With health care workers under stress from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, several Omaha-area organizations are reaching out to support their mental health.
A group that usually helps members of the military, veterans and their families deal with post-traumatic stress disorder is extending its services to health care workers. A first responders support group wants to make health care workers aware that its services are also available to them. And a local medical society plans to open a pop-up wellness center for physicians later this month.
Carol Wang, executive director of the Metro Omaha Medical Society, said health care workers were stressed out before the pandemic. And now the pandemic has stretched on longer than most anticipated, with the delta variant surge sending more patients to hospitals already busy with non-coronavirus patients.
“They are so at the breaking point,” she said.
The medical society plans to open a physician wellness center near 114th Street and West Dodge Road by the end of the month. Serving members and nonmembers, it will offer a place where doctors can go for rest and relaxation and to connect with other professionals and share their experiences.
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The center will also offer appointments with a mental health professional and provide yoga and meditation sessions. It will host coffee events and happy hours.
“No one knows how we’re supposed to do this,” Wang said. “... It felt like doing something was better than doing nothing.”
The medical society already offers an anonymous online assessment for health care workers, physicians, medical students and residents. Those showing signs of distress are referred to telehealth experts or local professionals for mental health care and, sometimes, life coaching.
Local health systems, too, have developed initiatives to battle on-the-job stress and burnout.
At Ease USA, which usually serves military personnel and families affected by PTSD, has already begun receiving inquiries after recently extending its offerings to health care workers.
Beth Kramer, the Omaha organization’s executive director, said the group’s clinical manager can help health care workers determine whether what they’re experiencing is PTSD.
The group’s statewide network of mental health professionals uses a number of approaches to address PTSD, including Attention Training. Developed in partnership with Creighton University and Tel Aviv University, the training involves a noninvasive, web-based software that changes the disrupted threat processing associated with PTSD without the need to discuss or relive traumatic events.
“That’s one of the tools we might use with health care workers,” Kramer said. “There is no silver bullet with PTSD.”
If it’s not PTSD, Kramer said, the organization can find other ways to help. The group’s clinical manager sees clients, including via telehealth, and also has vetted providers in such cities as Grand Island and Kearney. At Ease is currently working to add a therapist in Scottsbluff.
Either way, she said, the important thing is for stressed health care workers to take the first step toward getting help. Like active military members and veterans, health care workers often feel that they’re supposed to be invincible. Many also fear the stigma that might come with seeking help.
“Our biggest thing is making sure people know that we’re a resource for them,” Kramer said. “And we’re 100% confidential. We want to remove any and all barriers to treatment.”
The First Responders Foundation initially served firefighters and police. But for the last three years, the group has extended its services to all medical personnel, said Jodi Teal, vice president of operations.
The group provides training on mitigating the effects of stress and trauma as well as peer support groups, spouse groups and an on-staff licensed mental health professional who provides one-on-one sessions. New since January 2020 is the organization’s 8,000-square-foot facility in the Old Mill area of Omaha. It’s geared toward both mental and physical health, offering a lounge and fitness area with CrossFit and yoga classes as well as behavioral health services.
“To those who normally deal with cancer and trauma calls ... this has put a whole other layer on it,” Jason Workman, the foundation’s director of behavioral health, said of the pandemic.
The pandemic, he said, has strained rural emergency medical response systems. Most responders are volunteers, so they don’t have workers’ compensation if they get sick. They also worry about bringing the virus home.
And health care workers also face stressors in their personal lives on top of those they encounter at work.
“That’s where I’m seeing an uptick in needing services,” Workman said.
Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of September 2021

Creighton's Alejandro Maillet (17) swings a leg back to kick the ball with Omaha's Neville Morgan (17) looking on in the Omaha vs. Creighton men's soccer game at Creighton University in Omaha on Wednesday. Creighton won the match 1-0.

The downtown skyline is seen as sun rises over the trees of Adams Park in Omaha on Thursday.

Matthew Strunc, 10, of Omaha, balances double corn heads during a Nebraska Alumni Association party ahead of the Huskers vs. Sooners football game at Fassler Hall in Oklahoma City on Friday.

Bennington's Cayden Bluhm has the ball punched out by Omaha Skutt's Nolan Schwartz at Bennington High School on Friday.

Bellevue West senior Jayna Hope holds a balloon before a game against Millard South at Bellevue West High School on Thursday.

Millard South's Jake Gassaway tackles Bellevue West's Dae'Vonn Hall at Bellevue West High School on Thursday.

