It takes healthy and resilient VA employees to consistently deliver world class wellness care for Veteran patients.
Chief wellbeing officer for the Orlando VA, Dr. Myriam Garzon, serves as a clinician advocate who provides organizational strategy to improve clinician well-being and assists in mitigating burnout.
Garzon has worked for VA for over a decade and knows how challenging it can be to maintain good health while working in the health care industry. That’s why she is eager to assist clinical staff in finding ways to help reduce and manage their stress through new and innovative resources available to them tvia the employee whole health program.
The new REBOOT program (Reduce Employee Burnout and Optimize Organizational Thriving) was founded through the creation of a task force that identified a need to support clinician well-being across the nation.
Pictured above, Dr. Derek Szafranski, acting associate director, encourages staff to utilize important employee wellness resources to help with reducing burnout and improving resiliency.
Whole health approach enables employees to take charge of their health
Employee whole health is a program that enables and equips employees to take charge of their health and wellbeing and to live their lives to the fullest. Employee whole health coordinators Kelly Jansen and Purvi Gandhi have been offering opportunities for staff to engage in self-care and build resiliency.
They do this with new employee orientation, Whole Health 102 (a four-hour training in self-care), employee whole health coaching, tobacco cessation coaching, employee wellness classes, employee fitness centers, mindful moments throughout the week and many other offerings.
One resource that Garzon recommends to her fellow VA employees is the Mind-Body Skills Group for Employees. This group has been been offered since April 2019 and teaches ways to enhance employees’ long-term resiliency.
“The whole health coaching program for employees has been a game-changer,” says Garzon. “I have seen tremendous transformations once they have created a self-care routine that an employee can stick to even on their busiest days.”
Equipping employees to get through challenging times
In addition to mind body skills groups, the employee whole health program includes a variety of self-care resources like the employee wellbeing centers located at the Orlando and Lake Baldwin VA Medical Centers and at the Viera Outpatient Clinic. In addition, there are additional Employee Wellness Carts located at Kissimmee, Deltona, Clermont and Daytona clinics.
Employees also have access to virtual classes on stress reduction, mindfulness, and other wellness topics, and it offers a variety of resources for topics related to nutrition, exercise and sleep. Whole Health Program Coordinator Ashley Rush explains that the stress reduction workshops are incredibly helpful.
“These workshops go over important techniques that can be utilized to manage stress levels throughout the day and equip employees with the tools needed to help get them through challenging times,” she said.
Employees also have access to the whole health library, which includes videos, podcasts and other resources that are available 24/7.
“As we care and improve our employee’s wellness, we improve care for our Veteran patients which aligns with our HRO principles,” says Garzon.
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