Front Line Workers Find Faith an Antidote to Lingering Pandemic

Registered nurse Kiriki Valcin got flashbacks when coronavirus variant surges started around the country, taking her back to the fear of debilitating panic attacks, insomnia, and hair loss that she experienced last year.

Thousands of medical workers like Kiriki are exhausted from working through the pandemic. With surges straining short-staffed facilities across the country, some on the front lines are experiencing added physical, mental and emotional stress.

“I feel like I have had to do more with less,” said Valcin, who works in the progressive care unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital - Pocono. As she watched COVID-19 cases steadily rise again on her 12-hour shifts, she admits, “Up until recently it was a building pressure. I underestimated my own ability to be burned out.”

What pulled her out of despair in the early phases of the pandemic continues to keep her afloat. She credits her faith as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses for helping her and other health care workers in her religious community endure the ongoing toll of the pandemic.

“Now I have a better balance on things,” Valcin said. “It’s really God that I have to rely on to get me through every single day.”

She also prays regularly and leans on fellow believers for support. Opening up to her friends who are nurses in other congregations has been a source of strength and solace for Valcin. “I started to talk about how I was feeling instead of bottling it up. We are able to encourage each other.”

“I always say a prayer when I walk into work,” said Sara McCombs, a registered nurse in the ICU at St. Luke’s Monroe Campus, who credits her faith for helping her to cope. “I pray for a positive attitude and a calm mind.” McCombs also prays aloud while at work to help manage stressful situations, since her patients are usually intubated and unconscious.

American psychological and psychiatric associations, while not advocating or endorsing any specific religion, acknowledge the role spirituality and religious faith can play in coping with distress and trauma.

Lawrence Onoda, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Mission Hills, California, noted some ways spirituality can help, including giving people “a positive hope and meaning toward life, comfort by looking for answers and strength from a higher power, and a collective shared experience of support and community.”

Valcin finds joy in passing along to others what has helped her. She joins friends online to write or call people in the community with a message of hope from the Scriptures. “I love the ministry. It is important to create a boundary with work and then do things that bring you joy and satisfaction in your life,” she said.

For registered nurse Maria Agostini, such support helped her overcome many challenges. Increasing her Bible reading, and prayer has helped counteract the emotional toll of health care work during the pandemic for Agostini, who works in the same-day surgery unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono.

One of her favorite resources is jw.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It has a collection of practical articles, including “How to Beat Pandemic Fatigue” and “Protect Yourself from Misinformation.”

“It always seems like the website has just the topic I needed at the right time,” Agostini said.