THOMPSON: How do we help healthcare workers as global pandemic nears two year mark?

OPINION

Going on two years now we’ve talked about how the COVID-19 pandemic has punished healthcare professionals - doctors, nurses, staff and volunteers. But I’m not sure most of us understand exactly the toll it has taken - and continues to take - on these folks. They are, after all, people just like us.

Most of our lives - despite the terrible inconveniences of not seeing our full circle of friends and travelling when and where we want and feeling, well…safe when we venture out - are tolerable. Many of us have learned to work from home, and despite supply-chain issues and a dozen other changes in our day-to-day lives, we are - all things considered - winning the psychological war against this pandemic.

But, I worry about our friends and family who chose healthcare as their life’s work. They have - in varying degree depending on where they live and work - been fighting wave after wave of COVID-19 patients.

Most of their patients - more than nine of every ten - are in dire straits…suffering from the worst effects of the virus. Many can’t breathe on their own…some take months to recuperate…some never do…and some die.

Healthcare is tough work…maybe the toughest. These folks usually don’t see patients until things are, well…bad. Those they are trying desperately to save often depend on the wonders of modern medicines…and these professionals who shoulder their responsibilities so seriously to the point of sacrificing their own health and families.

Think about that for a moment…could just anyone do this…could you? I don’t think I would be up to it. The fact that I didn’t choose healthcare as a career probably answers that question.

But many did choose it…now heroes as far as I’m concerned. Think what these folks face every day. Not only do they try and save those who foolishly disregarded steps that could protect themselves…vaccinations and booster shots…doctors and nurses expose themselves to concentrations - loads - of the virus that increasingly put them and their families at higher risk.

Some patients have been hospitalized for months…even a year. There are hundreds…thousands of cases like the father I read about recently in Indianapolis who has been in the hospital 10 months…and has yet to see his seven-year-old daughter.

Grizzled veterans - doctors and nurses with 20 and 30 years experience who have seen just about everything you can see in emergency rooms and intensive care units - shed tears over what they now see…how they live and work…and fighting this ever-present threat to public health.

Sixteen hour shifts are common…many have worked every day for weeks…months. I’ve worked 70-hour weeks before…often for several months…without a break or vacation. Most of us have, especially if you own your own business. But most of us don’t see people die every day at work.

Like being in combat, these folks face agonizing choices, as well as psychological and physiological harm fighting something that doesn’t get better…at least not for long…before the next wave of patients comes to be saved.

It must be like going to the shore and trying to stop on incoming tide…it is relentless and eventually - no matter how strong - you succumb. That is what I worry about. How much longer can these healthcare heroes last? When will the toll of ignoring their own families’ welfare become simply too much?

Nothing about this pandemic has been easy. Healthcare workers are frustrated from pleading with the public to take precautions…then watch preventable outbreaks unfold had people only listened.  And what about the pressure on morale to witness not only COVID-19 patients die…but others who die from heart attacks, strokes and all other diseases…because there is no room to hospitalize and treat them.

It appears things are going to get worse this month and next. More people will be flocking to hospitals to be cared for in a system that is close to breaking, according to experts.

The Omicron variant can be a killer if you’re not vaccinated and boosted…much less so if you are…and yet millions - yes, millions of Americans and Canadian continue to resist science and common sense.

What would you think about these deniers…these holdouts…if you were charged with their care? Would you care? I don’t know if my compassion runs that deep…again that’s probably why I’m not a doctor or nurse. Maybe that holds true for you, too?

I don’t know the answer to the question, how do we save those who saved so many…and comforted so many who didn’t make it?

Perhaps we should do more…you know, make dinner and deliver it to the families of our healthcare heroes…or do some much needed chores around the house for them…clean their homes…take their cars for servicing? What can we do besides simply saying thanks…or ignoring their plight?

My columns usually have - not necessarily a happy ending - but closure…an ending that at least gives us hope. I’m not sure this one does. We’ll see how our heroes fare in the next two months…but something tells me we’re going to need to return their incredible compassion and caring…and that’s a huge undertaking.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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