Frontliners

As time goes on, everybody forgets that you’re still on the front line - Joyce Babineau

Frontliners

image by: GMA News

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The biggest losers from covid-19

During the pandemic one part of the workforce did not get to wear pyjamas during the day or join in marathon sessions of “Tiger King”. The people known as “key”, “frontline” or “essential” workers had to be in public spaces and often in close proximity with their colleagues. Many died.

Describing a worker as “key” is an arbitrary exercise (the label covers most journalists, for example). It usually includes occupations necessary to meet everyone’s basic needs—food, heating and transport, not to mention health care. Most such jobs cannot be done from home. Essential workers are more likely to be ethnic minorities. They are also relatively badly paid. The Institute for Fiscal Studies…

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Resources

Lost on the Frontline

The Guardian has partnered with Kaiser Health News in an effort to document every US healthcare worker who dies from Covid-19

Caring for the Caregivers Post-Pandemic

Since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was first officially declared, doctors, nurses and other clinicians have stepped up and shouldered burdens they never anticipated. They rose to the challenge magnificently, caring for the ill while protecting themselves and their families. But their commitment to helping others has come, in many cases, at no small cost to themselves. Even many of those who didn’t contract the coronavirus have changed forever.

They Died Saving Others From Covid. Will Anyone Count Them?

Medical workers are called heroes. But there hasn’t been a national reckoning over the many thousands lost to Covid. Here are a few of the people who gave their lives while on the front lines of the pandemic.

'Lost On The Front Line': Tracks Health Workers Who Died Of COVID-19

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to investigative reporter Christina Jewett of Kaiser Health News about a yearlong project that revealed more than 3,600 U.S. health care workers died of COVID-19.

At my hospital, over 95% of COVID-19 patients share one thing in common: They’re unvaccinated

As an emergency medicine and critical care doctor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, I’ve lost count of the number of COVID-19 surges since the U.S. pandemic began in Seattle in February 2020. But this one feels different. The patients are younger. They have fewer preexisting medical conditions. And at my hospital, over 95% of these hospitalized patients share one common feature: They’re unvaccinated.

Calling health care workers ‘heroes’ harms all of us

Here’s an unjust fact: Some of the frontline health care workers we’ve been celebrating with social media likes, sidewalk chalk, and asynchronous concerts are getting pay cuts and losing their jobs. And here’s an unwelcome observation: A word that’s increasingly being used during this pandemic is making their lives even harder.

Educators: The Forgotten Heroes Of The Covid-19 Pandemic

In many ways, healthcare educators are the unsung heroes of the Covid-19 pandemic. In incredibly difficult conditions, they've found ways to keep on teaching people the skills they need to go out and save lives.

Frontline Health Care Workers Aren’t Feeling the ‘Summer of Joy’

Doctors and nurses are reeling from new Covid cases, staff burnout and the prolonged stress of dealing with the pandemic.

How Front Line Workers Stayed Resilient During The Pandemic

Healthcare professionals, emergency responders, and other frontline workers faced extraordinary challenges during the pandemic. For our series on resilience, we hear how they persevered.

Large Numbers Of Health Care And Frontline Workers Are Refusing Covid-19 Vaccine

Despite the Covid-19 death count in the United States rapidly accelerating, a startlingly high percentage of health care professionals and frontline workers throughout the country—who have been prioritized as early receipts of the coronavirus vaccine—are reportedly hesitant or outright refusing to take it, despite clear scientific evidence that the vaccines are safe and effective.

Messages of Support

We are collecting messages of support for our providers and staff.

The Covid-19 crisis too few are talking about: health care workers’ mental health

In the midst of this global pandemic, people are talking about the urgent and critical need for personal protective equipment. They are sharing concerns about the impending lack of respirators and the need for testing. And they are encouraging people to #flattenthecurve through social distancing. But no one is talking about a potential mental health crisis facing health care workers on the frontlines of this pandemic.

These Are Your Heartfelt Notes to Healthcare Workers

No other group is more vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic than health workers. They risk their lives daily to treat patients, while managing their own mental health and dealing with rejection from society.

This Pandemic Must Be Seen

If we could watch what’s really going on in hospitals, there would be no more complacency.

To protect frontline workers during and after COVID-19, we must define who they are

Most of us continue to rely on media stories and our experiences in daily life to identify frontline workers: butchers at meatpacking plants, bus drivers, grocery workers, and health care providers. But there are millions of more workers on the frontlines; we need clearer metrics to complement these broader narratives. We cannot afford to overlook workers some of us may not see, both now and after COVID-19. Failing to recognize and protect frontline workers harms our public health and economy.

‘Let’s Save Some Lives’: A Doctor’s Journey Into the Pandemic

Andrew Ibrahim was just finishing his surgical residency in Michigan when the coronavirus surge hit. It took a lifetime’s lessons to face the challenge.

'We Were Naive' – Frontline Workers Remember a Year of COVID-19

A specialist nurse, a GP and a care home worker unpack the last 12 months of working through a global health crisis.

As The Pandemic Continues, Supporting Frontline Workers Becomes A Competitive Advantage

The big message is that the frontline worker is one of the main competitive advantages. We need more focus on how to maximize that potential.”

Automation Won’t Keep Front-Line Workers Safe

It may be tempting to believe that the best way to protect such workers would be to have drone delivery, grocery stores without checkers, and increased automated decision-making across fields as diverse as content moderation and medical diagnosis. But automation will not keep front-line workers safe for the simple reason that automation requires people to fix, repair, and work alongside machines.

Covid Wears On, Essential Workers Carry On: ‘Everybody Forgets That You’re Still on the Front Line’

Grocery workers, delivery drivers and others have continued reporting to work during the year of Covid. Now, months in, many are feeling a mix of frustration, exhaustion and determination. ‘My guys are tapped out.’

COVID-19: 2020 was horrendous for health workers – early 2021 was even worse

During this pandemic, the lack of protection from harm for the world’s healthcare workers has been described as “a mortal betrayal”. There have been reports of restricted access to personal protective equipment. Meanwhile, infection control measures against airborne transmission have been inadequate. These shortcomings have had a real impact on our health. In 2020, sickness absence rates were much higher than previously seen, with doctors particularly affected.

Doctors and nurses are risking their mental health for us

As they treat coronavirus, health care workers report high rates of depression and anxiety, a new study shows.

Essential workers are taking care of America. Are we taking care of them?

Essential workers share their pandemic stories.

Meet the Heroes Fighting on the Front Lines Against Covid-19

Watch the doctors and nurses trying to save us from the coronavirus as they risk their own lives — and those of their families — in a new Times documentary on FX and Hulu.

Nurses are on the coronavirus frontline, so why are they being left out of the response?

More than 600 nurses worldwide have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic. This should not be a surprise: we are the largest group of healthcare workers in the world, dedicated to preventing the spread of coronavirus, and we are also engaged in caring for those who are suffering. But although we are on the frontline of this crisis, nurses are too often being left out of responses to the pandemic.

One Doctor’s Life on the Coronavirus Front Lines. ‘If We Fail, What Happens to You All?’

Short on supplies and sleep, medical staff are being stretched to the limit to stop a pandemic no one fully understands

Personal support workers are the backbone of health care but the bottom of the power structure

There is an urgency for policy-makers to prioritize PSWs’ working conditions and wages if they hope to sustain a robust health-care system. Sadly, it has taken COVID-19 to highlight the significant contribution to our collective well-being made by PSWs and other health-care workers. However, the voices of racialized PSWs remain at the margins of care discourse. They are indeed the unsung heroes.