Coping with disasters in health

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges for our health-care community, the impact of which is still being felt today, almost three years later. In this podcast, Dr. Frank Sommers, founding chair of Disaster Psychiatry Canada at the University of Toronto, addresses the toll health disasters, like pandemics, take on society dependent upon the effects and subsequent reactions. Trauma, he notes, takes on many forms and the mental health impacts cannot be ignored. Moving forward, Dr. Sommers emphasizes the importance of compassion, communication, engaged leadership and an informed public for recovery and in preparedness for what’s to come.