Closed schools due to COVID-19 means children are now home all day, every day—a challenge for all working parents, but more so for essential workers who must leave the home, including health care workers. At the same time this pandemic is placing greater demands on our health care system, demands on your time and energy are also greater than ever before.

At Swedish, we’re actively recruiting for critical positions to help us weather this crisis. Rest assured that if you join our team, we are prioritizing caring for our caregivers—and their families—through our best-in-class benefits that include added childcare and eldercare benefits, wellness resources and a host of other supports. Here are five ways we’re helping established and new caregivers to our team manage work and family during this time:

1. Bright Horizons Family Care Support. Caregivers who are also parents have an increased need for childcare. That’s why we’ve partnered with Bright Horizons to offer all caregivers (full-time, part-time, per diem) access to low cost back-up childcare and Crisis Care. In addition, annual childcare use limits are removed so there is one less thing for caregivers to worry about. Should caregivers need it, we also supply employment verification.
   
2. Emergency time off. Swedish caregivers receive an additional 80 hours of emergency time off, if necessary, through May 31, 2020. Emergency time off can be used if caregivers need additional time off due to COVID-19-related school closures or illness and have exhausted PTO, EIB or sick/annual leave, where applicable.
   
3. Parenting resources. Parenting can be especially stressful right now with everyone at home. Changes in routine can be upsetting for many children, and we’ve all had our routines upended. That’s why we’re offering Parenting in the time of COVID-19, a free online resource to help caregiver parents more effectively navigate this time.
   
4. Resources to manage stress. During this time of heightened stress, caregivers are invited to use the Stress Meter to rate their level and find resources to help manage it and maintain resilience. We’re also offering a library of resources to help support caregivers and give them a safe place to express their feelings and recognize their losses. Resources include work2bewell, a joint project of Providence and the Well Being Trust that provides resources like curriculum, social activities and a crisis line for teens, parents and families.
   
5. Hardship loan. With select services now paused or closed, we are ensuring that our caregivers are paid. But during this time of crisis, financial hardships can ensue. Providence Federal Credit Union offers a hardship loan option to qualifying caregivers. The optional program is available to all caregivers who have or who open an account with the credit union.

Our caregivers are working hard for our communities, so we are continuing to work hard for them in this time of crisis and beyond. If you’re interested in joining the fight against COVID-19 with us, view our open positions.