Difficult as it may be to believe, we’re closing in on a year dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At Catholic Health, we know better than most – the last year has demanded a lot of our healthcare workers.
Our fearless frontline workers, including physicians, nurses, and essential hospital personnel, faced the pandemic head on, while the rest of us were instructed to shelter in place. Still, our administrative professionals provided an essential backbone in a time of crisis: ensuring quality and safety, preparing IT infrastructure, communicating important messaging.
The challenges presented by COVID-19 in a healthcare setting have emphasized a familiar word: Burnout. It’s common to feel overwhelmed when you’re unable to escape chatter about the pandemic at work, on social media, and even in conversations in the safety of your home.
Such a high-stakes situation has encouraged many healthcare systems to examine the mental health resources that are being provided for healthcare workers. In Catholic Health’s case, some came from expanding existing programs and services. Others resulted from offering new apps and platform subscriptions.
Catholic Health’s Resiliency resources encourage our associates to be proactive about their mental and emotional health during these trying times. The tools we’re encouraging associates to take advantage of include:
These weekly, virtual meetings allow our associates system-wide to connect with each other, and be comforted by the knowledge that their peers are experiencing similar thoughts and feelings.
Catholic Health has partnered with Credible Mind, a self-care platform, to prioritize the mental, physical, and spiritual health of its workforce. CredibleHealth is an ample resource with information on a variety of wellness topics, like anxiety and depression, as well as more professional-oriented concerns, such as career advancement and fulfillment.
Our spiritual care team has always played an active role in all Catholic Health ministries and locations. More recently, we’ve taken steps to emphasize the availability of our trained professionals to the CH community.
In the midst of a global pandemic, Catholic Health calls on other healthcare systems and organizations across the country to examine the support they are providing to workers in the wake of COVID-19. Every day, we are striving to be better for our people. Because that’s the right way to care.
Find More Resources at Catholic Health
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If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please call Crisis Services’ 24-hour hotline at (716) 834-3131 or visit them online at crisisservices.org/suicide-prevention.
