Regina teacher who lost father reflects on six-month mark of COVID

Six months ago, the province declared a state of emergency as COVID-19 started to take hold.

Shortly after, tragedy struck for Regina teacher Paul Gullacher and his family.

His father Noble – better known by his friends and family as Butch – died from complications from the virus in the spring.

“We were still under the impression that COVID was happening somewhere else,” Gullacher told Greg Morgan.

The day Butch died is still fresh in his mind.

“I tried to go see him, but the doors were closed. I wasn’t allowed to go see him. I was able to speak with him over the phone briefly that day, but no, I never saw him again. That was pretty wild,” he said.

Gullacher was also infected, along with most of his family. They had to stay in lockdown for an extended period.

“I don’t think we left the house for a month and a half,” he said.

Staying in quarantine made the grieving process even more difficult.

“In a way, you couldn’t ever forget about it. You couldn’t occupy your mind with anything,” he explained.

While time has passed, he is still recovering emotionally but also physically. Gullacher could be considered a COVID “long-hauler,” as he continues to experience lingering symptoms.

“Now that I’m back in front of my students, I find that after talking for about 10 or 15 seconds, I have to stop and catch my breath,” he said.

“This is a new experience for me. I’m usually a bit of a motor mouth.”

Testing in schools

A major step in getting back to normal for Gullacher has been returning to school. He teaches at Campbell Collegiate, a Regina high school, and shared his thoughts on voluntary testing in schools.

He’s glad to see it happen but thinks more could be done.

“I don’t want to read too much into it. Oftentimes, the students who volunteer for testing are great rule followers. They generally are social distancing, wearing masks and doing all the things they need to do to prevent exposure,” he said.

He believes testing just those students can show an incomplete picture.

“If we don’t have any positive tests in the sample size, that doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t necessarily be positive cases somewhere in our building,” Gullacher said.

That being said, he’s still happy to see it done.”Testing in any way, shape or form is a great first step,” he said.