“Especially early on in the disease process, there was very little we could do. So it was very disempowering for a lot of health care workers that typically have some solution or some cure at their fingertips,” he said. “Sometimes it was colleagues they were seeing that were getting sick.”
Ironically, Rachal said getting help for mental health issues often hasn’t been accepted or prioritized in the field.
Many essential service workers have limited resources for help. Sarah Norton heads a Twin Cities nonprofit that offers counseling services to restaurant workers.
“I mean, the industry itself was lacking a safety net prior to this,” she said.
Norton said she’s seen a 75% increase in calls to their crisis hotline since the pandemic began.”
— As mentioned by Meghan McCarty Carino, NPR, Marketplace.org, Aug 14, 2020.
