West Island health-care workers getting support soon
The 150 people who answer calls for help will be peers who work in mental health
Front-line workers at the West Island health authority will soon have a hotline they can call to get emotional and psychological support.
The West Island health authority (CIUSSS), has recruited and trained 150 of its mental health employees to answer a new dedicated phone line for health-care workers in emotional distress, working on the front lines during the coronavirus crisis. The hotline, which will begin answering calls on Friday, is available 24 hours per day to all health-care workers at the hospitals, long-term care centres and other institutions covered by the health authority.
“The situation isn’t easy for anyone right now, and that’s certainly the case for people in the health-care sector,” said Gustavo
Turecki, the head of the department of psychiatry for the West Island health authority. “If you’re working at a CHSLD, you’re in contact with a lot of people who are dying, so it’s clearly a very difficult situation. The emotional impact that this has on all of us is very important, and we tend to talk about this less.”
Turecki said health-care workers are dealing with a system that was already stretched, and then fellow workers fall ill, giving them a heavier workload, which could affect the care of patients. They ’re also concerned about their own health and that of their families.
Those who answer the calls will be peers who also work in the health-care system, so they will be able to relate to the experience of the health-care workers, and help provide support and advice.
“Sometimes, people just need to talk, and sometimes, people need more than that, so that service is available to them, as well,” Turecki said.
Turecki said he witnessed the emotional impact on front-line health-care workers this past weekend when he visited the Grace Dart CHSLD in Mercier—hochelaga-maisonneuve, which belongs to the West Island CIUSSS. That’s where a veteran orderly fell ill and died of COVID -19 last week.
“I saw the situation with my own eyes and the stress that people were going through there,” he said.
There are already support lines and services available for patients and the families of patients. There is also an Employee Assistance Program and a network of peer helpers. However, this new hotline will complement those programs and allow workers to get immediate support, which Turecki said is crucial for someone in crisis.
“We want to make sure that people have easy and immediate access to support, because if you’re stressed, you need support right away, and not an appointment a week from now.”
Turecki said the health-care system has been adapted in recent weeks to press clinicians and psychiatrists into service to answer the phone line. Some of those providing support have been made available because their work schedules were reorganized in advance of the coronavirus crisis, and they have time to dedicate to help their colleagues.
“And in addition, we have a lot of people who are working harder,” he said. “People are working many more hours than they did before, and that’s the way it is.”
Turecki didn’t know how many employees in the health authority’s territory are leaving work because they are too stressed to cope, but he hopes this new service will help them deal better with the stress they are enduring.
“I think front-line workers really do a lot, and if there is anything we can do to make their lives easier, then why not?”