The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to the New York City Health + Hospitals system. In addition to ramping up capacity and adapting operations quickly to handle the patient surge, NYC Health + Hospitals had to find new ways to provide emotional and psychological support for patients, families, and staff. To help families keep in touch, dedicated staff members provided daily updates by telephone and used tablets for virtual visits. An expanded palliative care team held virtual consultations with families to discuss advance care planning and end-of-life decisions. Bereavement hotlines were set up for families who lost loved ones. Enhanced staff support included one-on-one and group sessions with behavioral health specialists, a behavioral health hotline, a webinar series, and respite rooms, as well as complimentary lodging and child care. NYC Health + Hospitals created new rituals to celebrate recoveries and mourn losses. As regular operations resume, NYC Health + Hospitals plans to sustain and build on emotional and psychological support initiatives developed during the surge.

A t the time of this writing, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has caused over 7.6 million cases and over 423,000 deaths worldwide. 1 New York City confirmed its first positive case on March 1, 2020, and quickly became the center of the pandemic, with over 214,000 confirmed cases to date. 2 To provide support to overwhelmed New York City hospitals, the Department of Defense (DOD) was deployed to provide medical care for patients at the Javits Center Field Hospital (Javits) and United States Naval Ship Comfort (USNS Comfort) in April 2020. Due to low patient populations at Javits and USNS Comfort, many DOD personnel redeployed to the city's public healthcare system, New York City Health and Hospitals (NYC H+H), to provide frontline care within emergency departments, intensive care units, and medical/ surgical wards. 3 Additionally, Javits changed its admission criteria to include patients who tested positive for COVID-19, which ultimately led to the acceptance and treatment of over 1,000 patients with COVID-19. From this experience, DOD healthcare workers reported to their

The emotional and psychological toll of the COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized as a parallel pandemic, disproportionately affecting health care workers when compared to the general population. Recognizing the tragic effects that the pandemic was having on the psyche of our health care workers, a multidisciplinary peer-support program called Helping Healers Heal was augmented to address these complex needs in a large, urban, academic medical center in the Bronx, NY. A multimodal approach including wellness events, emotional support rounds, fast-tracked connections with therapeutic support, and coalition building was used to reach 80% of staff from May through August, 2020. The multidisciplinary team planned events and interventions to appeal to the myriad ways people cope and build resilience, and by utilizing existing resources, it proved extremely cost-effective. In a survey of the program’s participants, 94% of respondents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that their participation helped alleviate stress.

Jeremy segall NYC Health + Hospitals / Kings CountyInvestigating the glass escalator effect among registered drama therapists: a gender-based examination of professional trajectory abstract This research sought to identify whether the glass escalator was occurring in the profession of drama therapy. A survey asking registered drama therapists (RDTs) to identify rates of advancement between career levels was completed by 34 per cent of those polled. Independent samples t-tests exploring gender differences in the career rate of advancement determined no glass escalator effect on attainment of supervisory and upper-level clinical positions; however, results are inconclusive for subsequent conditions. Qualitative analysis of open-ended responses produced three gender-relevant categories. Qualitative and quantitative data are discussed with regard to implications for the profession and avenues for further research.

As the profession of drama therapy within North America continues to grow, there is a concurrent need to further understand the occupational experiences of those engaged in service delivery. This secondary data analysis utilized Applied Thematic Analysis to identify common themes among responses to a survey prompt of how personal identifiers impact career advancement among North American drama therapists. Emergent broad themes include Personal Priorities or Values, Lack of Professional Recognition and Mentorship. Findings are interpreted within the context of the current state of the profession. Future directions for research and professional viability are provided.