Over my nearly 30-year career in health care, I’ve spent countless hours working with hospitals and their clinical and administrative leaders. I have always been impressed by their commitment to the patients and communities they serve. When they speak of their work, they talk about it as a calling, as an opportunity, to help others.
Working with the health care leaders of New Hampshire’s hospitals throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear that their commitment and passion have been on full display over the past two years. During the most significant surges of the pandemic, the clinical leadership of New Hampshire’s hospitals has met on a daily basis through the New Hampshire Hospital Association to work together to manage the challenge of caring for patients who need their care, and they’re doing so again.
It’s truly inspiring to see hospital leaders working together to ensure that every patient is able to get the care they need, but there is no question that it is becoming ever more challenging to do so. When one hospital recently reported a patient who was in need of a higher level of care, the chief medical officer at a larger hospital accepted that transfer even though they were over capacity because it was the right thing to do for that patient.
This is happening every day, all across the state. But the devastation of COVID-19 is visibly impacting our caregivers as they struggle to provide the best possible care for their patients. I recently had the opportunity to hear several frontline caregivers at one of our hospitals talk of the COVID-19 patients that they are caring for, of having to call their spouses or children for one final conversation before having to be intubated, and of watching young fathers or mothers succumb to the disease. I could hear the exhaustion in their voices and see the anguish in their eyes, and it was profound.
After nearly two years of combating the pandemic, there is no doubt that they are tired. But yet they continue to come to work every day to care for the patients and communities who need them now more than ever before. The resilience and determination that these caregivers exhibit is nothing short of amazing. They are the strongest people I have ever met. They are granite strong, and we are forever grateful for their service.
If you see one of those health care heroes, please give them a smile and thank them for their enduring courage and commitment. They are here for you and all in our community, and they need our help now more than ever. Please, if you haven’t yet done so, get vaccinated and boosted, wear a mask when indoors, wash your hands, stay home if you’re not feeling well, and get a test if you’re experiencing symptoms of COVID-19.
(Steve Ahnen is president of New Hampshire Hospital Association.)