Even before COVID-19, staff at long-term care facilities managed stress and hardship on a daily basis. Every day they care for people facing serious and life-threatening health problems, putting residents’ needs ahead of their own. The nurses and caregivers, rehabilitation therapists, social workers and administrators, and kitchen and housekeeping staff are all essential workers. But what happens when that team needs help to carry on? When is it ok to say you can’t handle the new normal?

In a Forbes article entitled, America After COVID-19, author Soulaima Gourani opined, “For businesses and industries to recover and thrive in these uncharted waters, they must not freeze and hunker down. Instead, they must move forward and develop new models to be ready for what's to come.”

Thinking about your aging parents in this crisis can be stressful. They may know to wash their hands and stay at home. But, can you help them feel connected in this time of social distancing, without letting your worry interfere? Is there a better way to say, “Mom, I just called to say… wait, you went where yesterday?”

Last Saturday, I purchased two iPads at BestBuy. The process of ordering them online was cumbersome, and the wait to collect them from curbside delivery was equally slow. While waiting in the parking lot to collect the equipment, I could hear other customers grumbling, voicing their frustrations regarding the time needed to fulfill their orders, and, in some cases, berating customer service representatives for the slow process.

Over the past month, we have learned about the effects of a devastating illness, COVID-19, the consequences of which remain unknown. Moreover, and on each subsequent day, we receive new information regarding the transmission of COVID-19 and how we can work together as a community to “flatten the curve” and limit disease transmission.

At Executive Mental Health, the safety of our patients, partners, and team is the highest priority. Thus, we are closely following the guidance from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and educating our clinicians and field staff regarding best practices regarding the coronavirus.