We begin today with an update on the situation in New York City. The metropolis leads the nation in the number of COVID-19 cases and daily fatalities, even as the United States leads the world, by far, in COVID-19 cases, according to the World Health Organization.
Hospitals in New York City have had a bit of good news this week. There is, as of today, no shortage of ventilators, for example, and there are signs that the number of deaths in the Big Apple is finally leveling off.
Each day, legions of health workers have been providing COVID patients with life-saving care — under conditions more difficult than most of them could have imagined. And there is a growing awareness that these critically important workers -- from physicians and nurses to technicians and operational staff – all face unique mental health stresses.
At NYU/Langone Health, one of New York’s premier university hospital systems, psychiatrist Marra Ackerman directs the House Staff Mental Health Program, which is now providing an expanded array of psychiatric services to Langone’s beleaguered front-line health workers.
Dr. Ackerman, who is normally based in Manhattan, joins Tom on the line from her remote home office in Norwalk, Connecticut.
