The University of Rhode Island hosted the first of three panel discussions surrounding health care during the COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday evening, with the first focusing on the experiences of health care workers.
Hosted by the URI Academic Health Collaborative (AHC) and the URI Interprofessional Education and Practice Initiative (IPEPI) , each discussion is set to feature URI faculty, alumni and community members who have firsthand experience with the challenges currently facing healthcare professionals.
Moderated by Elizabeth Roberts, director of the AHC, “From the Front Lines: The Experience of Treating Those with COVID,” featured speakers Dr. Trudy-Ann Gayle, Dr. Eugenio Fernandez, James Lemieux, Shannon O’Rourke and Leah Hurley.
Topics discussed during the panel included each featured guests’ individual experience working in their respective health care professions amid the pandemic, the impact mental health has taken on COVID-19 patients as well as health care workers, the difference in care given to various communities and “the importance of interdisciplinary communication” within their teams.
Lemieux, a critical care nurse in an intensive care unit (ICU) and a URI alumnus, spoke of his experience treating COVID-19.
Treatment of COVID-19 is three-tiered: treating the patient, treating the staff and treating the family. This, to Lemieux, has been a difficult thing to handle as patients’ families can’t come to visit them in the hospital.
“A lot of the people I treat with COVID are either in medically-induced comas or they are unconscious,” Lemieux said. “A lot of these people have unfortunately perished and their family members can’t come to say goodbye. It’s not easy telling a family member over the phone that their family member has passed or is expected to pass.”
Lemieux also expressed how difficult it is to not know what is best for a patient. Treatment for COVID-19 has been constantly evolving and is dependent on various factors, specifically the patient’s exhibited symptoms. With constantly evolving practices and updated information about the virus, practices used six months ago are now outdated, according to Lemieux.
Gayle, a URI alumna and licensed clinical psychologist in a New York nursing facility, emphasized how important it is to understand the effects the coronavirus has had on those who are being treated for it, as well as those doing the treating.
“Anxiety is one of the things we’re dealing with because of [the] uncertainty,” Gayle said. “I feel like the staff benefited from having a psychologist on board as well because there were moments of what I would call, just panic, a meltdown, if you will, about being short-staffed, feeling overworked, feeling sometimes uninformed and just helping them to feel more stable in a very uncertain, unpredictable environment.”
Fernandez received his bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology, master’s degree of business administration and doctorate of pharmacy degree all from URI. He resonated with the feeling of having to be there for all communities affected by COVID-19.
“I didn’t anticipate anxiety being an issue early on; people could not get out so they were more anxious,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez felt as if he became a “neighborhood psychologist” for all of the COVID-19 patients. Many were completely isolated, which increased their anxiety. They turned to him oftentimes to discuss the loneliness they were feeling.
The neglect many communities were met with when COVID-19 cases began to rise was also addressed by Gayle. She noted the lack of accessibility to medical treatment and the disregard for individuals who displayed symptoms.
Hurley, a registered dietitian at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), spoke about the continuous evolution in treatment for patients.
“It was so new,” Hurley said. “Things were changing everyday; we could address one thing and the next day it would be different. We were growing, evolving, and consistently and persistently learning more; as much as we could.”
Recent URI health studies graduate and former intern at the Oral Health Programs at the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) O’Rourke discussed the abrupt transition she underwent as a new member of the COVID-19 response team.
When she started in January, O’Rourke said she worked with nutrition and education in ways they related to oral health, but once COVID-19 hit, nothing else mattered and the pandemic was at the forefront of everything.
According to O’Rourke, in the early stages of the pandemic, the reporting process at the RIDOH was informal: everything was tracked on paper.
“Since [the early stages], we’ve become very sophisticated,” O’Rourke said. “I’d say we have one of the best tracking systems in the [United States.] We’ve made a lot of progress since March, but there is still a ways to go.”
The discussion panel came to a close with a question and answer segment, featuring questions asked from the audience.
One important question the panel discussed was their advice for the general public as the pandemic continues. Fernandez kept his advice short and advised people to wear a mask.
The next event in the lecture series will take place on Oct. 7 at 6 p.m., entitled “How Did It Get So Dangerous to Be an Older Adult?” A panel featuring faculty, alumni and Rhode Island elders will discuss the effect COVID-19 has had on the elderly.