Photo By Ricardo Reyes-Guevara | BETHESDA, Md. (March 31, 2022) Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's...... read more read more
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BETHESDA, Md. (March 31, 2023) – Anytime there is a change from how things have been done, especially a significant change such as MHS GENESIS, the Department of Defense’s new electronic health record system, it can be accompanied by heightened stress and anxiety until it becomes the new normal.
For U.S. Navy Capt. Chaplain Chris Hester, department chief of Pastoral Care, and his team, part of their pastoral support to Walter Reed staff during this time, means going throughout the hospital gathering MHS GENESIS-related stressors and challenges, and relaying it back to the MHS GENESIS team experts.
“To mitigate stress, the Pastoral Care team went from floor to floor learning what issues our staff was having,” said Hester, a native of LaGrange, Ga. “We took the information back to MHS GENESIS experts so they too could better engage and help alleviate some of that stress and anxiety.”
Together with relaying information to the MHS GENESIS team, providing counsel when needed is also essential to the Pastoral Care team’s MHS GENESIS-related support, and Hester says support is available as long as the staff needs it.
“We’re here to help mitigate stress via a “ministry of presence,” said Hester.
With a very robust command religious program that provides and facilitates a variety of religious faiths and spiritual traditions, Pastoral Care services at Walter Reed are not limited to those who identify as religious or spiritual. Team members are trained to provide emotional and psychological support to anyone in need, regardless of their faith background, ensuring everyone feels comfortable seeking assistance when they need it.
Just like members of the MHS GENESIS Pay-it-Forward team, the WRNMMC Pastoral Care team is committed to offering assistance and finding ways to support those in need during the hospital’s transition to MHS GENESIS.
For staff or anyone looking for support from the WRNMMC Pastoral Care team, visit walterreed.tricare.mil/Patient-Resources/Pastoral-Care or call 301-295-1510 Monday thru Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., or after hours at 301-295-4611, option 4.
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About Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is one of the nation's largest and most renowned military medical centers. Recently dubbed "The Nation's Medical Center," we represent the joining of the "Best of the Best" in military medicine when National Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center came together in September of 2011, to form Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as decreed by the Base Realignment and Closure law of 2005.
About Pastoral Care at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Pastoral Care offers confidential spiritual care, consultation, and education to patients, families, staff, and students to promote dignity and enhance resilience and mission readiness.
Confidential, compassionate spiritual and emotional support is available to people of all faiths and those with no faith at all.
The Pastoral Care team of multi-faith chaplains, contract clergy, volunteers and enlisted support staff provide support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and serve on healthcare teams on every patient unit and are aware of many referral sources.
| Date Taken: | 03.31.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2023 12:46 |
| Story ID: | 441684 |
| Location: | BETHESDA, MARYLAND, US |
| Hometown: | LAGRANGE, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 227 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Pastoral Care Offer Support to Staff Following Walter Reed Transition to MHS GENESIS, by Aisha Lomax, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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