Study Reveals More Depression in Communities Where People Rarely Left Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Results indicate a link between reduced mobility during the pandemic and greater risk for depressive symptoms.
NewsMay | 15 | 2020
Patrick Geraghty had a big job to begin with—he’s the Environmental Services operations manager for the weekday day shift, and day and evening shift manager on weekends and a training manager.
Then COVID-19 hit. On March 6, Geraghty’s team was called in to help convert the Mass General ambulance bay into the hospital’s first Respiratory Illness Clinic (RIC). He and about a dozen of his colleagues were needed to provide tables, chairs and privacy screens to help transform it from a garage into a functioning clinical workspace for potential COVID patients. “It was a matter of only several hours that the place was reconfigured, and we were up for the challenge,” says Geraghty. “The space was ready for patients that evening.”
Quick turnaround was also required for the establishment of Routine Ambulatory Care for COVID clinic on Yawkey 7; the conversion of Women’s Health Associates on Yawkey 4 to a RIC; and the conversion of the Sports Medicine clinic at 175 Cambridge Street to a RIC. All required similar steps, such as removing fabric curtains from exam rooms, replacing existing fabric chairs with rented washable chairs, spacing chairs six feet apart, and installing Cal-Stat (hand sanitizer) dispensers, as Geraghty puts it, “wherever you look.” In addition to nightly cleanings, each space has had cleaning support throughout their opening hours.
Patrick GeraghtyIt was a matter of only several hours that the [ambulance bay] was reconfigured [to become a Respiratory Illness Clinic], and we were up for the challenge.
His department has rented about 250 chairs, but tables they’ve managed to scavenge from unused conference rooms and the cafeterias. “When you’re in a pinch, you find whatever is available to solve the problem,” Geraghty says. As for the quick turnaround time, he says it’s part of the job. “We’re a service department so we’re used to providing service sometimes with notice, sometimes with very little notice.”
In addition to these projects, Geraghty and Bill Banchiere, director of Environmental Services, have overseen the collection of clinicians’ N95 respirators to be shipped to the Battelle site in Somerville for decontamination, totaling 8,000 to 10,000 per week.
Geraghty, who is looking ahead to his 50th anniversary at Mass General in August, has seen plenty during his career but says that these past few months have been unique. “The hospital has gone from a very busy place to a very isolated place. Every day is like a Saturday or Sunday; the volume is way down.”
And, he jokes, “I went from thinking about retirement to not having the time to think about retirement.”
Results indicate a link between reduced mobility during the pandemic and greater risk for depressive symptoms.
For lung and heart transplant recipients, vaccine doses beyond the third dose are likely important for maintaining immunity.
Stephanie Santoro, MD, was the lead author of a recent article in the Journal of Pediatrics, titled Health Surveillance in a Down Syndrome Specialty Clinic: Implementation of Electronic Health Record Integrations During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic
Beth is a leader in enhancing the department’s operations in service of its patients and providers. She shares more about her journey, her vision for the future of the department, and her advice for others hoping to build a career in health care administration.
Researchers found that vaccination is still associated with a decrease in the risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 outcomes.
Many workers at group homes in Massachusetts serving adults with mental illness or disability perceived very serious effects of the first year of the pandemic on their own health and access to care.