Sue Lani Madsen: Reduce the negativity and focus on living joyfully

Part One of “Safety First or Safety Third” (Dec. 3) described safety as a priority, but not the highest priority. So what are the highest priorities?

There are no risk-free choices in life. If safety is third, what’s first and second? Getting the job done and finding joy, according to a 2018 Journal of Emergency Medical Services article.

In an EMS setting, finding joy means designing the work to provide highs to balance the lows. Joy is necessary to prevent burnout. For everyone, joy is what gives life meaning. Finding joy in a time of pandemic sometimes means defying safety in the conventional physical sense.

Howard Schaffner turns 89 in just over a week. He lives at the Spokane Veterans Home now, but lived independently until the pandemic shutdowns. “Lot different than it used to be, tough,” said Schaffner. But it was worse at home alone after weekly church services and senior meals were closed in his small town.

“I can tell you as a family member, we saw rapid decline shortly after the complete quarantine. Depression kicked in, and at one ER visit they said he had failure to thrive from no interaction,” said his son-in-law, Darren Mattozzi. The move to the nursing home followed.

Mattozzi visits weekly, donning PPE and fishing for joyful memories. It takes a while to get Schaffner’s words flowing. When reminded of a past visit to the Korean War Memorial and other sights in Washington DC, Schaffner replies, “That was a good trip, thank you for taking me.”

When asked what gives him joy these days, Schaffner’s eyes light up at the mention of Thanksgiving with his daughter, son-in-law and three granddaughters back at the farm this year. His care team at the Veterans Home agreed the day trip was the best medicine for his physical health, even though it would mean quarantining him when he returned. He hopes to have another dose at Christmas.

Living is more than avoiding exposure to the novel coronavirus. Schaffner needed to feel the joy of a simple day with his grandchildren, eat his daughter’s home cooking and see familiar landscapes. There were risks for everyone. It’s the kind of hard decision many families will be making over the next four weeks, in a season of joy to the world.

So how do we reduce risk and still find the joy?

One way to think of risk mitigation is the “Swiss cheese” model developed by James Reason in the 1990s. A distinguished British psychologist, Reason proposed the concept of layers of protection, recognizing there are flaws in each safety measure. More layers reduce the odds of the holes aligning catastrophically, but no one layer stands alone.

Failure to thrive and depression are dangers just as real and potentially deadly as COVID-19. Every mitigation layer for individuals in reducing one hazard – isolation, wearing a mask, avoiding large groups indoors – creates others. The trade-offs are there whether we acknowledge them or not in our search for safety.

We’re addicted to simplistic solutions, but the answer lies in complexity. Ninety percent of Americans are wearing masks in public, according to an ABC News-Ipsos poll, pretty much at peak mask at the same time as the predicted peak of infections. It’s a teachable moment for healthy living messages the CDC and local public health departments have been pushing for decades. Eat balanced meals, keep your weight under control, don’t skimp on sleep, stay mentally and physically active, drink water not soda, avoid tobacco and other toxic addictive substances.

We are also hooked on bad news, according to a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. “Ninety one percent of stories by U.S. major media outlets are negative in tone versus fifty four percent for non-U.S. major sources and sixty five percent for scientific journals … U.S. major media readers strongly prefer negative stories about COVID-19, and negative stories in general.” The finding holds regardless of the political leanings of the readers.

The chronic stress from a constant drip of doom and gloom is bad for your health. Turn off the tap and reduce your viral load of negativity.

Yes, coronavirus can cause serious illness. Know your own risk factors and act accordingly. Social distance as much as possible, wear a mask when appropriate, stay home if you have respiratory symptoms. Be kind to others. Take risks thoughtfully. And take care of yourself and your immune system by not wallowing in bad news.

Live joyfully, not fearfully.

Contact Sue Lani Madsen at rulingpen@gmail.com.