Let's hear it for our defenseless heroes!

A critical practical reflection on perception, recognition and equipment of professional care during the corona pandemic

Abstract

By tracing contradictions around publicity, privacy, proximity, and distance, a collaging of various factors emerges, which during the pan-demic within the nursing profession were perceived as influential either professionally or personally. Reflected observations from the author's professional practice establish the connection between pre-pandemic intra-professional dis-courses on the importance of material protection and demarcation measures and the experience during the pandemic, when professional nursing was, on the one hand, clearly valued by the public, but on the other hand, in many places work had to be done in a state of defencelessness. It also shows how the lack of protective materials was compensated for in different ways during the pandemic. Finally, the issue of recognition and marginalization in live-in care is presented.