For healthcare workers, it can be incredibly stressful working in hospitals on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus.
“They don’t have visitors up on the floor, they can’t have their loved ones sitting by their sides. Our nurses, respiratory therapists, medical staff, those who are up on those floors, are taking that place of their loved one, and you know they are being both the care taker mentally and physically for these patients and they are doing a terrific job,” said Catherine Dewey, Public Information Officer for McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital.
That’s why McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey has several options for doctors or nurses in need of mental health services.
“We have been sending our staff daily links of local and online resources, including our chaplains who are available for personal phone calls as well as Zoom meetings 24/7. We also have several no cost counseling options for our staff,” said Dewey.
Spectrum Health and Munson Medical Center have made similar services available.
“As part of the COVID-19 efforts we’ve been doing blogs and sharing them with our staff about how to cope with stress during this time, how to have a communication with your children,” said Munson President Matt Wille.
“If we have a team of caregivers or a provider or clinician that is having a hard time in any situation in particular with patient care, we have an interventional team that is really able to wrap around them,” said Pamela Ries, Chief Human Resources Officer for Spectrum Health.
It’s all an effort to keep those in the heart of the coronavirus battle healthy.
“Not only are they dealing with some fear, but there’s a lot of psychological and emotional support that is needed as they deal with family members who are then go off to work, there’s just so much that they’re going through,” said Ries.
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