The Marine honor guard stands during the public visitation for Cpl. Daegan Page at St. Paul Lutheran Church on Thursday.

David Gibbs Sr. salutes during the public visitation for Cpl. Daegan Page at St. Paul Lutheran Church on Thursday. Gibbs, a Navy veteran, served 26 years.

Nebraska's Luke Reimer intercepts a pass against Buffalo during their game on Saturday in Lincoln.

Buffalo's Daishon Folsom gets a hand on Nebraska Adrian Martinez's face mask in the third quarter on Saturday.

Nebraska's Gabe Ervin Jr. (22) celebrates a touchdown in the Buffalo vs. Nebraska football game in Lincoln on Saturday.

Nebraska's Pheldarius Payne (0) is a moment too late in trying to sack Buffalo's Kyle Vantrease (7) in the Buffalo vs. Nebraska football game in Lincoln on Saturday.

Nebraska's Gabe Ervin Jr. celebrates scoring a touchdown in the second quarter against Buffalo on Saturday.

Nebraska Head Coach Scott Frost talks to an official after a touchdown against Buffalo was called back on pass interference in the second quarter on Saturday.

Nebraska's Adrian Martinez runs for a first down past Buffalo's James Patterson during their game on Saturday in Lincoln.

Jeff and Lori Wheeler rest in the shade outside Memorial Stadium before the start of the Nebraska and Buffalo game on Saturday.

People pay their respects during the procession for Marine Cpl. Daegan Page outside Braman Mortuary in southwest Omaha on Friday. Cpl. Page, along with 12 other American service men and women, was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan on Aug. 26.

Matthew Brodersen, accompanied by wife Erin and 11 month old Maverick, holds up an American flag before Cpl. Daegan Page's procession passes by on the 96th Street bridge over Interstate 80 on Friday.

People line Abbott Drive to pay their respects to Cpl. Daegan Page as the procession carrying his body drove through Omaha on Friday. Page was killed in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal.

Darlene Weil waits for Cpl. Daegan Page's procession. Weil's grandson, Dylan Weil, is a loadmaster on a C-17 and was helping evacuate people out of Afghanistan.

Nebraska's Lexi Sun (11) stretches before the start of the Nebraska vs. Creighton volleyball match at the CHI Health Center in Omaha on Wednesday. The Huskers won in three sets.

Nebraska's Ethan Bradford throws in the bullpen during a fall practice on Tuesday.

Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez runs in a touchdown in the second quarter against Fordham.

Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez celebrates Nebraska’s first touchdown in the first quarter in front of Fordham’s Mike Courtney.

Nebraska’s Oliver Martin can’t catch up to this first-quarter pass in the end zone as Fordham’s Anthony Tony-Itoyah pursues.

Nebraska's Wyatt Liewer jumps over Adrian Martinez as he falls over Fordham's Jackson Barletta at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Catherine Burke, 2, plays in a John Deere tractor at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Nebraska's Callie Schwarzenbach hits the ball over UNO's Lakyn Graves, left, and Sadie Limback during the Ameritas Players Challenge tournament.

From left: Nebraska's Kenzie Knuckles, Lexi Rodriguez, Lexi Sun, Keonilei Akana, No. 6, and Callie Schwarzenbach celebrate a point in the fourth set against UNO during the Ameritas Players Challenge tournament.

Nebraska's Kenzie Knuckles waits near the Nebraska locker room entrance before the Huskers play UNO during the Ameritas Players Challenge tournament.

Georgia's Kacie Evans celebrates a point against Arizona during the Ameritas Players Challenge tournament.

Millard South's Antrell Taylor tackles Elkhorn South's Josh McWilliams on Thursday.

Elkhorn South's Katie Gallagan bumps the ball against Millard South at Elkhorn South High School on Thursday.

Millard South's Jake Gassaway, left, and Josh Wilson, right, tackle Elkhorn South's Cole Ballard on Thursday.

Millard South's Jake Gassaway makes a juggling touchdown catch in front of Elkhorn South's Blake Daly in the second quarter on Thursday.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Bob Hinson walks in the former command center in what used to be StratCom's underground bunker. The door is one of the few things that remains after StratCom moved into a new building and the 55th Wing took over. President Bush was in this room during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

Omaha Northwest players went 22 months without playing a game. The long layoff created extra uncertainty for OPS teams as they returned to the field this week.
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