MADISON, Wis. — Dane County leaders are taking steps to address the challenges faced by health care workers through a new subcommittee dedicated to finding a solution to the struggles that have plagued the industry due to the pandemic.
On Thursday representatives from the county’s Health and Human Needs Committee shared plans to focus on recruitment, retention, and even mental health through the subcommittee.
“We really have to go beyond the hashtags and beyond the simple thanks, that our health care and public health workers certainly deserve and have been getting, and really dive into what we can do,” said 32nd District Supervisor and new subcommittee member Mike Bare.
The county’s involvement began in January when area nurses spoke about their experience with burnout, anxiety and depression hoping the county would help fun a $30 million dollar trauma recovery and training program.
In their meeting with county leaders, health care providers also shared data from a survey conducted on behalf of SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin, the state’s largest health care union, which found that 85 percent of Dane County health care staff feel like they’re working in a war zone.
That same survey found that 45 percent of respondents say they’ve faced threats and intimidation from patients and their families; 19 percent said they know a health care worker who has considered suicide.
For Bare, the scale and scope of these numbers were a wake-up call.
“Seems to me that the folks who have been doing the work, holding people’s hands at their bedside as they struggle through the pandemic, whether that be with COVID or something else, that that’s an investment worthy of those dollars,” he said.
Bare said the Committee hasn’t ruled out helping fund a trauma and recovery program but will explore other options as well.
The subcommittee is made up of both policymakers and medical professionals, and Bare is relying on the expertise of those in the field to brainstorm solutions.
He said the county is open to using money from the American Rescue Plan to fund the development of those programs, as they did addressing hunger, housing insecurity, and supporting struggling local businesses – all challenges brought on by the pandemic.
However, he also said that those funds alone would not be enough and that they would be looking to partner with all levels of government and private groups to fill the need.
The subcommittee’s first meeting is on June 20; that group is slated to present its recommendations to the Health and Human Needs Committee on August 11.
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