LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Health care workers are being forced to weather around another tough season.

This time, they’re navigating a “tripledemic” of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) all at once. That means local hospitals are having to get creative in order to retain nurses and other staff members, who describe record levels of stress and burnout.

For them, the hits keep coming.

“It feels like one after another, just taking blows from illnesses going through the community,” said Carson Johnson, nurse manager of Emergency Services for Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital. 

Johnson described to WDRB News just how busy the past month has been as staff navigates the “tripledemic.”

“The numbers have been through the roof,” he said. “They’ve been off the charts.”

In November, Johnson said, the hospital saw on average over 2,500 more children than usual and about 1,000 more adults.

The stress, he said, is palpable.

“Having so many patients, you don’t know where to put them,” he said.

Survey after survey conducted over the past year shows burnout among nurses is reaching crisis levels at a time when there’s already a devastating shortage. The Kentucky Hospital Association announced this fall that the state’s hospitals are down more than 5,000 nursing positions. 

Those shortages are something Norton Healthcare’s Chief Hospital Officer Charlotte Ipsan is very aware of.

“We’ve really had to think outside the box from that traditional health care staffing,” Ipsan said.

Pay increases and tuition assistance are being offered as incentives, but Norton is also pushing flexible hours to meet nurses where they are. That means creating 2-hour and 4-hour shifts that nurses can sign up for on an app.

“So folks at home, if potentially they have a 4-hour shift that they could give,” said Ipsan. “It’s like oh, you know, you didn’t know the kids were going to be with grandma,” said Ipsan.

Those shifts also mean recruiting back nurses who have recently retired. 

With a focus on mental health, Norton now has respite areas in each facility for staff to use. It also relies on therapy dogs to help ease stress.

As the community navigates yet another season of illness, health care workers are asking for a little bit of understanding, knowing what a tough three years it has been for them.

“Having some grace. I think grace is a good word for it,” said Johnson. “You know, we’re trying to move as fast as we can, as safely as we can.”

While Norton reports a slight decline in flu, RSV and COVID-19 cases, a huge spike came right after Thanksgiving. Another spike is predicted once people return to work and school after the holidays.

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