10/17/2021

The following Op-Ed was printed in the News Journal and can be found here: https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/2021/10/16/join-us-thanking-our-delaware-nurses/8470400002/

Join us in thanking our Delaware nurses 

Opinion

Terry M. Murphy, David A. Tam, Janice E. Nevin, Mark Mumford, Penny Short, James L. Woodward and Vince Kane
Special to the USA TODAY Network
Published 4:17 p.m. ET Oct. 16, 2021

As the leaders of Delaware’s hospitals, we are concerned that Delaware is once again in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Our nurses and doctors have gone above and beyond to care for their patients in this uncharted territory. We are so proud of their compassion and their dedication to providing safe, high-quality care, even in these unprecedented times. We are thankful for their commitment and ask all Delawareans to join in showing your support.

We hope that you will join us this October in our “Thank a Nurse” campaign. The message is simple: We want to show Delaware nurses how much we appreciate them. Please take some time this month to thank a nurse in your life. Tag them on social media, write them a letter, or simply tell them the next time you see them.

Joining together to recognize our nurses this month, we also want to call attention to the hardship they have endured over these last nineteen months. They are not immune to the anxiety, frustration and strain that we have all felt during the pandemic. Additionally, a national and local nursing shortage coupled with more COVID-19 patients in the hospital is stretching our current nursing workforce thin. Burnout is real, and it is important for our caregivers to know that it is OK to ask for help.

Each of our hospitals has implemented strategies to support nurses and caregivers. These strategies range from the implementation of caring carts stocked with comforting elements intended for mental health breaks during shifts to providing peer support and counseling.

We will continue to work with the Delaware Nurses Association and other partners in the state on short- and long-term solutions that ensure our nurses and caregivers have access to the resources they need to keep them well as they strive to keep the rest of us healthy. We will also continue to 

collaborate with our State colleagues on efforts to expand and grow the nursing workforce in order to ease the current crisis-level demand.

We can also show our nurses and caregivers support by getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The overwhelming majority — 82%, as reported by the Division of Public Health during Gov. John Carney’s most recent COVID-19 briefing — of COVID-19 patients coming to the hospital are those that have not been vaccinated, or that have only been partially vaccinated. If more Delawareans get the COVID-19 vaccine, there will be fewer patients coming to our emergency rooms and less strain on our hospital staff.

When faced with an especially difficult challenge, as we are now with a surge of COVID-19 cases, it’s helpful to know there’s an end in sight. Sadly, without more people getting the COVID-19 vaccine, and with the impending flu season, we don’t see that light at the end of the tunnel quite yet.

You can change that.

By getting your COVID-19 vaccine and encouraging others around you to get vaccinated, you can make a difference.

Please join us this month by thanking those nurses in your life, and remember that the best way to say thank you is to get your COVID-19 AND flu vaccines.

— Terry M. Murphy, FACHE, president and CEO, Bayhealth

— David A. Tam, M.D., M.B.A., CPHE, FACHE, president and CEO, Beebe Healthcare

— Janice E. Nevin, M.D., M.P.H., president and CEO, ChristianaCare

— Mark Mumford, executive vice president and chief executive, Delaware Valley Nemours Children’s Health

— Penny Short, MSM, B.SN, R.N., president, TidalHealth Nanticoke

— James L. Woodward, CEO, Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic and acting president of Saint Francis Hospital

— Vince Kane, director, Wilmington VA Medical Center