Wellness Day Fosters Healthy Work Environment
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
More than 250 attendees, volunteers and event organizers flocked to the Bldg. 31 Conference Center to celebrate NIH’s Safety, Health and Wellness Day on June 18.
The Office of Research Services (ORS) and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) co-sponsored the event. Activities included movement classes, paint-by-numbers, biometric screenings, “around the world” food tastings and more. ORS also collaborated with a handful of other NIH offices to provide exhibit tables representing several ICs and components.
The event is held in June to commemorate National Safety Month. It calls attention to the importance of—and awards NIH’ers dedicated to—workplace safety. “Fostering safety, belonging and well-being” was this year’s theme.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
“This event is largely to help promote all the different elements of occupational safety—radiation safety, biological and chemical safety, the safety of campus,” said event organizer Roxy Grossnickle, chief, Community Health Branch, Division Occupational Health Services (DOHS). “We try with this event to really emphasize that 24-hour aspect of safety, that your mindset at home and your mindset at work drives your overall safety and well-being.”
The day also featured educational mini sessions providing tips on wellness, food safety and more.
Speakers at the event’s opening ceremony highlighted the multidimensionality of safety in the workplace.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli’s opening remarks focused on the theme’s aspect of belonging. She stressed that all community members should feel valued and safe. At NIH, there is no place for discrimination or harassment of any kind. NIH’ers must call out discrimination as they see it and be open to learning and growing.
“We all have so incredibly much to offer the world, and frankly we should not have to worry about fitting in or belonging,” Bertagnolli said. “You belong here, not as you think people want you to be; you belong here as who you are. That is what makes a place magic.”
NCCIH Deputy Director Dr. David Shurtleff emphasized the concept of holistic wellness.
“Instead of just treating or preventing specific disease, whole-person health focuses on restoring health, promoting resilience and well-being across the lifespan, which is really what today is all about,” he said.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
Several factors—NCCIH’s whole-person health approach, ORS’s partnership with NCCIH, 8 Changes for Racial Equity (8CRE) and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Juneteenth being the following day— inspired Safety, Health and Wellness Day’s focus on belonging and inclusion, said Leslie Pont, NIH Wellness Program manager and event organizer.
“It’s becoming more apparent in the wellness space that if you feel a sense of belonging, you feel mentally safe,” Grossnickle added. “So when you look at the whole continuum of wellness and safety—it all ties together.”
Safety, Health and Wellness Day also showcases just how vital overall wellness and emotional safety are.
Photo: Marleen Van Den Neste
“We were so glad Dr. Bertagnolli dropped by,” said DOHS Director Dr. Jessica McCormick-Ell. “Seeing the director attend Health and Wellness Day reinforces the message that staff safety and well-being are high priorities at NIH.”
Event attendee Lily Bisson, management analyst at the Center for Information Technology, said the special day was a great way to spread awareness about underused wellness resources available to NIH employees.
Bisson also echoed Bertagnolli’s sentiment regarding unacceptable behavior, that having a constant dialogue, calling it out, giving it a name when we see it happening and holding everyone accountable all help prevent harassment and bullying in the workplace.
“I think that’s really important for psychological wellness here at NIH, just fostering the community of collaboration and successful science that we all want as part of the mission,” Bisson concluded.
NIH’ers can watch the day’s mini sessions at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=54912.
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