NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx (NCB) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 24 as the public hospital unveiled a brand-new, employee wellness room. Jeremy Segall, assistant vice president of human experience at NYC Health + Hospitals said of the occasion, “The opening of the workforce wellness room is a pivotal moment for permanence of well-being across our system, to have a workforce wellness room where people can come to take time to connect with their own concrete needs.”

 

NCB representatives said the new staff wellness room is designed to create a space where employees can take a break and rejuvenate. Segall said the room was also to ensure that employees were, figuratively speaking, filling their cups up so that they could, in turn, fill up the cups of others.

Inside the room, the walls are painted a calming dark blue and it has comfortable seating spread throughout. On one wall is a chart depicting the “8 Dimensions of Wellness.” It reads, “Wellness is defined as an active pursuit of new life skills and becoming aware of, and making conscious choices towards, a balanced and fulfilling lifestyle. There are eight dimensions that contribute to a more successful existence.”

 

According to the chart, the eight dimensions include environmental, spiritual, occupational, financial, physical, social, emotional, and intellectual. “We’re always saying you must take care of yourself to be able to take care of other people,” Seagall reiterated.

He added that healthcare workers across the country have been leaving the workforce at large since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to research conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), 100,000 nurses left the workforce during the pandemic.

 

“People are leaving due to feelings of stress and burnouts and day-to-day demands weighing on them personally and professionally,” said Segall.

 

Just last year, as reported at the time, NCB hospital employees were given a larger parking lot and a shuttle bus service to and from the lot, after staff expressed safety concerns about getting to and from their parked vehicles.

Seagall continued, “Today’s wellness room is a pivotal moment to say you are just as valued as our patient populations, that we [would] not be able to provide the high-quality, safe care that we provide to others if we do not take care of you, our employees.”

 

NYC Health + Hospitals has opened numerous other employee wellness centers within its network all across the City in recent years. As reported, this included one at Jacobi Medical Center in Morris Park in August 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Though not part of NYC Health + Hospitals, a Family Wellness Suite was also opened in the the presence of Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan in the Tremont section of the borough in April 2022 at Tremont Neighborhood Health Action Center, coinciding with Black Maternal Health Week.