by Jeff Tieman, VAHHS Through the pandemic, there has been some great and crucial journalism. A worldwide public health threat naturally inspires curious journalists to explain the unexplainable and shine a light on what’s really happening. This kind of careful and thorough reporting is important, especially when misinformation is rampant like it is now.
This month, Vermont Public Radio provided an example of stellar journalism in its series featuring caregivers at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury. Speaking about the difficulty of seeing COVID patients give up hope, one nurse says, “We cry. We cry together as a group, especially night staff, you know. We have a lot of moments where we feel overwhelmed.”
That sense of being inundated and exhausted is not unique to NVRH, or to Vermont hospitals. Caregivers from coast to coast and around the world have been doing this mentally and physically taxing work for two years now. The days are long and the frustration and grief only grow when so many unvaccinated patients occupy precious ICU beds.
The VPR pieces illustrate well how the continuing clinical challenge and workforce shortage—coupled with raw emotion and pure exhaustion—has deeply affected doctors and nurses.
“The day that I really got angry was the day I was one-on-one with an ICU-level patient and there was no beds in New England for him,” NVRH nurse Kara Lawrence told VPR. “He'd had a stroke, and his brain was bleeding and there was nowhere for him to go. And I was with him one-on-one for hours, trying to make sure that he was OK. That's the day I was mad.”
Firsthand accounts of treating and managing COVID patients offers so much vital insight. For those people who don’t work in a hospital, it is impossible to fully understand what has been taking place there for the past 18 months. The VPR stories deliver that perspective. They are difficult to hear but also illuminating and inspiring.
Caregivers are amazing people who have been through a long war with no clear end in sight. They earned our gratitude and support way before the pandemic, and now they prove their devotion and resiliency day in and day out, even as the challenges grow once again.
I want to thank the caregivers who have stepped up and keep doing so. And I want to thank the journalists at VPR and so many other outlets who have worked hard during the pandemic to tell the truth, cut through the clutter and paint a clear and informative picture of what is happening in our distressed world.
Jeff Tieman is CEO of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems