Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, America has noted and honored the sacrifices made by first responders and frontline medical professionals. We’ve all seen scorching nighttime news footage of PPE-clad EMTs responding to emergency calls, of doctors and nurses struggling to provide humane care in emergency departments and intensive care units. understaffed.
Another group of front-line professionals receive much less attention, but are no less essential – and have made no lesser sacrifice in this fight. Social workers found shelter for homeless COVID-19 patients, provided treatment for people with substance abuse disorders made more difficult by pandemic-related social isolation, and comforted bereaved family members who have lost loved ones to the dual epidemics of COVID-19 and opioids. .
It is therefore not surprising that many social workers burn out and quit their jobs. An article published by a Kentucky television station chronicles the departure of more than 600 social workers from the State’s Department of Community Services. “Our staff have a lot more opportunities to work in a bookstore or as a bartender, making a lot more money than they make working with us,” said Marta Miranda-Straub, commissioner of the department.
At the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, mid-level social worker turnover roughly doubled in the past year. To fill the resulting gaps, other child protection workers roughly doubled their normal workload. Meanwhile, in Seattle, social worker Laura Woods succinctly described how many front-line social workers feel: “Everyone quits. … Our staff is so exhausted. We are so tired.
Social workers are on the front lines of American medical and public health care. Within our hospitals, they assess family needs, enroll patients in public assistance programs, and address food insecurity and transportation issues. Social workers are the glue that connects patients and families to essential services, the grease that lubricates key bureaucratic processes that we and our loved ones depend on during our hours of need.
Given their training in talking therapies, caring and advocacy, social workers are people we turn to for painful or difficult conversations – of which there have been so many during the pandemic. They comfort the dying and counsel bereaved families. They’re bringing people home from the hospital, after their battles with COVID-19, who otherwise wouldn’t have transportation — and arranging for proper home care.
Outside of the medical setting, social workers face the mental and physical toll that social isolation has taken on so many. Some have spent the last two years helping children with disabilities and helping their parents deal with school closures, solving heartbreaking issues on smartphones or on Zoom.
One of us (Jason) is a qualified social worker. We recently talked about his first mission, in the early 2000s. The task at hand was to find community care for a teenager diagnosed with bipolar disorder as well as psychotic features. AD, as we’ll call him, was recently hospitalized twice after he stopped taking his medication because he didn’t like the side effects. He had threatened his little sister and was rehospitalized after running naked down the street in the middle of the night.
Jason and his partner traveled to the family’s cramped apartment in a run-down Brooklyn housing development to provide support services after AD’s release. The main door to the building was unlocked. Drug dealers were manning one of the building’s stairways. AD’s parents struggled with mental illness. AD hadn’t been to school in years, but he still really wanted to get his GED, to connect with the world outside of his family apartment.
Jason and AD have spent countless hours playing pool and listening to music at a local pool hall. The social work team linked the MA to local group therapy with peers facing similar challenges. The team helped find better mind-altering drugs. AD enrolled in a GED program. While her relationship with her parents would remain strained, her relationship with her siblings improved.
Imagine the obstacles a social worker managing a similar assignment would face today. Due to the coronavirus, the pool hall may not be a safe option. With increased needs and fewer staff, organizations that provide this service are overwhelmed with clients. Jason might be able to connect to AD through Zoom, but customers like AD usually don’t own laptops and may have trouble finding an internet connection. They may also not have a mobile plan. Either way, he has no private space to really talk.
One thing has not changed. Jason’s modest salary in New York was considerably less than what one could earn at waiting tables in Manhattan’s most respectable restaurants. Then, and now, you could make more money stocking shelves at Home Depot. The average salary for social workers with a master’s degree is about 30% lower than the comparable figure for registered nurses. Given the financial realities, it is not surprising that many social workers leave their positions.
Philanthropists such as Mike Bloomberg and Bill Gates are now giving billions of dollars to support public health training, research and infrastructure. It is well known that social circumstances shape health, yet, with a few notable exceptions, the profession specifically charged with addressing these determinants is excluded from this philanthropy.
Nor does American popular culture pay much attention to social workers. Nurses and doctors, not social workers, are asked to throw the first pitch at Major League Baseball games. Even in medical television series, there is rarely a social worker in sight. Shows such as “Chicago Med” portray social workers through insulting stereotypes (the social worker who doesn’t know her client’s name) while not ignoring them (depicting ER doctors visiting patients in homeless camps – work that in reality would be done by social workers).
Better public policies can curb the flow of social workers out of the field. The student loan exemption for social workers can be strengthened. Public agencies can offer better pay – not just to social workers on the frontlines of COVID-19, but also to those who do hard and difficult work every day related to HIV, violence prevention, protection child care, homeless services or other issues.
Social workers face all the burning challenges of American life. We should honor that, not with a condescending “ghetto pink” pat on the head, but by truly understanding and valuing the profession of social work. As we take stock of America’s professions strained by the pandemic and look for ways to really help those on the front lines, let’s give social workers their due.
Jason Lerner is the Director of the 911 Portfolio at the University of Chicago Health Lab. Harold Pollack is Helen Ross Professor at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, University of Chicago.
