We’re all in the same storm

How I’ve faced 2020’s opportunities & challenges as a Compliance Officer…

2020 has been a particularly difficult year for everyone. The statement I read somewhere on a day that has blended into the mush of lockdown days; “We are all in the same storm, but we’re not in the same boat” was a pertinent point towards how inequality rages despite the same hardships affecting us at this time. The effects and outcomes are different for us all.

In my boat, I was weathering the storm of not just the pandemic but of my U.S. work visa coming due for renewal and the need to leave the U.S. to attempt the renewal process. So, I made an untimely return home to New Zealand in mid-March and ended up being “stuck” there for nine weeks as New Zealand enforced one of the strictest lockdowns globally.

Not long before I departed, my co-host of the Great Women in Compliance Podcast, Lisa Fine and I were approached by CCI Press about writing a Great Women in Compliance book. I have never authored a book before and, in fact, writing is not my strong suit. Despite that, this passion project was to become something I could hold onto and focus on as a positive when the days felt grim and my return to the U.S. looked uncertain at best with word of Executive Orders prohibiting immigration on the cards. Alongside my mum’s home cooking, working on the book was comforting and provided a sense of normality and routine.

In the months that followed, I would return to the U.S. and my visa was extended. Lisa and I finished the drafting of the book, with the huge help of stunning contributions from the community and it will come out later this Fall (podcast preview). 

While we wait for the signal of turning another corner in fighting the pandemic, I hope that the book will provide comfort and company to those still weathering storms and waiting for the rainbow to come on out.

Mary Shirley
Fresenius Medical Care North America

More Compliance Officer Day Stories of 2020. Want to share your story? Start here.