Heroes are human
I’m still playing catchup from my long weekend vacation, so instead of giving my take on this week’s health care news, I figured I’d share a quote from a recent interview I conducted that I couldn’t fit into any of my recent stories but I think provides an interesting perspective on the mental toll health care workers are facing.
For context, I had asked Chyela Rowe, a therapist who coordinates staff support services at CHI Memorial Hospital, whether public attitudes toward health care workers have become more hostile since the beginning of the pandemic, when many Americans were praising health care workers as heroes. Here was her response:
“An element of recognition, I think, is important to a degree, but it feels a little bit performative. I’ve heard people say, ‘Don’t call me a hero, because that puts so much expectation on me to be superhuman, and I am a human being. At the end of the day, I need sleep and food and for this to be a job – not something that kills me.’ They’re not superhuman. Doctors and nurses are highly skilled, scientifically trained people who are working in a really difficult situation. I think if you want to show appreciation to a health care worker, then you will do what’s necessary to protect others from the virus. That’s the affirmation that people are looking for. Respect the fact that that protection keeps the numbers lower and keeps the death lower. That is the way to care for the moral distress that people are experiencing when they’re watching people die from something that ultimately they could protect themselves from.”
Stay safe,