COACH'S PLAYBOOK
Mental Health and Resilience in the Time of COVID-19 By Kay Kendall
A
nother day, another headline about hospitals with available beds but insufficient staff to care for patients. Today, it is Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas, which is experiencing huge spikes in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths due to COVID-19 and the surge of the Delta variant. Staff members become ill, or they transfer to other units because they’re physically and mentally worn out. Shortages in the COVID units and ICUs are critical. In the news feeds I follow on the internet, this is a recurring scenario in hospitals all over the country.
IT'S OK TO NOT BE OK For many people, not just those who work in health care, this pandemic has become a time of heightened anxiety with an upsurge of mental health issues. The notion of needing to take care of oneself and to acknowledge that “it’s okay to not be okay” has recently been at the cultural forefront of both women’s tennis and the Olympics. However, I’ve seen the media (social and otherwise) be very critical of, and even callous to, these calls for help and understanding.
ARKANSAS HOSPITALS | FALL 2021 31
