Pandemic highlights the link between work barriers, child care
February 9, 2021
‘I never envisioned myself being the stay-at-home-mom type,’ says Renee Epler who worked for over 10 years as a nurse in critical care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, then in the emergency department at Springfield Hospital until the coronavirus pandemic began. She’s shown here with her 10-year-old daughter Autymn. (Valley News/James M. Patterson)
Renée Epler has been a nurse for 24 years. During that time, she’s worked in hospital settings ranging from critical care to oncology, emergency departments and operating rooms.
But around Thanksgiving, after months of working to arrange her schedule, using vacation time and finding extended family to help with child care, the 51-year-old Epler decided to step away from her full-time job and shift to per diem status at Springfield Hospital in Springfield, Vt.
The COVID-19 economy has kept an outsized number of women out of the workforce
“I never envisioned myself being the stay-at-home-mom type,” said Renee Epler, who worked for more than 10 years as a nurse in critical care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, then in the emergency department at Springfield (Vt.) Hospital until the coronavirus pandemic began. She now takes per diem work at the hospital so she can be home to help her daughter Autymn, 10, who is on an individualized education program, with her schoolwork three days a week. Epler and Autymn sat down to work on math together at home in Springfield late last month. James M. Patterson / Valley News
(The Center Square) – New claims for state unemployment benefits in New Hampshire dropped slightly in the past week as more workers shifted onto federal jobless programs.