Page 18 - HCMA Bulletin Summer 2021

Reflections
A Tribute to Our Healthcare Heroes in Times of Crisis
Goodbye 2020
Erfan Albakri, MD ealbakri@floridastroke.com
Our Healthcare Heroes, you will never be forgotten. You have been honored by your community for your service and your sacrifices during the heightened state of medical emergency acrossthenation. Yourselflessacts,in the midst of the 2020 COVID-19 Pan- demic, was a reminder that medicine is not a job, it is a calling.
If the past twelve months have proven anything, it is that in the real world heroes don’t wear capes; our heroes, “the essential work- ers,” wear scrubs. As people all over the world stay home to protect themselves and their families, healthcare workers cou- rageously venture out to the front lines putting their safety at risk to care for others and for those whom we love. They apply their knowledgeable minds, skillful hands, and compassionate hearts to protect the wellbeing of all their patients and to ease
their suffering.
Our physicians and all frontline healthcare workers are the biggest heroes of 2020. They endured the most challenging en- vironments for long hours to help others survive the pandemic. This turns a spotlight on the selfless individuals in the battle against COVID-19. They faced infected patients everyday sac- rificing their own safety and comfort while enduring the risk of exposing their families.
Healthcare heroes include the retired health care profession- als, newly graduated students who stepped up and volunteered to serve in makeshift COVID-19 testing sites in the local com- munity, and the mental health professionals who offered help to those in distress.
Our healthcare heroes are the leadership of HCMA, hos- pitals, academic institutions, and the Hillsborough County Health Department. They all worked to redesign medical care in real time offering innovative solutions to difficult problems as the pandemic evolved. Virtual town hall meetings and we- binars were provided throughout the year. The meetings of lo- cal infectious disease experts updated and educated healthcare providers on the current state of COVID-19 mitigation strat- egies, COVID testing, and new therapies available and others
being investigated.
While rivals in normal times, for the first time Tampa Bay hospitals battled the virus together. The executives responsible for 22 of the Tampa Bay area major hospitals agreed to work to- gether to prepare for the surge in virus cases that could test the limits of the Tampa Bay health care system. They shared details about hospital beds, ventilator availability, visitors’ policy, and supply chain.
The toll of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has been heavy on physicians and all healthcare workers. It is reported that for the first time since the Great Depression, the crippling finan- cial losses had threatened the viability of substantial numbers of hospitals and office practices, especially those that were already financially vulnerable, including rural and safety-net provid- ers, and primary care practices. It is estimated that office-based practices had reductions of 60% in visit volumes in the first few months of the crisis. The immediate cause of this unprec- edented financial crisis is the substantial, unexpected changes in demand for health services. On the other hand, precipitous declines in demand for routine services have reduced providers’ revenue.
This unforeseen pandemic resulted in transforming the tra- ditional in‐person visits to virtual visits. All required a rapid adoption of telehealth services across all health systems to help improving patients’ access to their providers, and therefore lim- iting virus exposure to patients and health providers.
The financial and mental health burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare providers has added tremendously to the epidemic of the “burned-out doctors’ syndrome.” Physi- cian’s access to the appropriate PPE, especially during the first few months into the pandemic, was of paramount importance to help physicians feel physically safe. With sufficient PPE, in- dividuals feel more protected from infection, which may lessen the fear of infecting loved ones. Furthermore, both physicians on the frontline and other healthcare workers are susceptible to distress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms as a result of COV- ID-19. In addition to poor quality of sleep, there were feelings of isolation, and significant anxiety regarding patients’ care along with the possibility of infecting their families. The consequent lockdown has rapidly changed everyone’s life and habits, affect-
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HCMA BULLETIN, Vol 67, No. 1 – Summer 2021