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Team Lavender
Northwell Health
There are so many unsung heroes in health care. Every day doctors, nurses, physician assistants, administrators, and staff wake up and prepare themselves to save lives. That is the goal — the ultimate hope — that health care workers’ days will be spent bringing joy to families and making lives better. But all the good news that gets delivered can often be counteracted by the challenges, struggles, and loss experienced in health care settings and can have deep, lasting impact on the doctors and nurses who were involved. When tragedy strikes in a hospital, it’s the staff who must rally and be there for the family. But when the pain is too much to bear, who cares for the caregivers?
This video tells the emotional true story behind the creation of Northwell Health’s Team Lavender — a support group dedicated to hospital staff to provide emotional, spiritual, and physical support; discuss feelings; and explore coping mechanisms. Team Lavender’s mission is to promote self care, self-reflection, and emotional support to reduce compassion fatigue and burn out for caregivers in the hospital setting. We tapped into the emotion of health care from the perspective of caregivers — the people who must continue to move forward in times of tragedy and sadness so they can support others in their grief.
The main purpose in telling this story was to give a voice to all hospital workers who put on a brave face every day and dedicate their lives to saving others. This video was also intended to shed light on the care Northwell Health has for its employees, recognizing that Team Lavender was created to help staff through mentally and emotionally straining times.
There have been 19,000+ visits to the group’s landing page on the hospital’s health and wellness website, The Well, and an accumulated 12,000+ video views.
What was the most successful part of Team Lavender?
Sharing a story and capturing the raw emotion the staff felt during tragedy, despite the video taking place years after the original events.
What is one thing you learned from this experience?
Don’t be afraid to tell the untold stories of health care and share the vulnerability experienced from uncomfortable topics.
Contact
Gina Czark, gczark@northwell.edu