Texas healthcare workers are slammed. They need your help containing coronavirus

At Texas Health Resources, we use error prevention tools to speak up for safety. One of the most popular is CUS, a shared language and communication tool that helps assert a concern in a non-threatening way or escalate a concern if it is not addressed. CUS stands for: I’m concerned, I’m uncomfortable, and it’s a safety issue.

Well, I am concerned about the dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in North Texas. Despite warnings issued by local officials and pleas with residents to take precautions, we’ve seen a 61.7% increase in active cases in the region over the past four weeks. Tarrant County alone reported more than 1,000 new cases per day for four days in a row late last week.

And I am uncomfortable with the number of people in our community who are giving in to pandemic fatigue.

You see, this is a safety issue.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in our facilities and our COVID-19 units. The disease puts the safety – the health and wellness of our community – at risk. COVID-19 patients and persons under investigation in our hospitals have increased almost 75% over the past four weeks.

And it’s put a tremendous burden on our teams at Texas Health – the men and women who have been coming to work day in and day out for more than nine months fighting this battle: Caregivers at the bedside, who also now connect families with their loved ones in isolation and environmental safety workers who keep our facilities clean and safe for parents welcoming children into the world and those who need life-saving medical care.

Many caregivers will tell you their profession is a calling – they’re used to challenging and emotional situations. And I’m not one to bemoan, “This is hard on us!” But I feel like I must. While we are standing up new tools and resources weekly to care for our employees, they’re also asking me when there will be relief.

There will be relief when we get our numbers down. And every one of us can help with that.

We can make safe and responsible choices. We can encourage our friends, families, colleagues and community members to do the same.

And if you’re tired of telling people to wash their hands, tell them about our COVID-19 caregivers who make personal sacrifices every day so they can care for our community. The many nurses who arrive home exhausted after a long shift, strip off their scrubs in the garage before going inside, and then shower before even hugging their children and partners to keep them safe.

Tell them about Jennifer, the nurse manager of a COVID-19 unit at Texas Health Dallas, who sent her twins to live with cousins on a ranch rather than expose them to the risk of contracting the virus. She went four months seeing her children only through FaceTime calls and even now allows herself only weekend visits.

We’re not going to wait for Washington, Austin or anyone else to fix this for us. We’re asking people to do the simple, common sense things that are within their power to help contain the spread of this disease and save lives: Wear a mask in public, wash hands after touching something that others may have touched, remain safely distant from others in public and, most of all, strictly limit in-person interactions.

That may mean not seeing family and friends this holiday season, but it may make the difference in stemming the tide of rising cases and deaths.