Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 22, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 25 Taking back control V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L BY MATT SALMON Special to WBJ I t's important we recognize the impact COVID has had on our staff and the damage it has done. Our staff is experiencing levels of dissatisfaction and discon- nection at levels we have never seen. Our pre-COVID lives as long-term care professionals were hard enough. In the Northeast, we suffered with chronic staff shortages for licensed nurses and nursing assistants. e margin for error on regulatory side was getting progressively smaller while the oversight was becoming more punitive. Staff were working more hours than they wanted and when they weren't working, they were always connected. e COVID-19 pandemic pushed us all to limits we never thought existed. e stress of managing an infection the world had never seen was complicated by the ever-changing regulations. Every decision was a first-in- a-lifetime career decision, and each of those decisions required a new policy and subsequent all-staff training. In spring 2021, I began the process of reflection on my own experience and realized how much damage the pan- demic inflicted on our staff. When I started opening up about my own feelings, I heard perspectives from others. Some seemed to be handling it well; others were not. As a company, we made it a priority to give people time off when they needed it, no questions asked. I am proud of the way staff support one another so their friends and co-workers could actually take a break. Yet, the underlying issue is our staff can never truly take a break when they are always connected. I was part of the problem. I don't get to my e-mail during the day and as a result, I spend a few hours most nights on my computer responding. Staff feel obligated to answer my e-mails, no matter how routine. To break down this idea we're "on" all the time, I put parameters in place on communication and connec- tivity. If people could routinely disconnect, stress levels and burnout would drop, while improving the energy and creativity we lost. I established our normal business hours as 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., where all routine com- munications should take place, unless it is urgent. I started using delayed delivery on all off-hours e-mails. at simple change reduced my own inbound off-hours e-mail by about 30%. When I rolled this pro- gram out to our management staff, my off-hours e-mail plummeted to almost none. I now have more time to concentrate on the important issues, knowing the routine will be there tomorrow. Management staff have reported similar reductions and less stress when away from work. e little things we do to support staff go a long way to create an environment where people excel. Establishing boundaries so your staff can rest is the least we can do. Matt Salmon is CEO of SALMON Health and Retirement in Westborough. The above Editorial is the opinion of the WBJ Editorial Board. The Viewpoint column, the A Thousand Words cartoon, and the Word from the Web commentary represent the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of WBJ or its staff. WBJ welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Send them to bkane@wbjournal.com. Get our healthcare system more funding Matt Salmon T he COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a multitude of problems long lingering in the healthcare system: staffing shortages, racial inequities, increasing mental health needs, lack of access, lack of funding, rising costs, mistrust in the medical establishment. And there are concerns the system is increasingly being structured to limit exposure for insurers, rather than primarily serving the patients or providers. e sheer number of issues is daunting, yet areas can be addressed without breaking the bank. ere are solutions, but they need to be given enough time, innovation, willpower, and funding. In her story "Addressing the behavioral health crisis" on page 14, Senior Staff Writer Monica Benevides explores the many efforts being made to reduce the number of patients waiting for behavioral health care. In addition to innovations like a mobile respite clinic from Worcester nonprofit Open Sky Community Services and the UMass Memorial Health - Harrington expanding its psychiatric unit, the Massachusetts legislature is considering a bill to provide $400 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to bolster the behavioral health sector. Included in that nine-figure sum would be the recruitment of 2,000 people into the profession, the creation of an online portal to help with bed searches, and a mandate for insurance companies to provide coverage of certain acute services. Even these local efforts, plus the significant state funding will not eliminate the mental and behavioral health needs that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, but it will go a long way to getting thousands of people the help they need. Sometimes additional funding is the answer, while in other areas innovation can help address areas of care, such as new technological breakthroughs in vascular surgery at UMass Memorial Health, which reduces the need for lengthy procedures, as Staff Writer Sloane M. Perron details in her "Staying upbeat" story on page 10. is new technology could improve outcomes and make care more effective and efficient in the coming decades where changing demographics will produce more patients who need vascular surgery. e pandemic has brought on a detailed scan of our healthcare system, exposing its weaknesses and inequities for all to see – but also showing some of its greatest strengths. By approving the massive $400-million allocation towards mental health care, Massachusetts can make a big dent in one of our most acute needs. We can't spend our way out of trouble, but we can spend wisely in addressing some of the biggest challenges and get a really strong return on our investment. "I noticed it Monday while getting in/out of my car at Panera Bread, next door. e smell was pretty bad TBH." Brandon O'Neal, Nov. 11, about odor complaints related to a Curaleaf cannabis facility in Webster "I've been staring at this out of my office window for 2 years!" Craig A. omas, Nov. 11, about the impending opening of Pepe's Italian Restaurant on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester "Chamber member @ WeKnowTrucks recently opened its 8th location in New England – and its third in Massachusetts – in Raynham! Congrats to ATG on their expansion and continued success." Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce (@ chamberworc), Nov. 6, about Advantage Truck Group of Shrewsbury expanding to Raynham "Good idea. Wouldn't want to hurt the increased sales tax revenue in Rhode Island and Connecticut." Prodigal Sun (@EugeneRossi87), Nov. 5, responding to a reignited debate about a state ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored tobacco WO R D F R O M T H E W E B Facebook feedback Tweets of the Week W W

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