NYC Health + Hospitals Long-Term Care Facilities Open Three New Wellness Rooms and Interactive Workshops to Promote Staff Wellness
The new wellness rooms will support staff at NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter, Gouverneur, and Sea View NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter offers six weeks of staff wellness with body toning and conditioning sessions, in partnership with NYC Office of Labor Relations WorkWellNYC
Sep 25, 2024
NYC Health + Hospitals announced the completion of 3 new wellness rooms in its long-term care facilities, where staff can take a moment to step away and recharge during their workday. The co-design partners, WXY Studios, focused on comfort and functionality to create a welcoming, serene space that encourages staff to invest time in their self-care. The newly-renovated lounges include high quality furniture, soothing lighting elements, artificial plants, aesthetic enhancements such as wall graphics and decals, and works from the health system’s art collection. The new wellness rooms will support staff at NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter, Gouverneur, and Sea View.
“Wellness Rooms for healthcare staff provide a vital sanctuary, fostering resilience to reduce burnout, ultimately enhancing both personal well-being and care delivery. Access to Wellness Rooms reduce compassion fatigue, feelings of stress and sadness, and have the opportunity to promote greater focus and positive mood. Wellness Rooms for our NYC Health + Hospitals staff provide essential moments of respite that enhance overall health and engagement. It is our hope that our staff feel valued and equally important as the populations that we serve,” said NYC Health + Hospitals System Chief Wellness Officer and Assistant Vice President of Human Experience Jeremy Segall, MA, RDT, LCAT, FPCC.
“Self-care resources, like our wellness rooms, create work environments where our employees can thrive and maintain a healthier balance amidst life’s challenges,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Senior Vice President for Post-Acute Care Khoi Luong, DO. “Our holistic approach to employee wellness benefits the mind, body, and soul; promoting a healthier workforce and improving the overall care experience for our residents.”
“Selecting works from the Arts in Medicine collection to be included in staff wellness spaces is an important part of supporting the mental health of our workforce. Research has shown that being surrounded by artwork promotes healing and creates a sense of calm and positivity. If our workforce feel inspired and valued so will the patients and families they serve,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Assistant Vice President Larissa W. Trinder, MPA.
“I’m proud to have been part of this project, which not only enhances the atmosphere of our facilities but also prioritizes the emotional and mental health of our team,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Director of Capital Budget for Post-Acute Care Ezra Bryan, Assoc. AIA. “I welcome more of these spaces and opportunities throughout our facilities, as they are vital to ensuring our staff’s well-being. In the end, by caring for ourselves, we are better able to care for others.”
The wellness rooms provide a centralized location for wellness programming, where staff can socialize and connect with colleagues, engage in peer support, learn more about internal and external wellness resources, participate in wellness events, and connect to their own concrete needs. They also provide a space for staff to relax, take a break, and rejuvenate before tending to patients and residents. In addition to wellness rooms, the system’s long-term care facilities have incorporated physical wellness activities like Mindfulness Meditation, Yoga, Pilates, and Zumba as well as creating opportunities for spiritual support groups through facility chaplains.
“At the outset of WXY collaboration with NYC Health + Hospitals’ Wellness team, we wanted to create a model for how to engage with staff to reveal the best design solutions that support workforce community. By incorporating design input from staff and collaborating with each unique community across twenty locations, we’ve created spaces where employees can either enjoy solitude or connect with colleagues, all while being surrounded by art and nature,” said Julie Torres Moskovitz, Director of Sustainability for WXY, the architecture firm that designed the new wellness rooms. “These daily recharge moments will be integral to personalized wellness plans, and we are excited to see how they flourish under the guidance of the Helping Healers Heal Wellness team.”
“We are grateful to have the wellness room, it’s more than just a space, it’s a symbol of the commitment to the well-being and health of everyone who works at Gouverneur,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Gouverneur Chief Executive Officer Susan Sales, MPA, FACHE, LNHA. “The serene space offers a satisfying opportunity for all of us to take a moment for ourselves, away from the hustle and bustle of our daily responsibilities.”
“We are thrilled that our wellness room is available to all of our team members. Sea View staff work tirelessly to ensure the needs of others are always met with love and dignity and now it is time for them to invest in their own health by resting and recharging,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Sea View Chief Executive Officer Matthew Levy, LNHA, MHA. “To the Sea View team members who always go above and beyond, this space is for you!”
NYC Health + Hospitals has aligned all its workforce wellness programming to 8 dimensions of wellness:
- Emotional – coping effectively with life and creating satisfying well-being for oneself.
- Environmental – Understanding how your social, natural, and built environments affect your health and well-being.
- Financial – Feeling informed with current and future financial well-being including preparing for short/long term goals and emergencies.
- Intellectual – Recognizing creative abilities and finding ways to expand knowledge.
- Occupational – Finding personal satisfaction and feeling valued in one’s work.
- Physical – acknowledging the importance of physical activity, nutrition, and sleep.
- Social – Developing a sense of connection, belonging and support of others.
- Spiritual – Discovering a sense of greater purpose and individual meaning.
“The staff are excited with the opening of Carter’s wellness room, it offers them a safe space to relax, rejuvenate and decompress from those busy moments,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter Chief Executive Officer Floyd Long, LNHA, MBA. “We are also proud of our collaboration with WorkWell NYC to offer physical wellness activities to our staff, which are an essential part of their wellbeing. An engaged workforce translates into a positive experience for our patients, residents and their loved ones.”
Physical activity plays a major role in keeping our minds and bodies healthy. Through the WorkWellNYC Partner Program, NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter hosted a grant-funded fitness workshop available to staff for six weeks, promoting physical activity through body toning and conditioning. This workshop provided tension relieving techniques to relax sore muscles, improve blood flow, and help reduce stress.
“WorkWell NYC’s mission is to have the healthiest workforce in the nation,” said NYC Office of Labor Relations Assistant Director Ayana Mbonu. “Self-care is key to long-term wellness, and having a space at work to nurture healthy practices is invaluable. We are delighted to support the wellness efforts of NYC Health + Hospitals.”
Launched at NYC Health + Hospitals in 2018, the Helping Healers Heal program (H3) is aimed at helping employees identify and monitor distress, assisting in resilience-building, and aiding the use of recovery and coping support services. The program is rooted in national research that points to health care providers as “second victims” of traumatic events commonly experienced in all healthcare settings. Since its launch, the program has grown to be more inclusive of compassion fatigue, burnout, complex and collective trauma, and more. All H3 teams include licensed mental health practitioners and other behavioral health experts.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Rafael Dominguez, NYC Health + Hospitals/Post-Acute Care, 646-694-4910
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About NYC Health + Hospitals/Post-Acute Care
NYC Health + Hospitals Post-Acute Care is comprised of five skilled nursing facilities (SNF), a long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) and adult day healthcare program. There is a total of 2,099 inpatient beds in the SNFs and LTACH. Carter, Coler, Gouverneur, McKinney, and Seaview have all consistently earn Four- & Five-Star Ratings awarded by CMS. In addition, Carter, Gouverneur, McKinney and Seaview have been recognized by US News & World Report as one of the Best Nursing Homes in 2024 for long-term care and short-term rehabilitation; Newsweek ranks Carter, Coler, Gouverneur, and Sea View in the Top 10 of Best Nursing Homes 2024 in New York State; McKinney ranked in the Top 30. For more information, visit https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/postacutecare.
About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.