MISSION

CHA OFFERS RESOURCES ON CARE PROVIDER WELL-BEING

It is hard to believe, isn’t it? A year has now passed since the beginning of the COVID crisis for our country and for the whole world. It was last March that CHA staff were sent home to begin working remotely. We gathered our personal belongings, important books and documents, computer equipment, packed them in our cars and headed home to set up “virtual offices.” Surely this would be for a few weeks, right? None of us ever imagined that this new virtual reality would last a full year and beyond.

As we adjusted to working year later, and still counting, this concern for perremotely and learned the tricks sonal well-being continues and intensifies. of the Zoom world, we reached Following a number of conversations with out to you. While this lockdown members, CHA set up a new focus area on our was inconvenient in the ways we website concentrating on well-being resources. had to work differently, it was It can be found at https://www.chausa.org/wellcosting you a lot more. We were being/well-being. It contains a wealth of materials DENNIS (and remain) acutely aware of including body, mind, spirit supports; a curated GONZALES the tremendous impact of the pandemic on the health care collection of best practices from CHA members throughout the Catholic health ministry; COVIDministry across the country, related resources and research; a listing of events especially the direct caregivers — upcoming and recorded — and pertinent repuon the front lines of the crisis. table articles; resources and tools from across the Our first question was personal: globe focused on well-being; and staff contact inHow are you doing? We held formation. This focus area continues to serve our many listening sessions with members, and we encourage you to visit it often each of our committees to bet- for program ideas, support and encouragement. ter understand how you were In May, we produced a four-part webinar seenduring but also to ask other ries entitled Our Well-Being — A Webinar SeCARRIE questions: How can we help? What do you need from us? ries Sharing Wellness Resources. It shared CHA member practices, trusted wellness resources, MEYER In the early stages of the practices and programs to help all involved in McGRATH pandemic, we found there were Catholic health care identify and address immemany ethical questions and con- diate needs brought on by the pandemic, as well cerns, especially around triage of patients and al- as the eventual post-COVID reality. This series location of scarce resources. As time passed, spir- is free to all members and can still be viewed on ituality questions arose, such as the provision of our Well-Being site. Highly knowledgeable and pastoral care and the sacraments for completely experienced professionals presented the work isolated COVID patients. Soon, we began to hear being done to support caregiver and associate more and more about the impact the crisis was well-being from Providence St. Joseph Health, having on the well-being of caregivers and associ- SSM Health and SCL Health. Attendance for the ates. We heard grave concern for those staff who live version of each webinar was tremendous, and were experiencing increasing physical exhaus- the feedback we received demonstrated the great tion, fear, moral distress, compassion fatigue, need for information sharing and learning across mental and emotional stress and burnout. One the ministry.

As our ministry and country navigated the the soul of Catholic health care. many challenges of the pandemic, we continued We believe, more than ever, that the people looking for ways to support the sacred work of working throughout the ministry are the most caring for associates, patients and communities. treasured resource in Catholic health care. As In order to share best practices and get clear guid- such, CHA is committed to facilitating well-beance from you, a new task force came together, focused on the well-being of ministry associates. The Well-Being Attendance for the live version of Task Force is comprised of behavior- each webinar was tremendous, al health clinicians, human resources, organizational development, mission and the feedback we received integration and spiritual care leaders from across the ministry. Their demonstrated the great need for experience, expertise and passion information sharing and learning continue to provide great insight and creativity as the task force works to across the ministry. reexamine what it means to promote the inherent dignity of our caregivers and how to ing, resiliency and post-traumatic growth with create an environment that allows them to thrive our members. While this current crisis has unand flourish. derscored the serious challenges in our health

Aware that the opportunity to share, dis- care system, it has also provided an opportunity cuss and meaningfully connect with others is to transform the way we work, connect and build critical to sustaining well-being for the long relationships. CHA will continue to work across term, the task force put together a Conversation systems to re-examine how we promote the inGuide: Sustaining Connection for Well-Being, herent dignity of our colleagues and create a www.chausa.org/docs/default-source/default- community that allows all to thrive and flourish document-library/well-being-guide-2020.pdf. — body, mind and spirit. The discussion guide is a grab-and-go tool for anyone in our ministries to lead a conversation DENNIS GONZALES, PhD, is senior director, around well-being. In an hour, facilitators can cre- mission innovation and integration, and CARRIE ate community through connection. The guide MEYER McGRATH, MDiv, MS, is director, includes a template email invitation and open- mission services, the Catholic Health ing prayers along with resources and questions Association, St. Louis. to prompt discussion. It is a whole-person-care offering for everyone in Catholic health care.

Mindful that so many leaders across the ministry are holding these dialogues and conversations for others without having a space for themselves, CHA held four listening sessions for leaders. CHA would like to thank members of the WellBeing Task Force who have generously given These sessions followed the framework and uti- their time and insights to developing materials, lized Zoom breakout rooms to foster meaningful programs and supports for caregivers during dialogue in smaller groups. The vulnerability, the pandemic, https://www.chausa.org/ commitment to ministry and sharing of personal well-being/well-being-task-force. well-being practices were humbling testaments to