This Labor Day weekend, our second under the cloud of the COVID-19, we are thankful for your strength, talent, and resilience.

You and your teams have worked more than 500 days and saved the lives of almost 46,000 Marylanders. Now, you are being tested again as the Delta variant once again fills your hospitals with COVID patients.

In a typical year, your hospitals report thousands of job vacancies. Now, you’re facing even more dire shortages and sobering forecasts for the future. A 2021 Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation survey, for example, found almost 30% of health care workers are considering leaving their profession altogether. Nearly 60% reported their mental health has suffered because of their work during the pandemic.

Sadly, a National Academy of Medicine report finds between 35% and 54% of U.S. nurses and physicians have symptoms of burnout.

This pandemic has taken a toll on us all, but frontline workers most of all. Our workforce is weary.
Workforce issues are always top of mind for health system and hospital executives. Today’s challenges are unprecedented. And the immediate staffing crisis is just one part; there are long-range problems to solve as well.

We’re going to convene members very soon to consider solutions for the very near term and down the road. We will use the strength of the whole field, speaking as one, to advocate for Maryland to have a robust health care workforce now and in the future.

We salute everyone who works in the Maryland hospital field for the care, compassion, and commitment you show each day and for the hope you give Marylanders in this unimaginable crisis.

Enjoy a safe and happy holiday next week.

Bob Atlas
President & CEO