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Stop. Ask. Listen. Learn - October Observations

Oct 5, 2020 | Leadership

It’s October and as I have mentioned to many of you, it is hard to not feel a wee bit (or maybe a lot) discouraged that the primary topic of conversation remains COVID-19. As Ontario has officially entered the second wave of this pandemic, I would like to take October’s blog as an opportunity to write about some of my observations – observations from the perspective of a Hospital CEO, a parent, grandmother, Windsor-Essex community member, and leader.

Each week I visit various units and departments of our hospital. This is not only a check-in and to say hello, but to also talk about our ongoing responses, worries, and learnings about COVID-19. At first, these walkabouts were about sharing the ever-changing information. More recently they have been about validating concerns, sharing projections, and providing assurance that although things are quiet in Windsor-Essex at present, we at HDGH remain vigilant and prepared. These conversations with our more than 1,100 staff, have, from what I’ve heard, been of tremendous value not only for them for also for me. Through these COVID-19 information walkabouts, I am reminded of the value of face-to-face (now mask-to-mask) conversations, and that communication to our staff without the opportunity for back and forth conversation is not ideal in times of difficulty or anxiety. While our digital world has provided the opportunity for timely, mass communication, the information I get from seeing, sensing, responding, and hearing from our team cannot be undervalued.

Here are a few things I learned from one of our teams during my last walkabout:

People are tired. I don’t mean tired necessarily of coming to work or the work being done which I’m sure is a part of it, and is part of our old “normal”. But instead tired of the information shifting, sorting, determining what to do next, what is “fake news” and who is the expert that I should take my cues from, etc. My advice was to sit with and accept this feeling of being tired, know others feel that way too (me included), but also know that we are not nearly close to the end of this COVID journey (sorry, all). We are in this for the long term and being kind to ourselves is important now. Things we could do in the “before” times like multitasking work, home, church, community, etc. may feel overwhelming and that’s ok. What will be important now is to recognize this feeling, name it and know what is needed for you to replenish, recharge and reset (for more on this, see #3)
Judging the decisions of others and taking a position that shames some folks is becoming more of an issue according to some of you. This was shared by some of the parents out there. Some expressed that they are worried about whether they are “bad parents” because their kids’ electronic use, their teens or young adults “going-out” and not maintaining the “bubbles.” Further I’ve heard that some are being shamed by others for their decisions on whether to send their child/children to school with a runny-allergy nose or even whether to send their child to school at all. My advice is to listen to your strong and focused inside voice and know that you’re doing the best you can. When I was a young mom I often looked at other moms who appeared to have it all together and I remember thinking I wish I was able to be like them. It was only a few years ago when my daughter told me she thought I was an awesome mom back then that I realized I lost time worrying about others when the only ones who mattered were my kids. Were they happy? Yes, they were. Were they safe? Yes, they were. Were they cared for? Yes, they were. I think the same applies today. Do what’s right for you and your family and let others do the same. Judgement-free decision making is what we all need right now.
Again on the point of resilience and being able to do this hard stuff in the longer term we need to be willing to talk about self-care. Self-Care, or taking care of our mental health and wellness is an important topic for us all. The pressure is enormous on us all in healthcare and it’s hard to take at times. What does this even look like in wave two, not to mention a wave two during potential dark dismal winter months? Let’s talk about self-care. And let’s be clear, I’m not talking about the self-care we have been sold to think about by the beauty industry. It’s not the bath salts, pedicures, hair, face masks, etc. I’m not talking about the self-care that only addresses the outer self (although I do appreciate a good haircut), but instead of how to take care of our deeper self; rediscovering, hearing, knowing, trusting, and loving this inner self. We all have an easy button; things we use to transport ourselves out of feeling things that are hard, things that are painful, things that cause us stress. Let’s not transport and instead, start to feel and trust ourselves to stay in those hard moments, deal with them, and put them to bed. So, to those reading this today, trust yourselves and keep working hard to find healthy and sustainable ways to reset.
The last point isn’t something I necessarily heard from our staff but reminded our team instead. I read the following quote and have shared it in an email to all staff but it’s worth repeating:

“There’s a fine line between fear and panic. Fear can drive preparedness, planning, and a thoughtful response to a crisis. Panic impairs our ability to assess the true impact of our experience and in turn, respond in a measured fashion.”

While we enter this next phase of responding to COVID-19. Our hospital, YOUR hospital, our Windsor-Essex post-acute community hospital, continues to keep a very steady pulse on this virus. We continue to do our work to keep each and every one of our staff members, patients and community safe. It was a promise of mine in March and remains a promise of mine today.

We’ve been on a road together now for months and we’ll continue for the foreseeable future. Let me know please if there are things you want to hear about, know about or have more information about that would help you. I regularly take ideas for blogs from me and from guest bloggers from my talks with you all so keep the ideas coming.

Stay well. Stay safe. Stay HDGH strong.

Jan

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Stop. Ask. Listen. Learn - October Observations

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