Page 33 - White Plains Hospital Annual Report 2020-2021

Many employees also didn’t want to burden friends and families by sharing their intense experiences. “They were afraid of scaring people. That came up a lot,” notes Himmelstein.
The Care Code team helped employees to absorb and sift through these emotions. “While we could not change the reality we were all facing, we were able to be with [staff members] and share in the pain together and provide a sense of cohesiveness and connectedness,” explains Care Code member Toyoko Yasui, RN, the Hospital’s Holistic Nurse Coordinator.
As the pandemic evolved, so too did the Care Code visits. When the number of COVID-positive patients began to wane in the summer, they saw subtle shifts. “We learned that the healthcare workers didn’t necessarily want to be celebrated as heroes anymore. They just wanted an interpersonal touch, and smaller
acts of appreciation,” explains Laura Romeo Sobel, the Hospital’s Volunteer Services Manager, who initiated the Origami Heart Project based on that desire. She enlisted dedicated Hospital volunteers, who missed interactions at the Hospital and wanted to give back, to make origami hearts with uplifting messages tucked inside; ultimately, they distributed more than 1,700 hearts to hospital staffers to provide a small boost of inspiration.
The Care Code members say the act of giving care to staff provided them with positivity throughout the crisis. “Being able to be part of something that was entirely good and was focused on being connected as humans, it was like the lifeline through all the craziness,” shares Sobel.
Adds Yasui: “Doing this gave us a sense of meaning, hope and gratitude.”
2020-2021 ANNUAL REPORT
31