While many Coastal Virginians slipped into relaxation mode the afternoon before this year’s Fourth of July long weekend, Amber Price worked. The president of Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center called a virtual reality company and learned how their technology eases employee stress.
“You can actually go into a ‘virtual space,’ and take a five- or six-minute virtual vacation,” says Price, who holds a doctorate in nursing practice and has led Sentara Williamsburg for two years.
She plans to purchase the escape-inducing technology. First, though, she is installing swing sets behind her hospital. It’ll be the second outdoor play area she has created. Employees enthralled by the giant swing sets in the front of the building, added earlier this year, have been resisting the temptation to snag a swing, instead deferring to patients who want to hop on. A separate playground reserved for employees only will meet the staffers’ interest and protect their privacy as they take fun breaks.
Once a bedside nurse herself, Price knows the intense pressures of hospital work, especially the expectation that if a patient dies, you’re supposed to just keep going. The same stoicism used to be expected when dealing with other difficult situations such as unruly patients and demanding family members. Over time, she says, a soldier-on attitude causes hospital employees to lose purpose and motivation. Price strives to provide resources that encourage her employees to relax, spend time with each other and even say “this is traumatic.”
On-site counseling is the core of Price’s employee wellness initiatives. Her staff can confidentially visit with a mental health expert during the day at Sentara Williamsburg. Eight visits are free each year. Price reports that the therapy services are well utilized.
The same is true for the other calming resources Price recently added to the hospital. When surveyed, patients asked for soothing surroundings, and as Price contemplated creating them, she made an observation: “What’s important to our community,” she says, “is also important to our employees.”
The hospital president studied people with sensory issues – individuals with concerns from autism and post traumatic stress disorder to those with anxiety and occasional feelings of overwhelm – and designed spaces where they can isolate, stepping back from unintended triggers in the facility.
Two areas—one in the main lobby near the outpatient services rooms and one on the second floor near the operating room—are designed for decompression. Dark décor, sound-buffering, thick carpets, touch-activated changing lights on walls and on interactive tables, tactile elements, noise-cancelling headphones, fidget toys, communication aids and beanbag chairs all reduce tension for those who enter the spaces.
Leaders trained employees in sensory inclusion to help them identify patients who might benefit from the rooms. They encouraged employees to use them to destress as well.
Partnering with Alabama-based nonprofit KultureCity on the design, Price opened the rooms this spring. Along with other facility features, the spaces earned Sentara Williamsburg recognition as Virginia’s first sensory-inclusive certified hospital.
Team members can also take breaks in another stress-busting area donated by hospital construction company Spain: Called the Zen Den and located near the lobby, the room features yoga equipment, noise-cancelling headphones, reclining chairs, a mural, a large TV streaming ocean scenes and sounds and dark navy walls.
“You almost feel like you’re underwater,” says Price.
Sentara nurses and physicians worked with Price on another lounge centrally located for breastfeeding employees. It’s equipped with reclining chairs, professional-grade breast pumps, a large refrigerator and additional supplies.
“What makes someone feel like ‘we support you?,’” asks Price. “It sometimes seems like little things, but all of these things add up to say, ‘we see you, we hear you.’”
