ProMedica's Mission Service Department Receives $25,000 Grant for New Front-line Workers Support Program

ProMedica is pleased to announce that it received a $25,000 grant for a new program, titled “Code Lavender: Supporting Our Front-Line Family,” from the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, an organization that supports chaplains in health care and other settings.

“COVID-19 and the issues surrounding inequality in our communities had a significant impact on the staff at ProMedica,” said Ken Papenhagen, ProMedica chaplain supervisor. “Last summer, we were looking for ways to better provide tactical strategies to improve their health and well-being, especially for our front-line staff.”

Papenhagen, along with Paula Grieb, ProMedica metro chief nursing office and vice president of patient care services, submitted a grant proposal for a crisis intervention plan to the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, which started a special fund with the Henry Luce Foundation to address impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

'We are so grateful to partner with the Luce Foundation to support ProMedica's work on staff resilience,' said Michael Skaggs, Chaplaincy Innovation Lab Director of Programs. 'Code Lavender is portable, scalable, and exactly the intervention that chaplains can make at a time when so many health care staff are pushed to the absolute limit. This project could not have come at a better time.'

A Code Lavender is an intervention that may be called by a nurse administrator, manager of any department, employee assistance program (EAP) counselor or chaplain. It is enacted to provide direct person-to-person support to the staff when the need arises. A Code Lavender may be called when staff members’ ability to function is being affected due to a stressful event or a series of stressful events.

The Code Lavender: Supporting Our Front-Line Family project includes three primary objectives:

• Create a Code Lavender support program to be used in five local hospitals with staff chaplains, and in the future with Air/Mobile and Market on the Green locations.
• Expand the chaplains’ knowledge through training in stress management, compassion fatigue and suicide prevention.
• Develop a care curriculum for staff in stress management, empathy training and suicide prevention, including self-care, team care and spiritual care.

“A Code Lavender is meant to assist staff when struggling with the ambiguity of situations, providing information and de-stressing items and allowing for the Code Lavender staff to encourage affected staff to seek appropriate levels of support,” said Grieb.

Once a Code Lavender is called, the Emergency Assistance Program (EAP) and Code Lavender team set up a response within two to twelve hours. The chaplain brings a Code Lavender cart to the department. A small gathering takes place and then the Code Lavender team individually confers with each department member.

A Code Lavender cart is equipped with items such as:

• Informational flyers related to suicide prevention and self-care.
• EAP contact information for counseling services.
• Stress management items, such as aromatherapy supplies, stress balls, colored pencils and coloring pages.
• Soon, iPads will be available to use for music therapy, meditation and other audio tools for decompressing.
• Prayer cards.

The Code Lavender team revisits the department one week after the Code Lavender is called to assess the needs for additional support.