Ep. 58: Care for the Caregivers, with Cleveland Clinic’s Tomislav Mihaljevic

“The unfortunate, almost-tragic, paradox of this situation is that 1.2 million healthcare professionals in the United States have lost their jobs because of the financial strains that have COVID pandemic put on healthcare organizations.”For the 99-year-old Cleveland Clinic, the care of their patients is equaled only by the emphasis they place on the health of their own workforce. Their thorough preparation and procedures have resulted in a less than 1% infection rate, compared to roughly 20% of all health care workers throughout the rest of Ohio. The venerable hospital system has also chosen not to lay off any employees, even as they were state mandated to cut all non-essential services. Unfortunately, even the essential services have suffered, with steep declines in newly diagnosed patients with cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurologic disease. “The unintended consequences of the COVID pandemic,” he tells Mike, “may be much more severe than the actual damage and the loss of lives incurred by COVID pandemic.