FEATURED CAMPS :
Adventure Day Camp Debate Camp
Dream Big Gymnastics Vacation and Summer Camp
Gamm Theatre Summer Camps
Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England ’ s Camp Hoffman and Camp Rocky Farm
Summer at Gordon Greater Providence YMCA Summer Camps International Tennis Hall of Fame Launch Camp Moses Brown Summer Camps Providence Country Day Summer Camp Next Stop BROADWAY @ PPAC
Rhode Island Fencing Academy and Club
RISD Continuing Education Summer Camps and Classes
Rhode Island Tutorial and Educational Services Summer Academics
St . Andrew ’ s Summer Camps Tabor Summer Camp Taste Buds Kitchen
LIKE WITH PHYSICIANS , the factors leading to burnout and staff shortages among nurses began long before COVID- 19 . As far back as 2012 , researchers predicted a shortage of between 300,000 and 1 million nurses across the country by 2020 . The reasons for the shortage are complex and include longer lifespans , the retirement of baby boomer nurses and limited capacity in nurse education programs . Trish Criner , a Kent Hospital nurse and president of United Nurses and Allied Professionals Local 5008 , recalls when local hospitals could mandate overtime based on staffing needs . When she started working in 1994 , she says , it wasn ’ t unusual to have to cancel weekend plans because of last-minute staffing mandates .
“ I was getting mandated like once a week at some points ,” she says . “ A lot of people forget what it was like . It was hell , but you know what , it was part of the job . It was part of the job and if you wanted to be a nurse , you really don ’ t know when you ’ re going to go home . That was that .”
Rhode Island banned mandatory overtime in hospitals for nurses and nurse ’ s assistants in 2008 , but the job , like most in the medical industry , still takes a heavy emotional toll on employees . In the early weeks of the pandemic , colleagues in Criner ’ s unit at Kent Hospital found themselves caring for a longtime co-worker who had fallen ill with COVID-19 . The woman , an intensive care unit nurse and secretary for more than forty years , eventually succumbed to the disease surrounded by her fellow staff members . When she entered the room to care for her , Criner says , she had trouble equating the patient before her with the co-worker she knew and loved .
“ There ’ s always a little bit of numbness , especially if you ’ re a seasoned nurse , because in general you see a lot of death throughout your career ,” she says . “ You learn how to separate , and your mind automatically does that . And then with COVID , the profound sadness and the ugliness of it , that kind of numbs you even further .”
Today , she says , younger nurses have more tools to advocate for themselves in the workplace , including stronger union advocacy and a greater acceptance of mental health needs . Raquél Pérez , a nurse who graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2017 , says that following the start of the pandemic , many of her friends reevaluated where they fit in the profession and whether they want to continue in their current roles . Though most still work in nursing , she says , individuals are placing greater emphasis on self-care , and the expectation of health care workers always putting other ’ s needs before their own is changing .
“ I always remind people we ’ re human beings first and we ’ re nurses second ,” she says . “ I can ’ t say if I think these conversations would ’ ve been as common or as put out here before the pandemic . I think there ’ s definitely this sense that we ’ ve moved to make sure the people who are taking care of other people are taken care of , too .”
AS THE PANDEMIC has raised more awareness of the challenges faced by front-line medical workers , health care organizations are taking note . At Miriam Hospital , Collins has been an advocate for expanding the availability of transcendental meditation resources among staff . The program initially started as a pilot for nurses sponsored by Heal the Healers Now , a national initiative that launched in April of 2020 to try to reduce burnout by training health care workers in transcendental meditation . As of March , the program had expanded to train ten staff doctors and offer training to all newly hired nurses . The hospital dedicates regular space for meditation and offers group sessions where staff members can meditate together .
“ I saw a poster to recruit people to do it , and it ’ s something I had heard of and wanted to do ,” Collins says . “ I did the training myself and saw the difference it really made , especially after these last two years of constant pandemic , really feeling like it ’ s continued trauma . We get through one wave and then we just have to do it again .”
The transcendental meditation program runs alongside the hospital ’ s other integrative therapy offerings , including yoga and massage . Collins , who spent the first three months of the pandemic living in his finished basement for fear of exposing his family to COVID-19 , says health care workers can sometimes be too resilient in their approach to their work . Front-line workers have been taught to push through difficulty , often leading to frustration and employees feeling on edge down the line . If these feelings are not addressed , he says , the situation can lead to burnout and staff leaving the industry .
“ That just puts more work on everybody else , because you can ’ t just go to the grocery
122 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l MAY 2022