Southern Hills Hospital pavilion
Las Vegas, NV - Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center is now offering support for colleagues dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The therapy called, "Caring for the Caregivers, is being run by the hospital's behavioral health unit, the Pavilion.
Clinical psychologist, Dr. David Gennis will also be leading the efforts. He says they decided to do this after seeing the need.
"Caring for the Caregiver is an opportunity to provide immediate, real-time, in-person emotional support to our nurses, physicians, social workers, and all team members by providing a forum to vent, process, and connect," Dr. Gennis said. "It is an opportunity for front-line staff to debrief, vent, cry, to make sense of their world, and to re-energize themselves to prevent burnout and to manage the heaviness pertaining to Covid-19 and the impact it's having on our community, our nation, and the world. Caring for the Caregiver is coming together to support each other as a team and as a team we will overcome this challenge together."
The therapy is to support frontline workers dealing with the trauma and stress of caring for an influx of COVID-19 patients. To accommodate any person who needs help, there are different options available from group therapy to individual support. The team also set up multiple "time out comfort rooms throughout the hospital, so colleagues can take a minute to relax in a peaceful environment.
"Even if some of our colleagues aren't dealing with COVID-19 patients, most are in some way feeling the effects," Vice President of Behavioral Health, Jennifer Riedel said. "Our hospital team is still coming to work every day and now some are having to worry about their children being out of school, and possibly their family members being laid off work. We want to be a support for them so they can continue to provide our patients with the highest level of care."
The Group support is run every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday twice a day. The hospital also offers confidential counseling 24/7 via phone.