DOCTOR IS IN by Dr. Adil Manzoor OP/ED
“Health workers are our heroes!” “Give it up for our health workers!” “Let us appreciate our health workers for bringing us this far.” All of these are words I have heard over the last twelve months. If not exactly those, something similar, usually. And they are all true, no disputing that, but they are starting to seem like empty words people say to get us to shut up. I’m not paranoid. And, no, I’m not crazy, but there are many of my folks that are.
I remember the early stages of the pandemic, where it was all about how we are superheroes, and everyone was looking up to us to come up with a cure for this unfortunate mess. That seems like so far away because now all we have seems only a fractured shell of that initial feeling. What am I even saying, you ask? We have reached the point where our health workers are being threatened. Yes, actual threats. We have been attacked, vilified, and even racially abused. What happened to us being heroes? What the hell happened to “appreciate the people that have brought us this far?” See what I meant by empty words. The actions of people don’t justify the words being uttered.
Some may see this and say I am blaming the public for the woes among health workers; no, I am blaming the stupid sect of people who feel it right to attack health workers. I mentioned woes not too long ago, and that may even be understating it.
Consider this CDC survey of 26,174 public health workers. About 12% said they have received job-related threats, 53% of respondents reported symptoms of at least one mental in the past two weeks of when the study was conducted. 37% had PTSD symptoms, 32% had depression, 30% had anxiety, and 8.4% had suicide ideation. Look at this and give me a more appropriate word that “woes.”
The pandemic is hard on all of us, but we often tend to forget that the very people who are helping us manage this dangerous situation need care and help too. People just automatically expect doctors and other public health workers to be fine, but how can that be possible when we work for hours and hours a day nonstop, seeing bodies lined up steadily, and on top of all that have people abuse and insult us?
It’s high time we focused on our health workers. It’s high time we consider how the pandemic has affected them too. It is high time we stopped criticizing them for doing their jobs. Enough is enough. Health workers have brought us this far, and they can see us through the rest of the journey, however rocky it may appear. But they have to be mentally fit to do that.
What’s the ultimate way to helping public health workers? To end this pandemic once and for all. We all thought we were close, but reality often is disappointing.
What’s the immediate way of helping health workers? Get vaccinated and follow necessary protocols. At least we will limit the death toll. Then, and just as important, give health workers the love, respect, and appreciation we deserve – in words and, I cannot emphasize this enough, in actions. Stay Safe.
This article was written by Dr. Adil Manzoor DO, a Board Certified Internist & Board Eligible Pediatrician, who works as a Hospitalist, and Emergency Room Physician. He is also the current President of Garden State Street Medicine, a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to provide free preventive and acute urgent care services for the homeless. He is also the co-founder of his own unique medical practice Mobile Medicine NJ.
References
· https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/08/05/the-pandemic-has-devastated-the-mental-health-of-public-health-workers?amp=1
· https://debeaumont.org/news/2021/your-public-health-workers-are-not-okay/
