Everyone working at Providence – staff, medical staff, contracted services staff and others – form the backbone of what we do. Your wellness was a priority pre-pandemic, and it’s an even larger priority now.
Our People priority was established as part of Providence’s Mission: Forward strategic plan to inspire people and teams, so that we can attract the best and brightest and support them to flourish.
It is the latter part – “supporting them to flourish” – that I would like to tap into for a moment. I think that we are really good at attracting the best (AKA: you!) but the reality is that many of us have been working to our limits these past two years. And it can feel impossible to flourish when we’re unable to feel replenished or recharged. Working from an empty well is unsustainable and, inevitably, can lead down a path of fatigue, exhaustion, burnout and resignation.
As many of you know, developing a cohesive Staff and Medical Staff Wellness Plan has been identified as a priority strategic initiative for 2022. I am happy to share that work on this plan is underway and is focussed on creating a work environment where we can all flourish. For those interested in learning more about this initiative, I would encourage you to please take a look the 2022 Mission: Forward work plan.
We will be embracing a more agile approach for the creation of this plan. That is, we will be building on things that we know are working, and adjusting the things that are not meeting our needs. A joint staff and medical staff wellness working group will lead the rapid implementation of new initiatives to address staff and medical staff’s unmet wellness needs.
While we work on new actions and deliverables within this plan, I wanted to make sure that you all are aware of the existing resources that are available to support your health and wellness. A summary of these resources, with their contact details, can be found here. You can also read up on some of the existing wellness resources PHC has on offer in this PHC News story.
As we continue this priority work this year, I want to encourage you all to think about what you really need for your wellness at work needs to be met, and to be forthcoming in conversations with your leaders on how we might be able to meet those needs. We will not be able to achieve everything that everyone wants, but we will do our absolute best to address the most important issues, because we all know that the better we feel, the better we can care for others.
With best wishes,
Fiona
If you have a wellness idea that could make a big difference to you and your colleagues, please send it to Ideas: Forward. If you have questions about this plan or feedback on wellness at PHC, please be in touch: missionforward@providencehealth.bc.ca.
