20 new wellness rooms opened to support the well-being of healthcare workers

20 new wellness rooms opened to support the well-being of healthcare workers

In 2022, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that nearly half of health care workers reported feeling exhausted.

Internal staff surveys show that wellness rooms can reduce stress, anxiety, feelings of depression, compassion fatigue and burnout, and increase positive mood and cognitive alertness.

June 26, 2024

NYC Health + Hospitals announced the completion of 20 new wellness rooms where staff can decompress during the workday. The $1 million project, funded primarily by philanthropic funds, was designed by WXY Studio and took two years to complete. The newly renovated lounges feature high-quality furniture, calming lighting elements, artificial plants, aesthetic enhancements such as wall graphics and decals, and works from the health system’s art collection. Wellness Rooms provide a centralized location for wellness programs, where staff can socialize and connect with colleagues, engage in peer support, learn about wellness resources internal and external, participate in well-being events and connect to their own concrete needs. They also provide a space for staff to relax, take a break and recharge before attending to patient care. The Jeffrey H. and Shari L. Aronson Family Foundation made a lead contribution to support the creation of the 20 wellness rooms. Several other donors also contributed to the project, including the Ira W. DeCamp Foundation and the George Link, Jr. Foundation.

In 2022, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that nearly half of health care workers reported feeling burned out and recently said there is a growing mental health crisis for health care workers. The Physicians Foundation found that more than 76% of physicians, residents and medical students agree that physician stigma regarding mental health still exists. Internal staff surveys show that wellness rooms can reduce stress, anxiety, feelings of depression, compassion fatigue and burnout, and increase positive mood and cognitive alertness. The Wellness Rooms are the latest addition to the health system’s investment in workforce wellness as part of the overall Helping Healers Heal (H3) program. Other programs that provide support to employees include the HHArt of Medicine program, a shadowing art program aimed at combating staff burnout and compassion fatigue, and the HHArt of Medicine Assistance Program. employees, where staff can seek outside professional mental health services.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as “a disease of the 21^st century” while the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently declared stress a workplace hazard,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Chief Wellness Officer Jeremy Segall, MA, RDT, LCAT. “Our U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has issued a warning about burnout among the nation’s healthcare workers, including the risk of severe workforce shortages in the coming years if the situation does not improve. is not set. The nation is at a boiling point where our country may be less prepared for future public health emergencies due to workers leaving the healthcare sector due to poor mental health and wellbeing. At NYC Health + Hospitals, we address head-on the adversities associated with stress, anxiety, feelings of depression, compassion fatigue, and burnout by investing in the well-being of the workforce. ‘artwork. We care about our staff so that they can in turn care for the populations we serve.

“Our family has long been committed to helping expand access to opportunity for all, and supporting health and mental health care has become a critical part of how we want to achieve that goal through our Foundation,” declared Shari Aronson, Trustee, Jeffrey H. and Shari L. Aronson Family Foundation. “Additionally, as New Yorkers, we were deeply inspired by the enduring commitment and heroism of the NYC Health + Hospitals team during the pandemic, and we realized early on that they too needed to be taken in charge. We are extremely proud to have been able to support the Helping Healers Heal initiative and contribute to a strong and lasting culture of wellness in this incredible hospital system, which supports our city and the most vulnerable members of our community every day. »

“We wanted to create a space where our staff feel supported and valued, and we are excited to open this beautiful new wellness center because we know that true wellness starts from within,” said Cristina Contreras, LMSW, MPA, FABC, Executive Director, NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. “This new center will provide respite for staff, who often prioritize the care of our patients over their own care, to take a break from a stressful day. It represents Metropolitan’s commitment to holistic health and offers a variety of wellness programs aimed at improving the physical and emotional well-being of our staff.

“We envision wellness rooms as spaces for social connection, with colorful, natural graphics that aim to nourish and support our essential healthcare workers,” said Julie Torres Moskovitz, director of sustainability at WXY, the architecture firm that designed the new wellness rooms. “This project came to fruition thanks to a wonderful collaboration of so many different voices. The results transform these neutral spaces into art- and nature-filled areas to recharge and relax, and we’re excited to see the project evolve with a life of its own now that the doors are open.

“Before this wellness room opened, we didn’t have any space to take a break,” said Jaslyn Reyes, BSN, RN, AMB-BC, pediatric clinic manager at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan“We now have a place to decompress. The atmosphere is so calming that you can’t help but feel more relaxed. »

Launched at NYC Health + Hospitals in 2018, the Helping Healers Heal (H3) program aims to help employees identify and monitor distress, build resilience, and facilitate the use of recovery and support services to adaptation. The program is anchored in national research that identifies health care providers as “second victims” of traumatic events commonly experienced in all health care settings. Since its launch, the program has grown to include more of compassion fatigue, burnout, complex and collective trauma, and much more. All H3 teams include licensed mental health practitioners and other behavioral health experts.

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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the nation’s largest public health system, serving more than 1 million New Yorkers each year in more than 70 health centers across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of neighborhood outpatient primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, the home health agency, and the MetroPlus Health Plan. of the system, all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is solely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest lives possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, TwitterInstagram and LinkedIn.