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Help for Hospital Workers Who Are Coping With Stress

Help for Hospital Workers Who Are Coping With Stress

 Bryn, who lives in North Carolina, U.S.A., is a member of a local Hospital Liaison Committee, which works closely with hospitals in caring for the needs of patients who are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

 Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals did not allow visitors to enter. Bryn phoned the director of pastoral care at a local hospital to find out how he might provide support to Witness patients.

 Bryn’s call was put through to the director’s assistant. Considering the restrictions on visitation, Bryn asked if his phone number could be given to Witness patients so that he could speak to them. The answer was yes.

 Bryn then thought about the hospital staff. He told the assistant that he appreciated the work the hospital was doing and that he hoped they were in good health. He added that he had read how people everywhere, especially hospital workers, were experiencing great stress because of the pandemic.

 The assistant confirmed that COVID-19 had made life extremely stressful at the hospital.

 Bryn then said: “Our website has information that can help people deal with stress. If you go to jw.org and type ‘stress’ in the Search field, you will find some encouraging articles for your staff.”

 While they were talking, the assistant went to the website, typed the word “stress” in the Search field, and saw the articles featured. “Wow!” he said. “I’ll show this to the director. This will be beneficial for our staff and others. I’m going to print copies and distribute them.”

 A few weeks later, Bryn spoke to the director, who confirmed that they had accessed the website and had printed copies of articles on stress and related subjects. They had shared them with nurses and other staff members at the hospital.

 Bryn said: “The director thanked me for our work and for the well-written articles. They were most helpful.”