COVER STORY

OUR OUR HEALTHCARE HEALTHCARE WORKERS WORKERS are our Heroes. Heroes.

They have been on the frontlines throughout this pandemic, putting aside all of their needs in order to protect and serve our community. Days have been long and hard and we are forever grateful for their service. We are happy to highlight them in this special section of Inspire Health Louisiana.

Due to the safety measures and COVID-19 restrictions in place, the individuals featured on the cover actually participated in separate photo shoots in order to create the final look. We feel especially lucky to have them take the time to help us capture this moment.

We are honored to have them featured in this special issue and want to specially thank all of our healthcare workers for their hard work, selflessness and dedication to our community during this global pandemic.

FROM OUR MAYOR-PRESIDENT

To all of our healthcare workers, we genuinely appreciate your service to East Baton Rouge Parish. Over this past year, our community could not have navigated this pandemic without you. I understand the dedication and sacrifice you face being away from your loved ones and family to care for others. As medical professionals, you have put the well-being of our community ahead of your own, spending countless hours away from your families to care for others. Being a healthcare professional comes with great responsibility–we thank you. Throughout the pandemic, I have relied on our local medical professionals to guide me in my decision making. For my part, I encouraged our community to protect our healthcare system during this time by practicing social distancing and enacting a mask requirement. I can speak for all Baton Rouge families by saying we are forever grateful for your dedication. There are many who have recovered because of your efforts, and we see the path to recovery now that our community has access to COVID-19 vaccines. When we come to the end of this, we will have many survivors, and it will be because of your work. I am keeping our medical professionals in my prayers through this time. I’m confident that our medical community will continue to protect us through this journey of healing and recovery.

Sharon Weston Broome Mayor President City of Baton Rouge

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HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CHILD ABOUT Emotions By Stefanie Ady

Dealing with emotions is a part of everyone’s skill set. Parents, teachers and other caregivers have an added challenge of helping children to navigate around any bends in life’s daily road that may affect their well-being. The road map of emotional intelligence includes friends, family and school relationships. We can help our children through confusing feelings by purposefully talking about different emotions they may experience and ways to cope.

A child might come home from school feeling frustrated, tired or ready for a snack. Here are a few ways you can check in with them emotionally: ß “Tell me about school/grandma’s/ daycare today.” Inviting children to participate in a narrative about their day will give far more insight than simply saying “How was school?” ß“Who did you sit with at lunch/play with at recess?” This will inform you of some key people in your child’s daily interactions, and allow you to gauge whether they are making connections with others in a positive way. ß“What are you feeling good about? What do you wish could have been different today?” These questions help create a reciprocal conversation with the child as you can share about your day with them, too.

“Pretty much as soon as they’re verbal, children can be taught to identify and communicate their feelings,” says clinical psychologist Dr. Lisa Firestone with Psychology Today. We need to deliberately teach children to handle the emotions stemming from social interactions at an early age. ■

STEPS TO INCREASE THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF CHILDREN

1.Identify what the child is feeling and give it a name. Is she feeling sad, mad, a mix of both? Is she feeling excited or nervous? Is she content? Try to find an accurate label for the emotion.

2. Discuss different options for how to react to a feeling or situation. Show empathy and tell them about some healthy ways you deal with difficult emotions. There is always a “next right thing” to do, whether you’re feeling good or bad.

3. Give the child a few minutes to be alone or reset after your conversation. Ask what she needs. Listen to music, play a game or simply let her watch television to decompress.

Creating an environment that openly handles emotions models to a child that they are capable of handling emotions and that they have support.