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August 23, 2022:-HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: HCA), one of the country’s leading healthcare providers, recently announced a $600,000 grant to Volunteers of America (VOA) via the HCA Healthcare Foundation and its Healthier Tomorrow Fund to boost mental wellness and resilience among first responders. Via this contribution, VOA intends to scale its VOA|ReST 4 First Responders program in particular areas served by HCA Healthcare, such as HealthONE in Denver, Medical City Healthcare in Dallas-Fort Worth, and HCA Florida Healthcare.
VOA has helped military veterans through the Shay Moral Injury Center’s evidence-based Resilience Strengthen Training™ (RST) program since 2017. In comeback to the COVID-19 pandemic, VOA adjusted the program for frontline healthcare workers to process moral distress and maintain strength and commitment to their work. The VOA|ReST 4 First Responders program is an online, one-hour small group strategy led by a trained peer specialist to address the knowledge of workplace stress and trauma.
“We are proud to associate with the Volunteers of America as they provide additional key to their VOA|ReST 4 First Responders program,” stated Joanne Pulles, vice president of community engagement at HCA Healthcare and president of the HCA Healthcare Foundation. “Our frontline caregivers show incredible stability every day, and we are honored to partner with organizations that deliver support to these remarkable individuals functioning on the frontlines in communities across the country.”
With the aid of the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, an $80 million community impact fund concentrated on addressing high-priority community conditions and health equity, VOA will launch a national drive and peer support service to help an expanded group of First Responders, including police, fire, EMT personnel, hospital and emergency staff function experiences of moral distress and burnout.
“This funding translates that we will be able to make a meaningful impact in the lives of first responders who are laboring under the demands of their careers,” expressed Dr. Rita Brock, director of the VOA Shay Moral Injury Center. “There is no impasse for moral distress, only the option to address it through resilience building and connection, and that’s precisely what our peer-support sessions do.”
With more than 300,000 yearly behavioral health patient encounters, HCA Healthcare is a leading provider of behavioral health services. In addendum to patient care, HCA Healthcare promotes mental health and wellness for its nurses and caregivers through programs such as Nurse Care, a unique, accessible, and confidential mental health program for the needs of HCA Healthcare hospital-based nurses. HCA Healthcare caregivers can also access the VOA|ReST 4 First Responders program.
