Surge Capacity

Feeling stressed-out right now? That is a dumb question isn’t it. Just about everyone would answer yes and probably throw something at you just for asking a dumb question. Can you even remember the last time you didn’t feel stressed-out. I know I can’t.

According to a recent interview with Ann Masten, a psychologist and professor of child development at the University of Minnesota, “surge capacity is a collection of adaptive systems — mental and physical — that humans draw on for short-term survival in acutely stressful situations, such as natural disasters. But natural disasters occur over a short period, even if recovery is long. Pandemics are different — the disaster itself stretches out indefinitely. The damage is invisible not visible like a hurricane.” Ms. Masden has a real grip on all the trauma we are going through at the moment. It is tough enough to change your routine for a couple of weeks to deal with a sprained ankle, but this is going on now for eight months with maybe another 6 months to go until enough people have had the vaccine and we feel safe enough to go out of our house and mingle again. You have to read her full article at https://www.scarymommy.com/what-it-means-surge-capacity-depleted/ It just might help you’re your personal surge capacity right now.

I was curious about the term surge capacity, so I did some searching for other types of surge capacity examples. Medical surge capacity refers to the ability to evaluate and care for a markedly increased volume of patients—one that challenges or exceeds normal operating capacity. The surge requirements may extend beyond direct patient care to include such tasks as extensive laboratory studies or epidemiological investigations. Surge capacity, in this context, is the ratio of patients to medical beds, staff and consumable resources. In a healthcare context, a disaster is defined as the need that is being put on the system outstripping the ability to deliver. Surge capacity is the ability to house and treat patients above the standard volume. Some hospitals in several places in the world are facing this kind of Covid-19 created surge capacity challenge.

If you happen to be living along the coast in the southern United States, surge capacity may have to do with flood control. At least we have a chance to learn the Greek alphabet this hurricane season. The devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 brought many problems to light. Much of the destruction in New Orleans was a result of flooding from the levees breaking — a breach in an infrastructure that was meant to protect. Learning from the tragedies that beset New Orleans, we now understand that the best protection is a coordinated system, a combination of targeted local infrastructure designs and processes that work together in a disaster emergency. Levees and flood walls are not enough.

Between 2008 and 2013, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers — the same group responsible for the inadequate levee system in New Orleans — completed a hurricane barrier nearly two miles wide across a mix of waterways about 12 miles east of downtown New Orleans. Called the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lake Borgne Surge Barrier, the concrete and steel hurricane barrier work in tandem with the levee system. The barrier is the first line of defense by mitigating the storm surges associated with hurricanes.

Other than building levees how can the government help? If an incident exceeds the capacity of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster workforce, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is authorized to activate the DHS Surge Capacity Force (SCF) to augment the federal response to a catastrophic disaster. FEMA manages this program that relies on federal employees from DHS components and Other Federal Agencies (OFA's) to support its mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters. But I don’t think that FEMA can help with my personal quarantine -fatigue surge capacity challenge.

What happens to me when my surge capacity is inadequate? I realize many years ago I can’t keep up with everything that is going on around me, but 2020 has brought all of this to a head. When I realize I can’t keep up, I stop trying. Then, I start to filter out the news feeds that I don’t agree with or bring too much bad news. Then my efforts fall prey to the negative consequences of selection bias. It might be acceptable if I turn off the nightly news once in awhile to avoid the breaking news of even higher infection rates. It probably won’t hurt anyone if I only pay attention to my favorite sports teams and ignore the teams I don’t support. But when I hide from other truths or other perspectives only because my capacity to listen and understand is overwhelmed that is not good news.

Whether you are dealing with floods or pandemics, to get through this… you need to find ways to replenish your surge capacity so that you can continue to show up for your job, for your dog, your family, your friends.. and yourself… You have to figure out a way to discover what fills you up more than you ever had to in the past.

The US Army Corp of Engineers can build levees and dams to deal with floods.  (By the way I took one year of this training my freshman year at Mines in 1970. The first semester we learned how to build things and the second semester we learned how to blow them up.) FEMA can bring supplies after the storm. The medical world builds temporary hospitals in convention centers and parking garages. But this is a challenge to build protection for your mental health. There are resources out there they can help, but none more valuable than your closest set of friends and family. Stay safe my friends, this is not over yet.