Mercy Health Foundation provides crucial support during pandemic

BY PAUL HOMICK

Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley’s rapid response to address our community’s most urgent needs – needs brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic – ensured that care was readily available to anyone in need, even at the height of the crisis.

The first case of COVID-19 in the Mahoning Valley was officially diagnosed March 11, 2020. It confirmed that the new virus, which was wreaking havoc on the other side of the world – shuttering businesses, halting transportation, forcing residents into quarantine, closing borders, crippling economies, overwhelming health-care systems and killing hundreds of thousands – had extended its reach into the Mahoning Valley. The horror we’d been watching unfold around the world had landed at our own front door.

Unsure of what was to come, but certain that the need for care would escalate, the board of directors of Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley made $1.5 million immediately available for emergency funding requests to combat the pandemic.

That foresight enabled Mercy Health Foundation to approve emergency grant requests in mere minutes -- requests from our hospitals to purchase additional equipment and supplies that included everything from masks, gloves and gowns to ventilators, tents and field hospital beds. The rapid approvals meant our hospitals were able to secure critical equipment before increasing demand made these items difficult if not impossible to get.

As the number of Mahoning Valley residents infected with COVID-19 grew, so did the need for care. Frontline workers – nurses, nursing assistants, physicians, food service and environmental services workers – were putting in extra hours while struggling to find care for members of their own families as schools, daycare and senior centers closed. These caregivers were also tasked with comforting the sick and dying who, because of restrictions that prohibited visitors to hospitals and other health care facilities, meant patients were without family or friends.

To assist these crucial frontline workers, Mercy Health Foundation, with support from many local donors, provided more than 15,000 meals to hospital employees who otherwise may not have taken time to eat. Comfort items such as hand cream, lip balm, compression socks, dental care kits and eye masks were also provided to caregivers who in many instances were spending more time on the job than they were at home.

Mercy Health Foundation partnered with other service providers and retailers in the Valley to offer daycare for the children of frontline workers, and to furnish Lavender Rooms in each of our three hospitals – St. Elizabeth Youngstown, St. Joseph Warren and St. Elizabeth Boardman.

Lavender Rooms are physically removed from the chaos of the nursing units and provide a calming environment where clinical staff can disconnect, decompress, reflect and recharge. Teams affected by extremely stressful incidents are also able to gather in the Lavender Rooms to debrief and connect with counseling and treatment services. The rooms are furnished with comfortable recliners, offer soft music, aromatherapy and are stocked with protein bars, bottled water and snacks.

While the numbers of those affected by COVID-19 have diminished, we are still a long way from obliterating the virus; its impact and the needs of those affected by and caring for those affected are still great. Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley continues to provide support for patients, caregivers and other frontline workers as well as their families and community members impacted by the pandemic.

We also recognize that it is important to memorialize those lost and honor survivors and caregivers. To that end, Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley recently announced a fundraising campaign to erect a COVID-19 memorial on the campus of St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

This memorial – the heart of which will be a life-size bronze sculpture of Jesus anguishing in misery under a shroud, by artist Timothy P. Schmalz – honors those lives lost. It also serves as a tribute to those who waged war against the virus, exerting valiant efforts to care for the sick and dying, their families and a suffering community.

The sculpture, “When I Was Sick,” challenges observers to see in Christ the suffering of the sick and infirm. Three large plaques will serve as a backdrop to the sculpture: one honoring caregivers, one memorializing those lost to COVID-19 and celebrating those who survived, and one serving as a permanent historical record of the pandemic’s impact on the Valley.

A time capsule holding items relevant to the pandemic will be included with plans for it to be opened on the 100th anniversary of the Mahoning Valley’s first diagnosed case of COVID-19.

Installation of “When I Was Sick” in Youngstown is dependent upon the successful completion of a $150,000 fundraising campaign. The memorial could be completed as soon as September 2021.

For information or to contribute to Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley’s Greatest Need Fund or the COVID-19 Memorial fundraising campaign, call 330-729-1180.

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Paul Homick is president of Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley.

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