Dr. Mark Bruce available by Zoom/Skype/Central Time from Milwaukee
The New York Post recently report the suicide death of a prominent NYC emergency medicine physician, who had been on the front lines of battling the COVID-19 pandemic https://nypost.com/2020/04/27/manhattan-er-doc-lorna-breen-commits-suicide-shaken-by-coronavirus/ . Healthcare workers have a high risk of suicide in their baseline practices; this and other mental health issues are significantly amplified when the stress of the duty is increased. Our current pandemic is demonstrating this unfortunate fact. Joining us to talk about his disheartening topic is Emergency Room Doctor Mark Bruce.
QUESTION 1: What is it about the current pandemic that is creating a surge in healthcare worker mental health issues, particularly suicide?
ANSWER: The COVID-19 pandemic is the result of a novel virus, which was unknown until 4 months ago. We are learning more about this disease every day, but still have no well-defined treatment protocols. Healthcare workers find satisfaction in finding a problem and then fixing it. With COVID-19 we can find it, but fixing it remains elusive. Frustration is a natural aspect in this environment, and combined with overwhelming demand and immersion in human suffering, easily results in feelings of helplessness and depression. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6907772/
QUESTION 2: Isn’t it normal to feel anxious when encountering something new like this novel virus pandemic?
ANSWER: Yes. However, the feeling of anxiety can quickly spiral out of control and result in helplessness and depression, especially if one is tasked with providing definitive care of someone suffering, and you are unable to do so. Healthcare workers are supposed to relieve suffering, and when one is overwhelmed day after day with unrelenting misery with no relief in sight, you can see how depressing it can be. This is portrayed vividly in some episodes of the TV show M. A. S. H.
QUESTION 3: So, what makes a healthcare worker cross the line to commit suicide?
ANSWER: That is a great question. Not everyone in healthcare is making that fatal decision. That decision is multi-factorial, including pre-existing conditions, genetics, substance abuse, cultural factors, and possibly the COVID-19 infection itself.
QUESTION 4: Are you saying that COVID-19 can cause mental health disease?
ANSWER: The first patient that I took care of that tested positive for COVID-19 actually presented with a mental health complaint. That patient had a known history of a mental health problem. It is being well recognized that this novel virus infection can create anxiety, for which patients with pre-existing mental health conditions have a low tolerance of. This added stress can cause them to either decompensate or become non-compliant with their established medical or counseling regime. https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/
QUESTION 5: What about people without a history of mental health disease? Do they get anxious and depressed?
ANSWER: The short answer to that is “yes”. This pandemic has not only had a profound impact on healthcare workers but everyone, because of the economic disruption, the social distancing. The good news (and there is good news) is that we are seeing the effectiveness of the mitigation efforts on this pandemic; there is good data being generated from clinical treatment trials that will guide effective treatment decisions. With these advancements, the society and economy have begun to re-open.
QUESTION 6: Any last comments/reflections?
ANSWER: Having practiced emergency medicine for 40 years, I am familiar with the feelings of being overwhelmed, frustration, helplessness, and even depression. It isn’t much fun. I have been immersed in multiple disaster zones, involved with disaster relief work, doing important but unpleasant work. I know how easy it is to be on the slippery slope of feelings. One cannot live one’s life based on feelings. My faith has carried me through these difficult times. I have tried to put my giftedness at God’s disposal, allowing Him to use me as He sees fit; amazing things can happen then.
About your guest, author Mark Bruce, D. O.
Mark Bruce grew up with a love for dogs. This became a focal point of Mark’s childhood when the President and Mrs. Kennedy gave him the “pupnik” named Streaker, the grand-pup of Strelka, the first dog to orbit earth in a Soviet Sputnik spaceship, and return alive. Mark maintained a pen-pal relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, with many personal letters, from the 1960’s until the 1980’s.
Today Mark is an emergency medicine physician in Wisconsin, a husband of 42 years to his wife Moira E. O’Brien-Bruce, DO, and a father and grandfather to 5 children, and 7 grandchildren.
Mark has traveled with the international medical ministry in Central America, Asia, Europe, and Africa, and led many teams into the Asian disaster zones for medical relief work.
In addition to clinical duties, Mark is the Ambassador to Belize and Canada for the American College of Emergency Physicians.
About the book…
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY AND FIRST LADY JACKIE GIVE BOY A DOG FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL KENNELS
Have you ever lost a pet, or had to put your pet to sleep? Even though we try to tell ourselves that it is just an animal, a cat or a dog, there is still a tremendous sense of grief.
Now imagine that you accidentally killed your pet; the sense of loss is amplified. That is precisely what a boy, Mark D. Bruce, felt at the age of 10, when tragedy struck during a backyard baseball game in the summer of 1963. Thus, begins the story of the new book, “Jackie, a Boy and a Dog: A Warm Cold War Story.”
This tragedy connected Mark to the highest profile couple on earth, when in the midst of his sorrow he writes a letter to them, naively asking the question: “I killed my dog; may I have one of yours?” But then the impossible happened. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy took his request seriously, considering this improbable request, and in the midst of her own sorrow at the loss of their own newborn son, Patrick, granted his wish. Experience the dramatic change of emotion from grief to joy as this tale unfolds. Equally improbable was the subsequent relationship that Jackie and Mark developed, spanning three decades.
The encouragement of the most iconic woman of the 20th century, spurred Mark Bruce to a life of service in the medical profession, touching lives burdened with their own tragedies, around the world. Read what happens when an ordinary boy and then a man, puts his giftedness at God’s disposal. The results are amazing!
Our guest is author Dr. Mark Bruce to tell us more about this amazing story and his new book “Jackie, a Boy and a Dog: A Warm Cold War Story.”
