Maintaining services, mental health and compassion fatigue
As we continue social distancing and other community safety measures in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, I wanted to update the communities served by Highland Rivers Health about the status of our services, and provide some information about mental health and compassion fatigue.
Highland Rivers remains open for services
First and foremost, Highland Rivers Health is recognized by law as a critical healthcare provider and our agency is maintaining operations during the outbreak. But even without this mandate, I have no doubt the Highland Rivers team would make every effort to meet the needs of the thousands of individuals across northwest Georgia who rely on us for treatment, support and recovery services.
We have instituted several procedures in our clinics (and other programs) to protect the health of the individuals we serve and our staff. At our outpatient clinics, all individuals coming for services are being screened for symptoms of illness. Individuals can now also wait outside or in their cars and receive a text message when their therapist is ready to see them. Our waiting rooms allow people to maintain distances of six feet and are cleaned and disinfected daily; hand sanitizer is available throughout our clinics.
For more information about our services and safety procedures, please visit the Highland Rivers website at https:// highlandrivershealth.com.
Protecting your mental health As I wrote in my last column, if you find the pandemic, social distancing or sheltering-in-place are causing you stress or anxiety, you are not alone. What you’re feeling is a completely normal response to very stressful circumstances – as are feelings of isolation, uncertainty and confusion.
To help, Highland Rivers developed a list of mental health tips that can you manage these feelings and provide positive alternatives. We’ve also developed an expanded version of this article, which includes additional information about managing stress as well as strategies for helping your family and children cope.
Both of these articles are available in the COVID-19 pop-up window on the Highland Rivers Health website homepage. Being aware of compassion fatigue Compassion fatigue (CF) may be a term you’ve never heard before, but it is very real. First responders; doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers; mental health professionals; and other helpers can experience compassion fatigue as a result of responding to an emergency or disaster. The COVID-19 outbreak fits this criteria.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports that CF is made up of two main components: burnout (feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, or like nothing you do will help make the situation better) and secondary traumatic stress (feeling like the trauma of the people you are helping is happening to you or people you love).
While the pandemic has shown our healthcare providers and other helpers to be truly heroic, they too are at risk for mental health problems. Long hours and constant stress can wear people down behaviorally, cognitively, physically, spiritually and emotionally.
As a result, those helping us most can become vulnerable to feeling acute traumatic stress, sorrow and anger, and even feeling guilt for surviving the disaster. When this happens, helpers may have trouble understanding the risks to their own health and safety.
In order to help responders in our communities be aware of compassion fatigue and recognize when they may be experiencing it, we’ve also posted a SAMHSA fact sheet about CF on our website. Like the articles mentioned above, this fact sheet is available on the COVID-19 popup window on the Highland Rivers website, https://highlandrivershealth.com. Thank you to our staff
Finally, I want to publicly express my deepest gratitude and admiration for the 650+ caring, compassionate and outstanding staff at Highland Rivers Health – who continue to come to work every day to ensure we are meeting the needs of the individuals and communities we serve. Our agency would not be what it is without you. You make it possible for me to say to our communities, “When you need us, we will be here” – and I thank you for that!