ANA president praises journalists for educating public in war on COVID-19

Journalists are serving “a terrific role” in educating the public during this COVID-19 pandemic, said Dr. Ernest Grant, president of the American Nurses Association, during a National Press Club Virtual Newsmaker on Friday.

Due to the pandemic, the Club is currently closed to in-person events, so using the Broadcast Center, Club President Michael Freedman conducted a remote interview with Grant, and the event was livestreamed on the Club’s website. A replay of the event is available here.

National Press Club President Mike Freedman introduces Dr. Earnest Grant, American Nurses Association president, at the start of a webinar about the need for nurses in the battle against the novel coronavirus. (Photo by Alan Kotok)

Journalists are giving the public a “true well-rounded picture of what is going on” by telling “stories from the nurses' side,” Grant said.

While no one knows “when this is going to end,” Grant urged the public to have patience, saying he believes that the virus “is going to be with us” into next year, “unless we get a vaccine.”

The most important thing the public can do is work to minimize the spread of the virus by staying at home, hand washing and wearing masks when out in public, Grant said, noting that “I am tired of staying at home myself.”

Grant was awarded the 2002 Nurse of the Year Award by then-President George W. Bush for his work in New York following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The difference, he said, between that event and now is that “with 9/11 you could see the light at the end of the tunnel. It happened, it was over and yes, there was a recovery period, but right now we yet have no idea when this crisis is going to be over.”

The uncertainty of when the crisis will end is one of the reasons that Grant said there needs to be a “big emphasis on the psych/mental health needs” of front-line workers, because they are constantly “going into a war zone.”

Without the proper testing and tracing, there could be another wave when “you already have tired soldiers already on the front lines,” Grant warned.

As the country begins to transition to the “new normal,” which “won’t be the old normal,” one of the positive changes could be the emergence of telehealth or virtual care, Grant said. Telehealth brings healthcare to patients who live in “health care deserts” while alleviating over-crowded hospitals, and lessens the strain on equipment, he said.

Even as there is a shortage of nurses all over the world, nurses are being furloughed and laid off by hospitals that were forced to suspend all activities except for emergencies and labor/delivery. Since hospitals often make most of their income from “elective” surgeries, some nurses joined the unemployment lines. Grant hopes that as hospitals begin opening up services, nurses in the pipeline will be brought back.

In light of the current nursing shortage, the association is urging lawmakers to allocate more money for nursing education, noting that nursing education receives 50% of the amount that is spent to train physicians.