Covid shook everyone’s lives in one way or another. Some people may never recover from the effects that the pandemic had on their lives. However, one area of society, in particular, felt Covid’s blow especially hard; the health industry. Being at the forefront and acting as a solid line of defence, the medical health sector worked at saving millions of lives and even gave us the vaccine. The toll that this took on the industry was colossal. A global shortage of resources in the facilities, overpopulation, and understaffing made a difficult situation even harder.
The dedicated men and women continue to work tirelessly through the pandemic. Here are some of the ways that healthcare workers are helping rebuild the world’s health infrastructure.
Attending to as many patients as possible
Not only are they working as hard as they have always been, but the medical professionals are now kicking it into overdrive and pulling double shifts. This is to tackle at least one of the healthcare infrastructure issues: short staffing. If there aren’t enough medical professionals on-site, millions of people will continue to succumb to the effects of Covid. For nurses, it’s even more challenging because many of them are studying alongside. However, the silver lining in this is that they have the option of studying online. Hence, the reason why you will see many nurses enrolled in an online dnp program and taking classes after their shifts.
Educating the public
No one knows the realities of the pandemic better than the medical health professionals who saw patients daily. They know the ins and outs of the virus and have played a direct role in saving millions of lives with their knowledge. Workshops, infographics, and public service announcements are just some of the ways through which these professionals are educating the public. Without them, we might still have been left in the dark about the coronavirus and everything related. Most hospital websites have a section about Covid for the audience to read up on.
Generating funds
No single stakeholder has been as outspoken about the need for funds as healthcare workers have been. Working with patients and seeing the shortage of resources first-hand leads them to strive for funding and call on donations. Charitable and state funding are what keep most hospitals going. These non-profit organisations don’t make money of their own, so the need for resources is dire in a time like this. Hence, healthcare workers strive to raise awareness about how important it is to donate to hospitals and medical institutes. Without further funding from the public and government, they might soon run out of resources. The good news is that their efforts have worked, and many organisations are now donating to hospitals.
Sacrificing personal lives for the public in need
One of the most common sacrifices that the doctors and nurses had to make was to leave their personal lives behind. Women, in particular, were the ones to receive a bigger blow of this act. They had to constantly juggle between their duties to the healthcare sector and their personal responsibilities of taking care of their children, looking after the aged people in the family, giving their children education at home, and many other responsibilities that have been traditionally associated with women. However, they were well aware of the daunting demand of the healthcare sector, owing to the pandemic, and they stood up bravely to combat these challenges. These efforts contributed significantly to getting the situation in control as much as possible.
More professionals entering the market
It is pretty common to see retired doctors coming back to work to help treat those who are in desperate need of it. Moreover, as it is mentioned earlier, nurses are rushing through their courses and attaining their diplomas to help however and as soon as they can with the easy access to remote education. This helps tend to the short staffing issue which we talked about earlier. With professionals coming into the field to lend a helping hand, the benefit to the health infrastructure was monumental.
Moreover – as it is mentioned earlier – nurses, aged care workers, support workers are rushing through their courses and attaining their diplomas to help however and as soon as they can with the easy access to remote education.
Takeaway
By now, you must have gained a better idea of how these workers helped with the infrastructure. To all the health workers out there who feel that their efforts may have gone unnoticed, we acknowledge you and are forever grateful for your acts of heroism. We hope you continue to show the dedication which you have displayed and set an example for other industries and careers to do the same. We cannot thank the people enough who came out of retirement and entered the field to dedicated their efforts to those in need. Without these great people, the effects of the pandemic might have been much worse than they currently are, and we might not even have come close to any point of stability. Additionally, we must play our own roles of holding up their efforts and practice as much caution as possible.
Tommy Williamson did his degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. He is interested in mental health and well-being.
