Page 66 - Healthcare News Nov/Dec 2022

Organs
Continued from page 7
number has only increased in recent years, and for several reasons, especially the aging of the population. “The gap in the number of kidneys available and the number that is needed is huge.”
Like other hospitals that perform kidney-transplant sur- gery, Baystate and Mass General are very active in efforts to help encourage people to donate organs, and also in help- ing those on lists to get kidneys through various means,
i n c l u d i n g m a t c h i n g p r o g r a m s .
For example, if someone on a list finds a willing donor, but that kidney is not compatible, that kidney can be exchanged for one that is compatible through a voucher program, enabling people to move up on a waiting list.
It is for these reasons that Auerbach chose to go public despite his many reservations about doing so.
“I thought, ‘I’ll become the poster child for organ donations. Hopefully, I’ll get one, or at least the list will get whittled down, and I’ll move up the list faster. I’ll be the spokesperson for those 100,000 people.’ That was my motivation.”
While many fully understand the urgent need for kid-
neys and other organs, he explained, his story and that of others in similar situations must be told to reinforce the message and add a very needed personal touch.
“
DR.
Both McPartland and Riella agreed. They noted that, while much of the discussion about organ donations is focused on numbers — everything from how many indi- viduals are on lists to how long their waits are — behind the statistics are real people, like Auerbach, facing quality- of-life, if not life-and-death, issues.
Bottom Line
Auerbach told HCN that he tries not to think about the informal ‘clock’ he’s on — one doctor told him 18 months
to three years, while another told him five years before he would need dialysis — and often wishes he was not given
such estimates.
And he’s not alone in that sentiment. Such clocks, while helpful in the planning process, only increase the anxiety and make the wait- ing all the more tortuous, he noted.
“I’m trying to take it day-by-day and be optimistic,” he said. “To have a clock ticking as I’m watching and waiting would drive me crazy.”
The only thing that can shorten such waits is for more donors to come forward, said all
t h o s e w e s p o k e w i t h , a d d i n g t h a t t h i s w h y s t o - ries like Auerbach’s need to be told. And why people need to listen — and respond. v
That number of those waiting is
growing by roughly 10% a year.”
LEO RIELLA
It takes only five minutes to sign up to be an organ donor at www.organdonor.gov/sign-up. To learn more about becoming a living kidney donor, call Baystate Medical Center’s Transplant Program at (413) 794-2321, option 2, and speak with the living donor coordinator, or visit the Baystate Transplant website at baystatehealth.org/trans- plant for a confidential screening process.
Burnout
Continued from page 9
When the Heat Is On
When asked how people know, or should know, if they are burned out, Young said that he — and probably many others — don’t actually know in the moment.
“I lived on the burnout spectrum for five to seven years, and I floated through dif- ferent aspects of it,” he explained. “I didn’t know it when I was in it until I looked back at it and remember not wanting to get out of bed and go to work in the morning. I felt like I was moving in wet cement as I was trying to get things done.
“Tome,alotofitisthefeltsenseof
it, but also, how are people around me responding to me?” he went on. “And if I could be honest with myself, I would ask people, ‘hey, was I difficult to be around? Was I less effective than I was before? Did I come across as someone who never had something positive to say?’ We’re feeling like we’re not getting things done that we’re capable of. That’s the best answer for me when it comes to knowing when we’re burned out. There are assessments we can take, but I always come back to how we’re feeling and getting some perspective from other people on how I am compared to when I’m at my desk.”
Elaborating, Young said people and can and often do have bad days, bad weeks, and bad months. But burnout is longer-term. It’s a persistent feeling of simply not feeling like yourself, accompanied by some physi- cal symptoms.
These can include indigestion, lower back pain, and other ailments that cannot be easily explained, he said, adding that these problems equate to stress building up in the body — stress that, if not relieved, will lead to deeper issues.
“
It’s incumbent upon individuals, and especially men, because often, they don’t listen to what their body is telling them, Young went on, adding that, if they listen hard enough — and he eventually did
— they will come to understand that the problem might be burnout.
And this brings us to the next step in this assignment — deciding what to do about it, be it taking time off, finding a new job or career, seeking counseling or coaching, or some mix of the above.
“And that often depends on how crispy you are,” said Young. “Some people, when they’ve had an extreme case of burnout, really need to decompress; I’ve dealt with people who have had to take long-term leave and just not do anything for a while, but that’s not something that a lot of people can do.
“For me, when I started looking at how I defeated burnout and what I wanted to share with others, there’s a ton of practi- cal advice that you can Google; it will talk about exercise, it will talk about diet, it will talk about shifting your work schedule and
want to talk about, but it’s there,” said Young, who related his own experiences to drive home that point. “If the reason I got into burnout was because I kept comparing myself to the men around me, to my peers, to the people who were a few steps ahead of me on the path, and feeling that I don’t measure up, then I have to double down;
I have to outwork everyone. I definitely can’t ask for help; I can’t reveal any of that to anyone because then I’m going to really hear it from the guys. And that’s not OK.
“So I suffered in silence and tried to tough it out,” he went on. “The problem is, the hole kept getting deeper, and so, when I wrote the book, I knew I wanted to write about burnout, because it was a horrible experience for me, but I also knew I wanted to write about intimacy and intimate con- nections in every area of my life, which was actually the real antidote that got to the root cause. But I didn’t realize that I was going to see shame come up so prominent- ly; as I interviewed dozens of men about
it, I got the same story — the fear of being called out by other guys because we’re not man enough to deal with our business and we got burned out is a huge obstacle.”
Bottom Line
Clearing this obstacle is difficult, Young said in conclusion, but it is the first big step toward defeating burnout and moving on from it.
It’s the first step toward picking oneself up off the floor — figuratively, or, as we saw in Young’s own case, and probably many others, quite literally.v
There’s a ton of practical advice that you can Google; it will talk about exercise, it will talk
about diet, it will talk about shifting your work schedule and maybe even changing jobs. Those are all valid things to do; however, they’re just putting Band-Aids on symptoms. They’re not actually getting to the root cause.”
maybe even changing jobs. Those are all valid things to do; however, they’re just putting Band-Aids on symptoms. They’re not actually getting to the root cause.”
Elaborating, he said the biggest problem he had with burnout — and the problem that most people have — is the isolation and the feeling that he had to deal with it alone.
“When I pulled back all he covers, when I rewound the story, I realized that the thing that got me out of burnout was to stop isolating myself and create intimate connections in all areas of my life so I al- ways had a place to go when my stress was built up,” he told HCN, adding that this is a difficult assignment for many men.
How do they get over that hurdle?
“I think the answer to that is to look at our shame, which is not a word that guys
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