Health care and first responders have taken the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic and have endured long working hours and fatigue of unimaginable proportions. A grant of $2.14 million has been given to alleviate the burnout in healthcare and first responders, reports cavalierdaily.com.
The University has been given a federal grant of $2.14 million to take care of exhausted health care workers and first responders in the Charlottesville area. The gift is a part of the American Rescue Plan and the Lorna Breen Act.
The grant is given to the University through the U.S. Health Research and Services Administration (U.S.H.R.S.A). A Federal Agency provides money for public health organizations and improves health care among the vulnerable and underprivileged sections of society.
Part Of Wisdom and Wellbeing Program
The fund will be a part of the University’s Wisdom, and Wellbeing Program envisages providing social support for high-stress health workers.
The grant will enable the elite staff of the University’s health team to get access to resources and training. In addition, it will help members of the healthcare community tackle what is known as burnouts. Under-supported health care workers have experienced instances of burnouts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fund will provide much-needed support.
Burnout is a term used to describe the effects of working in a stressful environment and manifests in trauma, loss, moral distress, and fatigue. Burnouts are usually reduced after a relaxing vacation or a holiday. However, what must be understood is that this break is temporary, and stress is the only constant and permanent factor. Health Care workers and first responders are always in a stressful environment compared to workers in other sectors of the economy.
Health Care Workers And First Responders Face High Emotional Trauma
The high physical and emotional stress endured by health care workers and first responders is something that not many are aware of, and it is a welcome sign that this fact is now being acknowledged.
First-year College student Nikitha Yemisetty, a pre-med student, volunteered in hospitals in Northern Virginia before the pandemic said, “Healthcare workers are overworked and undervalued. And the trauma that they face is often looked over by society. One good thing about [the pandemic] is that it brought front and center the stressors that the healthcare workforce was already beginning to groan under … so it actually could be dealt with,”
