Social Workers Are Essential

​COVID-19 has highlighted the value and the importance of essential workers, and it has broadened our understanding of what “essential” means in the workforce. However, still and too often, social workers, who are key frontline workers, are forgotten from the conversation and recognition. 






What that lapse leaves out are: 

• The social workers in hospitals overseeing discharge planning, participating in end of life conversations and, very likely, helping to facilitate the video calls from patients to their loved ones as they say goodbye;
• The social workers in long-term care facilities who continue to ensure that residents have the resources they need to remain active and healthy, while also helping the residents cope with the isolation from family and the loss of their friends/neighbors; 
• The social workers at county Offices of Children and Youth who must ensure the safety of children in their community even as it becomes more challenging to place youth because of the pandemic and reports of abuse wane though abuse does not as children stop being seen by mandated reporters, such as teachers and other school employees; 
• The social workers at schools who must determine how best to serve children in person and virtually as students cope with the isolation, fear and anxiety of COVID-19, while also losing the support that schools offer including food, shelter and safety;
• The social workers at homeless shelters who must find ways to keep individuals experiencing homelessness sheltered and fed while also safe from COVID-19. 
• The social workers in home health and hospice who visit patients and families in the community regardless of risk; and 
• The social workers throughout the communities who have fundraised, collected and distributed donations, provided up-to-date and accurate information on the pandemic, visited clients in-home and virtually and much, much more. 

Our communities would be lesser without social workers, particularly through this last year. 
March is Social Work Month. Take the time to thank these essential workers for all that they have done and will do through the pandemic and in its aftermath.

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