Worries about hospital worker trauma grow

Heidi Stevens It was flattering to be called a hero. At the Super Bowl. On hand-drawn signs. In campaign speeches. “It was nice,” said Greg Reilly, a registered nurse at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “You’re being recognised for all the hard work. It’s nice to have that spotlight on your profession. People are proud of you.” It was also isolating, at times. And intimidating. “I lost count of the number times I heard, ‘I don’t feel like a hero,’” said Mark “Chaps” Schimmelpfennig, staff chaplain at Rush. “’I’m scared when I come here. I’m scared when I go home. I’m tired of having my kids say, Mommy can I hug you today? No. I’m scared because a couple nights ago a patient seemed to be stable and I went down for a cup of coffee and came back and they’d passed.’” “And you multiply that week by week, month by month,” Schimmelpfennig continued. “The operational tempo can help you stay focused, but as time goes on there’s going to be cracks in that armour.” At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Rush commissioned a wellness task force made up of chaplains, social workers, nurses, psychiatrists and behavioural science specialists. That task force formed a wellness response team and recruited volunteer physicians whose usual patient loads were temporarily slowed down by Covid-19 restrictions on hospital services. The team made daily and nightly rounds through the intensive care unit, checking in with physicians, nurses, housekeeping — anyone working in a daily atmosphere of death and fear and risk and rapidly shifting protocols. They brought La Croix and Kind bars, reminders to practice self-care, suggestions for meditation apps, and names and numbers for therapists. Schimmelpfennig was a founding member of the Covid-19 wellness response team. He’s been with Rush since 2016, and helps lead the hospital’s Road Home Program, a free mental healthcare and wellness resource for veterans and their families. He researches evidence-based therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma-driven mental health issues. “All of us up here were fighting a war,” Schimmelpfennig said of the intensive care unit (ICU). “Fighting an enemy we couldn’t see, couldn’t touch, couldn’t smell. And it was kicking our collective tails. That’s tough. Especially as you’re grinding it out over the weeks and months that everybody did.” — dpa