Upton Introduces Bill Aimed At Helping Healthcare Workers In Distress

medical-safe-2-16
medical-safe-2-16

Legislation intended to help healthcare workers maintain their mental health and prevent suicides has been reintroduced in Washington by Congressman Fred Upton after time ran out for it to be approved last year. Upton’s office says the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act would reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, and mental and behavioral health conditions among health care professionals. The bill is named for Dr. Lorna Breen, a doctor from Charlottesville, Virginia, who was working on the frontlines of the pandemic in New York when she died by suicide. The legislation creates grants for training health professionals in strategies to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, mental health conditions, and substance use disorders. It would also pay for a study on health care professional mental and behavioral health. Upton says healthcare workers “are being asked to care for communities here in southwest Michigan and across the country 24/7 as this pandemic continues. We need to have their backs.”