Doctors on the verge

[Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, March 11, 2021] It was roughly around this time last year when we were living under a constant barrage of heavy news, apocalyptic headline after apocalyptic headline. Pandemic preparedness wasn’t exactly a part of our vernacular, deluding ourselves into thinking a two-week isolation would be enough to stave off the rising tide of cases. And as a respite from our growing anxieties, we turned to video clips of neighborhoods resoundingly clapping and cheering outside their windows and balconies for frontline workers. Acknowledging the bona fides of our brave and tireless health care communities—the real heroes of the Covid battle.

These days, the streets have quieted down, the lights are off, windows closed. Somewhere in there lies a metaphor for the mental state of our medical workers: reserved, shut down, dark. It’s 2021 and while hope is on the horizon in the form of vaccines and improved therapies, there is no clear-cut end in sight for this particular brand of epidemic.

“The health system was broken prior to Covid—Covid just laid bare the major gaps and pressure points that we’ve been reckoning with,” says Dr. Elizabeth LaRusso, medical director of psychiatry at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. “People are feeling very tired.”

Read the full story online here.