- October 23, 2021
The Triumphs and Challenges of Women in Healthcare
The Triumphs and Challenges of Women in Healthcare
In the Year of COVID-19, Women in Healthcare Aren’t Getting the Love They Deserve
In the year 2021, we are working through our second year of COVID-19, a disease that has oppressed the entire world, and one that we are still fighting through to return to the world as we know it.
The landscape of healthcare has drastically changed, yet there is one thing that remains a true constant: women in healthcare. At the forefront of the coronavirus, women fighting for their patients have led their teams through it all.
The New York Times states that one in three jobs held by women is essential, from the ER nurse to the social worker, from the home-health aide to a soldier on the front, all are positions held by women.
One of the very first women who realized the need to help others in healthcare, especially if there is a disaster or pandemic, is Florence Nightingale, known as the founder of modern nursing. A British social reformer, she began to organize nurses to deliver care to the wounded in the 1850s, and she laid the foundation for professional roles in nursing.
At the beginning of the vaccine era, many stepped up, including Abington-based biochemist Katalin Karikó, who has been researching mRNA since 1989. She brought this technology to the forefront of the COVID-19 vaccine, where its major success was in teaching the immune system how to fight off the coronavirus.
She went though many years of quiet research, having funding taken away, to finally many years later winning the Breakthrough Award in 2021 with a fellow researcher.
In the midst of this ever-changing landscape, many women in healthcare and many women who see their healthcare providers who suffer from chronic pain, and yet according to the Harvard Health Blog, their pain and suffering is dismissed as the feelings or thoughts of the physical manifestation of ‘just stress’ or anxiety or depression.
For some reason, women are suffering more and for longer periods of time, says the Harvard Health Blog. Case in point: many women are prescribed sedatives, rather than pain medication, to treat their pain, like a headache.
It is important to find a pain management provider who understands what you are going through, and truly listens. When you have a provider who understands your causes and symptoms of pain, you can begin to focus your efforts on healing.
