Her name was Lorna Breen.

She was an avid skier. She volunteered at a nursing home once a week. She loved to salsa dance. She was a talented doctor in New York….a doctor who died by suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Breen’s death was a tragic wakeup call that prompted much-needed action to focus on the mental health of our nation’s unsung heroes.

It is painfully clear that no group of people or profession is immune to mental health challenges — the overall suicide rate in the United States has increased by 35 percent since 1999 and is now at its highest rate since World War II. Health care workers in particular have become increasingly distressed, dissatisfied and burned out over the past few decades, leading to disproportionate suicide rates.