hardest situations were those where I felt I didthat the strong feelings I was experiencing was something not really have a choice. These were decisions where mycalled moral distress. And I also realized I was not alone. options were limited by rules or policies that were thereHealthcare workers across Ontario, particularly those in to prevent the spread of the virus. These decisions werelong-term care, were experiencing the same thing.30 LONG TERM CARE TODAY Spring/Summer 2021'