We need to respond to front-line providers’ mental health needs

Elissa Ely’s March 18 op-ed, “The pharmacist and the amaryllis,” is a well-reasoned call for common decency in the public sphere. But it highlights something else: the need for a coordinated, public, and ongoing response to the mental health needs of front-line health care workers, who have been conditioned throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic years to absorb “complaint and abuse.”

Burnout rates among health care workers have resulted in persistent staffing shortages in pharmacies, nursing homes, and primary care practices. Lack of support and treatment of the health care workforce’s mental health needs makes it harder to recruit and retain skilled workers, which has longterm consequences for the Commonwealth’s ability to deliver quality health care.

Recognizing this danger, the state used $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2021 to launch a pilot program offering group-based mental health support to nursing home aides, home health workers, and personal care attendants. Based on the success of the pilot, MASStrong was expanded last year with $5 million from the Commonwealth’s Behavioral Health Trust Fund to reach pharmacists, social workers, nurses, physicians, and other clinicians.

As Ely notes, kindness goes a long way. For the moment we’re in now, however, we need much more.

LIZ FRIEDMAN

CEO GPS Group Peer Support Northampton

The organization, in partnership with the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety, runs MASStrong, a program for health care workers to discuss the challenges they face.