Health Workers Are Essential, During the Pandemic and Beyond

By Polly Dunford, President and Chief Executive Officer, IntraHealth InternationalApril 05, 2021We’ve all heard the term“health worker heroes.” But really, they’re health workerhumans.Health workers are just people, like us. They’ve been working in incredibly challenging situations, especially during the past year. They’re not magic. They don’t have superpowers that let them never sleep or make them invincible against disease. They’re real people. They’re people who have families and hobbies and needs—inside and outside of work.If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that health workers are essential to us all. But we never ask the question: what’s essential to health workers?You can’t just focus on medicines to fight disease.This is something we spend a lot of time thinking about atIntraHealth International. And the answers are many: Fair and decent housing, steady paychecks, regular training, masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment so that they can do the job safely. They need protection from burnout. They need protection for their mental health. And they need supportive supervisors and strong managers and the right technology at their fingertips.There’s a lot of complexity in delivering health care; a lot of moving parts that have to come together to make it happen. And health workers who are trained and deployed where they’re needed most are at the center of it all.So ...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: SwitchPoint World Health Worker Week 2021 Year of the Health and Care Worker Global health security Health Workforce & Systems Source Type: news