Caring for those who care for us

Her name was Lorna Breen.

She was an avid skier. She volunteered at a nursing home once a week. She loved to salsa dance. She was a talented doctor in New York….a doctor who died by suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Breen’s death was a tragic wakeup call that prompted much-needed action to focus on the mental health of our nation’s unsung heroes.

It is painfully clear that no group of people or profession is immune to mental health challenges — the overall suicide rate in the United States has increased by 35 percent since 1999 and is now at its highest rate since World War II. Health care workers in particular have become increasingly distressed, dissatisfied and burned out over the past few decades, leading to disproportionate suicide rates.

Even before the pandemic, studies showed that female health care workers, especially nurses, were roughly two to three times more likely to die by suicide than the general population.

As a primary care provider, I can personally attest to the incredible amount of dedication nurses and doctors put into caring for their patients each and every day. These unsung heroes are the lifeline of our nation’s health care system…and any challenge they face hurts the health and wellbeing of the American people.

Unfortunately, they face quite a few, including heavy workloads, work-family conflicts, and frequent exposure to illness and suffering. These stressors were severely amplified during the pandemic, when health care workers not only put themselves and their loved ones at risk to care for their patients, but also spent months fighting for more N95 masks and protective equipment, fighting for families to see their dying loved ones in the hospital (and often acting as surrogate family members when relatives were not permitted to visit), fighting for their children to get the schooling they needed amidst shutdowns…the list goes on.

The pandemic may be in our rearview mirror now but the scars it left on our nation’s health care workforce remain, compounded by the ongoing health care worker shortage which has left far too many health systems understaffed and forced remaining workers to manage high patient volumes without adequate support. 

We might not be able to solve all of the difficult work conditions that health care workers face, but we can take action to prevent them from suffering poor mental health outcomes as a result. One such action was the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act: our nation’s first-ever mental health legislation that supports the health care community.

Introduced by Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) and signed into law on March 18, 2022, this comprehensive legislation was the first of its kind to allocate specific funds towards grants for training health care students, residents, and professionals in evidence-informed strategies to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, mental health conditions and substance use disorders. However, this historical legislation is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2024.

As the vice chair of the Congressional Nursing Caucus, I am committed to equipping the workers who make up our nation’s health care system with the support and resources they need to protect their mental health.

That’s why I am introducing a bill to reauthorize the critical resources originally provided in the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act.

With shortages throughout the system, from doctors and nurses in emergency rooms to aides who work in the homes of seniors and those with disabilities, it is more important than ever to provide our health care professionals with the support and training needed to properly care for themselves and their patients.

I’m proud to be leading the bipartisan effort to fight the detrimental mental health challenges those in our nation’s health care industry face. I will never stop working to eliminate the stigmas surrounding mental health and remain committed to providing the support that our incredible nurses, physicians and other health care professionals in our communities deserve.

Jen Kiggans represents Virginia’s 2nd District.