October 2022
Moral Injury on the Front Lines of the Pandemic: Acknowledging the Past and Looking Forward
Sponsors: The Moral Injury Project of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University and Le Moyne College; The Le Moyne College Physician Assistant Studies Program; SUNY-Upstate Medical Center; The Onondaga Community Trauma Task Force
During the pandemic, many healthcare workers have faced, and continue to face, extraordinarily difficult situations that have caused them to experience a sense of moral injury, the damage done to the conscience or identity of people who witness, cause, and/or fail to prevent acts that go against their own moral standards.
A recent study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that COVID-19 health care workers have “experienced high rates of potential moral injury that are comparable to rates among military veterans, according to a collaborative study between Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).”
Given these profound challenges, what are the material and emotional structures needed to support these healthcare workers and address the long-term effects of moral injury in health care? What is the way forward?
Our panelists will discuss their experiences from the front lines of the pandemic. They will also approach the topic of moral injury from the perspective of the toll of the pandemic on health care workers and touch on strategies to engender support, resilience, and renewal among these workers.
Dr. Elizabeth Asiago-Reddy is a Syracuse native. She completed her medical training at the University of Rochester, residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Mount Sinai, and her fellowship in Infectious Disease at Duke University. She then worked on HIV care and clinical trials research in East Africa before relocating back to Syracuse to join the Infectious Disease faculty at Upstate. Currently, Dr. Asiago-Reddy is the chief of infectious disease at Upstate. She is also the medical director of Upstate Inclusive Health Services, a primary care practice which serves people with HIV, among others. Dr. Asiago-Reddy has been instrumental in the response to COVID at Upstate. She enjoys engaging in research with an aim to optimize HIV, COVID-19, and infectious disease care and prevention in our local community and abroad.
Hannah Schwartz, joining via Zoom, is a member of the National Guard who was deployed to support various operations during the pandemic, including mortuary affairs duty at Veterans Homes. In addition to serving in the National Guard, she is a student at Stockton University studying psychology. In her free time, she writes about her military experiences.
Dr. Lenny Grant is Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University. He is a member of the Onondaga Community Trauma Task Force, a group of mental health professionals working to provide trauma-informed resources and emergency trauma counseling to all in Onondaga County, NY . He is also the founder of the Resilience Writing Project and the Virtual Resilience Writing Project, which focuses on medical professionals and health workers using expressive writing to process trauma and grief.
Sarah Bowers, LCSW-R (she/her/hers) has worked as a Mental Health Therapist within various settings in the Syracuse, NY area since graduating from Syracuse University with her Masters in Social Work. She is presently the Behavioral Health Team Lead at Inclusive Health Services where she proudly supports their mission to integrate behavioral healthcare into their dual foci of providing both primary care and specialty medical practice. Throughout her career, she has been privileged to have witnessed the work of hundreds of people as they move from traumatization into resiliency and recovery.
Carol Yaeger-Rosario, LCSW-R is a licensed Clinical Social Worker who has worked in the community for 35 years with children, adults and families in mental health agencies. Her work has often focused on the impact of trauma and providing trauma-responsive support. She has also been a long-standing member and Co-facilitator of the Onondaga Community Trauma Task Force.