The Reality
—guest post by a Local 328 member—
Earlier this week, Dr. Danny Jacobs released a new OHSU Now post in his series entitled “The Why.” In this post, he reflects on two years of COVID-19 and the pandemic’s effect on OHSU employees. Dr. Jacobs pointed out that employees “rose up to respond time and time again, and for longer than many of us thought possible.”
We can all agree that this statement is true. Dr. Jacobs is correct when he acknowledges that “although many lives were lost, because of you, many were saved.” Workers were, and still are, all in this together. We all have roles to play in keeping each other safe and sane.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Dr. Jacobs included a link for employees to document our COVID-19 experiences for OHSU’s Historical Collections and Archives. He asked for emails, journal entries, video interviews, photos, and other forms of documentation of our stories. We need to point out that OHSU previously maintained a great source for these stories, at all our fingertips, which it disconnected: the comments section on OHSU Now.
Employees across OHSU were able to speak out about our collective experiences, which many of us found invaluable, especially at a time when we were so distanced from each other. Unfortunately, when a handful of commenters took vaccine-related discussions off the rails, all of our voices — on any topic — were silenced. As we mentioned in our blog post about this decision, we empathized with the OHSU Now moderators. However this decision was short-sighted and we believe it has caused employee engagement to suffer. (At the time of this writing, Dr. Jacob’s latest “The Why” post had only 138 views and 30 likes.) Because of the bad actions of a few, OHSU severed its employees’ line of communication with each other and with OHSU leadership.
Meanwhile, on the ground, workers’ concerns sent to management and HR have gone unanswered in many cases. A large number of employees have found that Local 328’s leaders and fellow members are our only resource. It seems interesting that OHSU wants to hear from us now, when we’re finally at the tail end of the omicron surge.
Does OHSU really want to hear about its employees’ PTSD?
Does it really want to hear from folks who are desperate for safer working conditions but whose concerns have been ignored by management?
Where was the outlet for our coworkers who’ve been terrified to come to work every single day?
What about employees who are still being threatened with bodily harm daily by patients and visitors who don’t want to abide by safety guidelines?
What about employees who can’t participate in this story-gathering exercise because they contracted COVID-19 and are no longer able to work?
This is the reality that many of OHSU’s workers have faced for the past two years. Does OHSU really want to hear about this reality from the folks on the ground or does it just want a pretty picture to show the public? Because those two things are not the same.
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