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I will complete my 2nd week of camp and head home tomorrow. I confess to also being physically and emotionally exhausted. Plenty of MESH issues noted in both villagers and staff. And a challenging population overall that left little time for caring for self. I feel my patience wearing a bit thin and my supply of compassion and empathy being completely drained. A consistent problem has been a very, very small percentage of villagers taking a huge percentage of health care staff time and energy.
MESH issues identified ahead of time with appropriate treatment plans/meds/therapies and guidance in place have been much more easily employed at camp. There are even villagers seeing therapists virtually which has been very helpful-but they are certainly the exception.
One strategy implemented with some villagers is a mental health “check-in.” They have an actual health center staff appointment with defined beginning and ending times, usually 15 minutes. This gives us and them space and time to devote completely to their issues. It helps to have a defined ending time for the visit and to plan an upcoming check in.
Just one small strategy that has worked here……