We have all been through something that years ago most of us probably never thought we would endure — a society-shuttering global pandemic — that mercifully has subsided to a manageable but still potentially dangerous communicable disease.
The national COVID-19 public health emergency ended earlier this month, rather unceremoniously bringing to a close many of the sweeping responses to the pandemic.
The Republic’s Andy East has covered COVID and its impact on our community thoroughly from the start, keeping readers apprised of the latest news and our local situation. Beyond keeping us updated on day to day details, East found stories that were memorable and compelling.
Few were as gripping as those from the darkest days of the pandemic, when Columbus Regional Hospital’s nurses and healthcare providers were stretched beyond the breaking point, yet somehow, to their credit, never broke.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the doctors and healthcare professionals who were on the front line of the pandemic, but especially the nurses. They put themselves in harm’s way to care for patients, even in unrelenting waves at the peak of the pandemic.
And now that the public emergency is history, the medical community has an opportunity to reflect.
“As the pandemic has receded, the health care system knows that we have the resources and knowledge to effectively address a potential future resurgence,” said Bartholomew County Health Officer Dr. Brian Niedbalski, who also is a Columbus Regional Health physician.
COVID continues to be a challenge as different variants emerge. Still, cases are low and those the local hospital is seeing are less severe. The last COVID death in Bartholomew County was in April, according to CRH. A total of 265 Bartholomew County residents and 25,219 Hoosiers died from COVID, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
Now, however, the fixtures of the public health emergency are bowing out. Food assistance enhancements, automatic re-enrollment in Medicaid and free testing, programs have either ended or are being phased out. East reported, though, that COVID-19 vaccines “will continue to be available for free, at least for now. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it ‘remains committed to maximizing continued access to COVID-19 vaccines.’”
But even if we never had a personal health battle, we were all changed by COVID, but few more than nurses. It’s well to recognize this, because throughout the pandemic, they were on the front line day in, day out, for years. And this has taken a toll across the country.
The National Council on State Boards of Nursing reported that about 100,000 nurses have left the profession since COVID. Another 800,000 are expected to leave the profession in coming years, worsening an already profound nursing shortage.
The fact is, we must have caring people entering the caring professions, and since COVID, that has been a hard sell. Yet there is no way around it: Nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system. Post-COVID, we must find ways to improve the pay, workload and working conditions for nurses.
May is National Nurses Month. Though we can never thank nurses enough, it’s an especially appropriate time to say thank you for everything you do.
