Penn Transplant Institute social worker Rachel Schendler, LSW, shares how she’s navigating social distancing and learning new ways to connect with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
As a social worker, I’ve always felt one of the most important things I bring to a team is the ability to foster connection. Having the time to hear people tell their stories, to sit with them when they’re struggling, and to support and acknowledge where they are. Sometimes that means a hug or congratulations, or help with an expensive prescription.
Working remotely and practicing social distancing initially felt unnatural and uncomfortable despite the fact that before the COVID-19 pandemic, I would often communicate with patients via phone calls, texts or emails. COVID-19 felt like this wall that was thrown up between us without much warning.
I’ve never worked through a pandemic, and I was concerned I wouldn’t be effective or have the tools to navigate this new strange time. I’ve been surprised by how easily many people have been transitioning.
My monthly support group, which was a convivial, food-filled event, is now weekly and online, but we continue to connect and commiserate about the structure of our days during COVID-19. In some ways, this new access to online, virtual tools has been a benefit, particularly for patients who live a distance from Philadelphia. On the other hand, for those who do not have smart phones or computers, the isolation can be magnified by the loss of in-person interactions.
Patients report to me that they are happy to avoid parking fees, tolls and the snarled traffic around HUP and the Perelman Center but they miss the familiarity of clinic and seeing administrative and medical assistants, doctors and nurses, and social workers they’ve developed a rapport with.
Telemedicine visits alleviate the anxiety of in-person exposure, but I’ve had questions about the efficacy of evaluating someone by video. Patients have asked and I have wondered what precedent this time will set. Will telemedicine become more available? If it does, what does that mean – both good and bad – for care and treatment? It seems as if we (patients, staff, the health system) are all still drawing the map for what will change and what may return to “normal.”
I believe we are all doing the best we can with what we have right now. Like the patients I’ve spoken to, I see the successes and failures we’ve experienced while trying to be efficient and effective in this new landscape. I am hopeful we can leverage what we’ve learned to make the experience of social distancing one that pushes us to find new ways to connect rather than pushing us apart.