Take a Moment with Harriet Durkin

This is my favourite mainly because of the man behind the amazing painting. Working through this pandemic has had its ups and downs, my team at work are the craziest and loveliest bunch of people and I couldn't have wished for a better group to work the good and bad days with. 

This was the first time I donned full PPE for my first shift working in our high risk respiratory resuscitation room. I took the picture and sent it to my family and five hours later was buzzed full of adrenaline and fear, thirsty and desperate for a wee! 

I've made some huge life changes throughout lockdown and had some quite tearful emotional days and Tom has always been full of positivity, kind words and has taken lockdown as an opportunity to start such an amazing project. 

I think this portrait is so powerful because when wearing the full respirators, all the machines/vents are on, and everyone is communicating it's impossible to hear. Closed circuit communication is so important in emergency settings so having your name on the front of your gown is helpful for members of the team to direct a task or communicate with you. 

I like this portrait because of where the mask is sitting. It's so tempting to pull down your mask when having a conversation at work. The first thing my patients often do is pull their mask down to talk to me. 

I often find myself reassuring patients I can still hear them with their masks on. It’s easy to forget how vulnerable and scared our patients are and wearing a face mask takes away most of your facial expressions, this portrait is lovely where the person has pulled down his mask to smile.

I have chosen this as one of my top five portraits because Beth the woman in the portrait is an absolutely amazing nurse. I was Beth’s mentor when she was a student nurse in her third year. I am so glad she has decided to join the team in A&E. Beth is fantastic at her job and has made myself and the team proud when dealing with difficult and challenging situations at work recently and deserves to be recognised as a hero.

This portrait is powerful because it feels too easy to forget all the front line NHS staff working hard, working extra shifts and under immense pressure still have lives to go home too. Still putting 100% in at work and having to go home and feed a family, bathe and put their children to bed, sleep and have to do it again the next day.