Tamara Baker tamara.lee.baker@gmail.com
Alec Higgins higginsalec@gmail.com
Lindsay Keiter lindsay.keiter@gmail.com,
Julie Torres Moskovitz julie@wxystudio.com

NYC Hospital 'Helping Healers Heal' Workforce Wellness Centers

Wellness centers in twenty public hospitals across the five boroughs of NYC. Our study group will be looking at three case studies of the twenty, in the Bronx, Manhattan and Roosevelt Island.

Creating a workforce wellness community within the hospital system with 'eight elements of wellness' at its core. The rooms, carved out within existing hospital spaces, include dedicated respite space and programs to address the wellness needs of hospital staff. Stress, trauma and resiliency training are addressed in the programs. The centers include artwork, special lighting, lounge seating for relaxation and meditation with personal space, a priority for surveyed employees. Spaces with more room and a Wellness staff person have introduced massage therapy personnel, guided medication, and arts programs. Biophilic-themed artwork was selected by staff among several scenarios for each location. Hospital staff answered survey questions about design preferences and forest and under-water themes were selected as collective themes for the various spaces amongst a toolkit of options. Due to the healthcare setting, anti-microbial and easily cleanable surfaces were required in the centers, limiting the kinds of products and accessories that could be used.
Here is a link to an article about one site in the Bronx where a ribbon-cutting recently took place with more than fifty staff joining in the festivities: https://www.norwoodnews.org/north-central-bronx-hospital-unveils-new-employee-wellness-room/

The project is people-centered in the wake of the emotional impacts of the pandemic on the healthcare workforce when over 100,000 nurses left the profession. A 'toolkit' and design survey were provided to the hospital community. With these tools, each staff member was given the opportunity to provide input in the design of the space in their workplace and colleagues led the design process with a design, facilities, and financial lead per hospital site. The design process was collective and collaborative in nature with consensus required from stakeholders. This philanthropic project had an economic and social justice lens placed on the project by including the workforce as part of the process and recognizing their well-being as essential to the success of helping patients in the hospital. The project was a bridge across an array of public hospitals that don't normally collaborate. There was not one client or one site but many clients across twenty sites. Both private and public funds were used for the project. Even though the centers are just now opening, there have already been requests by staff to expand the program. The project is tied to place because each borough has its own identity which impacts the wellness center in that place. One case study we will explore is in a senior center while others are in public hospitals, all of which serve low-income communities.

Here are the project criteria from the course assignment.
• Located in your community – Each public hospital serves a local population whether with insurance or not. Many in the hospital workforce area first generation Americans, speaking several languages, and from the communities that they serve.
• Completed or in final stages of completion. The 20 Wellness rooms are being completed by the end of March 2024. The final touches are being installed now and ribbon-cuttings are taking place in March and April for the spaces.
• Designed initially with some level of green or sustainability aspiration. The spaces were designed with people’s health and well-being in mind. That said, due to cleaning and anti-microbial requirements, the choices for material finishes were limited. Providing nature as a backdrop to having a moment of personal space and relaxation was a universal desire and this translated into artist photography as graphic wallpaper and light boxes.
• Working to bring some whole into being, not just to solve a problem. These spaces were to provide a need for ‘filling the cup of fatigued hospital workers so that they can fill others cups’ as the Wellness program promotes ‘Helping Healers Heal’ and this was a physical space that developed out of their Wellness mindfulness support program to rejuvenate staff.
• A contact person who is connected to the project and is not only willing to be interviewed about the thinking that went into it, but also has some interest in what you are learning. Ideally, s/he would appreciate and invite reflections from you after you have completed the scenario: We will be reaching out to the NYCHH System Chief Wellness Officer and a Wellness Project Manager.