Ronald McDonald Houses (RMH) provide 14 houses across Canada to families of sick children with a home to stay at while their child is being treated at a nearby hospital, so families can stay together and kids can heal better. The HWHP project works with RMH Central and Southern Alberta.
Goals:
Increase the stress management capacities of staff.
Increase collaboration between departments within the two houses in Red Deer and Calgary.
Activities:
Restructure weekly team meeting to have 30 minutes “free time” without managers/supervisors to discuss wellness issues.
Provide workshop sessions on wellness for employees. The HWHP “Be a Wellness Leader” series (10 hours, 5 sessions, 2 hours each) will be delivered to staff. Stagger workshop/ staff meeting so that staff can discuss workshop topics. Workshop series would collect recommendations in its last session.
Time frame: Project implementation is set to begin mid-June and end in October.
RMH Members: Family and Volunteer Services Director Special Event Manager Human Resources and Payroll Specialist Family Life Specialist Volunteer Programs Coordinator Operation staff Marketing and resource development staff
Academic Partner: Jonathan Lai, Jonathan.Lai@ualberta.ca Jonathan Lai is a Master's student in the department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta. The focus of his studies are on issues related to aging populations. His prior research experience on workplace wellness was centered on the work and workload intensity of home care case managers.