Seeking behavioral health support for your residents and your staff should be accessible at your fingertips! MediTelecare™ has expanded our services and technology to give you the best available support by helping you identify residents at risk, easy access to behavioral health care, and additional resources for your staff.

Coping Strategies

Residents and staff alike can use these behavioral health “first aid” coping strategies to feel supported during this crisis:

Express your feelings and thoughts

  • Develop a list of goals for the future

  • Start keeping a journal

  • Write a thank you note to someone who has helped you

  • List what you are grateful for

Share and connect with others

  • Knit baby blankets or hats to donate to a hospital

  • Share a favorite recipe

  • Send a letter or email to a loved one, old friend, or acquaintance

Use creative outlets

  • Color, draw, or doodle

  • Play music, dance, or sing

  • Listen to a podcast or radio show

  • Read a book or magazine

  • Look through a photo album

Stay active

  • Stretch, or when possible, take a walk

  • Practice mindful breathing

Escape reality with your imagination

  • Reminisce of the past and share stories with others

  • Close your eyes, visualize a favorite place and revel in the moment

How MediTelecare™ Can Help:


Support For Facility Staff

Compassion Fatigue

Compassion Fatigue is the emotional and physical reaction to caring for others without being able to refuel and tend to one’s own needs. Facility staff may be suffering now more than before, as they spend countless hours caring for patients as they battle this infection.



Common Signs


  • Exhaustion

  • Frequent absenteeism & disconnectedness from loved ones

  • Change in personality, anger, or irritability

  • Decreased ability to empathize and care

  • Feeling burdened by patients

  • Trouble separating work from personal life

  • Loss of hope



Remedies


  • Create an open space for staff to discuss thoughts, feelings, & concerns

  • Foster a sense of community

  • Offer opportunities for supervision & peer support

  • Encourage taking breaks

  • Provide access to trainings

  • Validate all mental health concerns

  • Be transparent with facility information and updates

Mental Health First Aid

Mental health “first aid” refers to the strategies that frontline healthcare workers can deploy to provide emotional care to their patients during a crisis. These interventions can be incorporated into caregiving to alleviate distress and establish an improved emotional connection with residents.

Below are tips on how to integrate compassion into patient interactions:


Acknowledge the individual’s anxiety and validate that this is a frightening, overwhelming time “These are difficult times for all of us.”

Use your own feelings of fear and uncertainty to understand your resident’s perception better “I worry, too, but we are all in this together.”

Use phrases that convey understanding and offer support “I understand how afraid you are, and I will do my best to keep you safe.”

Model health behaviors and attitudes “I find that when I am feeling overwhelmed, calling a close friend helps take my mind off of things.”

Self Care

Self Care are the activities and practices individuals take to maintain and improve their mental health and overall wellbeing. Practicing self care can help frontline workers prevent experiencing burn-out and compassion fatigue.



Self Care Tips & Tricks


MediStaffCare


MediStaffCare expands our telehealth services to frontline healthcare workers as they cope with increased emotional distress from the adverse effects of the pandemic.

Facility staff can contact (877) 742-6922 to participate in MediTelecare’s educational webinars for resources on topics including Trauma Informed Care, Mental Health in a Time of Crisis, and other relevant topics for senior care providers.

Email customercare@meditelecare.com or call (877) 742-6992 to provide your staff and residents support during these challenging times.

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