American Medical Association, American Nurses Foundation, American Hospital Association and Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare join call to action from #FirstRespondersFirst and Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation to prioritize frontline worker well-being and mental health.
LOS ANGELES and CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pledging their commitment to the well-being and resiliency of the country's healthcare workforce, #FirstRespondersFirst and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation, in collaboration with the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Nurses Foundation, the American Hospital Association (AHA), and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, today launched ALL IN: WellBeing First for Healthcare, a call to action for healthcare organizations to commit to the creation and cultivation of workplace cultures that prioritize health worker well-being.
The initiative comes in response to a mental health crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, as healthcare workers have spent the last 14 months dealing with elevated levels of anxiety, depression, isolation, PTSD, and burnout. The organizations joining the initial launch represent close to 300,000 frontline workers across the nation.
"Over this past year of supporting, engaging with, and listening to frontline workers, we have learned that in order to truly ensure the resilience of individual healthcare workers, we must also focus our efforts on promoting and sustaining the change that is needed within the organizations and systems in which healthcare workers operate," said Michelle Williams, dean of the faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, one of the campaign's founding partners. "The ALL IN campaign is designed to convene various organizations, associations, and systems that are adapting and advancing health worker and employee well-being solutions in the name of our collective well-being."
Organizations that join the campaign will publicly declare their leadership's commitment to the well-being of their workforce. ALL IN will provide a roadmap for institutions to invest in and cultivate environments where their workforce feels valued and supported. Collaborating organizations will commit to a set of expert-driven actions to measure efforts around workforce well-being and hold themselves accountable to achieving desired outcomes. ALL IN will also supply ongoing guidance and research on best practices in collaboration with lead collaborators AMA, AHA, American Nurses Foundation, and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare.
"Our health care heroes have long experienced high levels of stress and burnout, and COVID-19 has only amplified the problem," said J. Corey Feist, co-founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation. "The ALL IN campaign is a critical step in bringing together health care leaders from across the industry to design a workplace where the healthcare workforce feels valued and can sustain their sense of purpose and meaning in their work. We are so grateful for the commitment from our collaborators and are hopeful that this important issue is at last gaining the attention it deserves."
"As healthcare workers continue to step forward, it's vital that we continue to support them," said Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, another campaign founding partner. "By convening key players committed to advancing healthcare worker well-being, this campaign will ensure we keep the spotlight on frontline workers' mental well-being and resilience. Together, we will drive a culture shift where healthcare worker well-being is truly a priority for leaders and organizations — and where workers themselves feel supported in the ways that matter most."
About #FirstRespondersFirst:
#FirstRespondersFirst, an initiative of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Thrive Global, and the CAA Foundation, takes a whole human approach to addressing the needs of frontline workers in order to support their ability to serve on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. #FirstRespondersFirst's fundraising call to action helps provide essential supplies, protective equipment, accommodations, child care, food, and critical mental health support and resources to this demographically and socially diverse workforce, ranging from minimum-wage hourly workers in home-care settings to social workers, nurses, physicians, and beyond, through its implementing collaborators Americares, Bright Horizons, CORE Response, Direct Relief, Give An Hour, Global Health Corps, Hispanic Federation, IHG Hotels & Resorts, InnerHour, International Rescue Committee, Marriott International, National Black Nurses Association, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Omada Health, Osmosis, Pivot, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, World Central Kitchen, and You Okay, Doc?. Through strategic partnerships with Johnson & Johnson, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, #FirstRespondersFirst equips first responders with the tools and resources needed to build their resilience and promote positive mental health while also advocating for change at the institutional level in order to ensure organizations prioritize workforce well-being. Powered by Thrive Global's behavior change platform, #FirstRespondersFirst also provides access to Harvard Chan School's evidence-based content, specifically tailored to this critical workforce, to help improve the physical and mental well-being of healthcare workers.
About the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation
The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded by the family of Dr. Lorna Breen. The mission of the Foundation is to reduce burnout of health care professionals and safeguard their well-being and job satisfaction. Our vision is that obtaining mental health support services is universally viewed as a strength and job requisite for health care professionals. The Foundation has three main tactics to achieve long-term change:
SOURCE Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation
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