The COVID-19 pandemic raised health concerns to an unprecedented new level--not just for patients, but for clinicians themselves.

When New York City became the epicenter of the pandemic in the early spring of 2020, staff at the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai knew they could count on an abundance of support from their department and the Mount Sinai Health System to ensure their personal health and safety.

“We made a diversity of resources available to our team, from shared mental health services through Mount Sinai to group-style meetings over Zoom to a buddy system we created to make sure everyone had at least one person to turn to for support,” says Christie Mulholland, MD, Assistant Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine, who, as Faculty and Graduate Medical Education Well-being Champion, coordinated much of this effort.

Some of the support infrastructure to address the issue of clinician burnout was already in place when the pandemic began. COVID-19, however, brought a different set of concerns for clinicians. Would they be overwhelmed by the escalating numbers of seriously ill elderly patients? Would they have to deal with a scarcity of critical resources, like ventilators and PPE? Would they be redeployed to new acute care roles? And, if they contracted coronavirus and were forced to quarantine, how would they manage basic needs for themselves or their families?

Top Department leadership provided reassurance via daily communications that directly addressed employee questions and concerns. Wellness champions across the Mount Sinai Health System conducted early on a number of surveys, interviews, and needs assessments, and reported their findings to the leadership team during weekly meetings.

“A lot of strong messaging resulted from these sessions through daily emails that responded to concerns we had raised just the day before,” says Dr. Mulholland, an inpatient palliative care specialist. “Everyone knew the lines of communication were open.”

Town hall meetings offered additional opportunities to strengthen that communications channel. Led by R. Sean Morrison, MD, the Ellen and Howard C. Katz Chair of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, these Zoom sessions kept the staff apprised of what to expect and how their own safety and well-being were being prioritized, especially important at a time when in-person gatherings were generally not possible.

For most attendees, the weekly town halls were a much-appreciated way to reinforce morale and promote a sense of community by keeping them well informed. Helping to set the appropriate tone were messages of support from celebrities like Martha Stewart, actors Mandy Patinkin and Stanley Tucci, and author Elizabeth Gilbert.

Dr. Morrison made a point of checking in personally with doctors, nurses, and staff at hospitals where the Brookdale Department had a presence, delivering masks and personal protective equipment, and getting a firsthand sense of how they were faring.

The Brookdale Department also put in place its own “buddy system,” another extension of the employee lifeline. Modeled after the U.S. Army’s “battle buddies” program, the initiative matched up people with a colleague to routinely check on one another, be alert to potential wellness issues, and provide peer support.

“The most successful programs in response to COVID-19 were the ones that brought people together to share their experiences and feel a sense of unity and comfort that was missing when we all had to go virtual,” says Dr. Mulholland. “Thanks to these efforts and the tireless work of leadership, our team proved to be incredibly resilient and held up remarkably well throughout this crisis. This ensured we could continue to serve our patients and communities, and be prepared for any future surges in COVID-19 cases.”