What is wellness and what does it mean to you? This is exactly what we wanted to talk about when we sat down with Krista Thompson.
The Department of Occupational Health, Safety, Infection Prevention & Control has been working hard to promote wellness activities for staff at Providence Care. When defining the goals of their wellness efforts, Krista and her team looked to our Mission. “I see wellness as the person’s overall sense of wellbeing: this includes physical health, emotional and mental health, as well as spiritual health”, she said.
To support these goals, the Department of Occupational Health, Safety, Infection Prevention and Control has been busy organizing a variety of activities for staff. On any given day of the week there are either indoor sports such as Badminton, Basketball, and Soccer offered, Pilates and Yoga classes, or a Mindfulness Meditation series that is currently being co-offered with the Department of Spiritual Health.
As our conversation continued, we discussed how moving to Providence Care Hospital and how organizing wellness activities has provided an increased opportunity for staff to intermingle. Krista commented that, “Since the move, I have noticed a shift from “St. Mary’s” and “MHS” to a collective “Us” at Providence Care Hospital.” These wellness activities have been a great venue to support this coming together. Staff, physicians and volunteers (whether they previously worked at St. Mary’s, Mental Health Services or Providence Manor) are taking advantage of the plentiful opportunities to increase their wellness, and perhaps meet a new coworker along the way.
We also talked about how the design of Providence Care Hospital and the landscape of the property have also been conducive to staff wellness. There are a number of different spaces where staff can go to eat lunch, have a coffee break, or simply enjoy the outdoors. The courtyards, the shared cafeteria, the labyrinths and walking paths are all spaces that can be used for, and contribute to, staff wellness.
I think we can agree that creating and maintaining an overall sense of wellness helps us to live a higher quality of life. We would like to extend a sincere thank you to the Department of Occupational Health, Safety, Infection Prevention and Control for their tireless efforts to support staff wellness across Providence Care.
