Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Kris Lindstrom | Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Sonya Gordon, leading petty officer of the Women’s...... read more read more
Naval Medical Center Portsmouth’s Caregiver Occupational Stress Control (CgOSC) team hosted a coffee klatch, a social gathering for coffee and conversation, to bring recognition to their program, July 13.
The CgOSC team was formed at NMCP in 2015 to help the staff deal with the stress that can come with being a caregiver, and how to recognize and help those who may be exhibiting stress warning signs such as anxiety, depression, withdrawal from others, and a change in personal behavior.
“One of our chaplains started the coffee with the CgOSC team as an outreach event so that it would let more people know that we are here as a resource in the medical center,” said Lt.Cmdr. Erin Kerr, CgOSC team leader. “We go through training to learn about resilience and stress first aid to help out caregivers who may be having a reaction to stress, and to help them back to being ready and well.”
The program is an offshoot of the Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control (NCCOSC) initiative which was created to recognize stress in service members. It was recognized that caregivers fall under various stressors, and it’s important to take action to make sure the stress is dealt with in a healthy way.
The NCCOSC Stress Continuum model is one of the team’s assessment tools. Four different colors are used to measure an individual’s response to stress. Choosing green means you are fit and focused, ready to go (ready); yellow indicates a behavior change and distress (reacting); orange means there is more severe or persistent distress (injured); and red is confirmation of a stress injury that gets worse over time and doesn’t heal without help (ill).
Nearly 150 cups of coffee, along with a pocket-sized Stress Continuum reference card and a pamphlet describing the caregiver program, were offered to the staff. “We’ve partnered with the NMCP professional organizations, including the Professional Nurses Association, Medical Service Corps Officers Association, First Class Petty Officers Association, and the Chief’s Mess, to sponsor the quarterly coffee,” said Kerr. “This quarter, the coffee was provided by the nurses association.”
“It’s great, it’s nice to get something free,” said NMCP staff member Shirley Warner, a Women’s Health Clinic nursing assistant. “My LPN told me yesterday that they were serving free coffee,” said Warner. “I’ll take a pamphlet too so I can pass on the information.”
Since this is a voluntary program, a concern is how to sustain the program. “We know that everyone wants metrics to measure the impact of whatever it is you’re doing,” said Cmdr. Ann Marie Raniowski, Inpatient Mental Health provider and CgOSC team senior advisor. “This has been a continuous challenge because we want to make ourselves known, and we pride ourselves on not taking names or recording the encounters to make people feel comfortable by breaking down the communication barrier.”
The quarterly coffee is not only to encourage staff members to join the CgOSC team, but to make sure everyone knows the ultimate goal is prevention.
“We want to start the conversation because caregivers typically suffer in silence, and they won’t say anything until the stresses pile on,” said Kerr. “Our whole goal is to reach people early, start the conversation, recognize the symptoms of occupational stressors, and to deal with them before they reach burn out or compassion fatigue which takes a lot longer to come back from.”
“We need a good majority of our caregivers here to help continue this program on the campus, as well as at our branch health clinics,” added Raniowski. “Having a mental health background, you just know that this works – common sense stuff.”
As the U. S. Navy’s oldest, continuously-operating hospital since 1830, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth proudly serves past and present military members and their families. The nationally acclaimed, state-of-the-art medical center, including its nine branch clinics located throughout the Hampton Roads area, additionally offers premier research and teaching programs designed to prepare new doctors, nurses and hospital corpsmen for future roles in healing and wellness.
| Date Taken: | 07.13.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.16.2018 10:56 |
| Story ID: | 284391 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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