Health system enters two-year national partnership to promote mental wellbeing and resiliency of first responders and frontline caregivers

HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced a $600,000 grant to Volunteers of America (VOA) through the HCA Healthcare Foundation and its Healthier Tomorrow Fund to promote mental wellness and resilience among first responders. Through this contribution, VOA intends to scale its VOA|ReST 4 First Responders program in targeted areas served by HCA Healthcare, such as HealthONE in Denver, Medical City Healthcare in Dallas-Fort Worth and HCA Florida Healthcare.

VOA has been providing support to military veterans through the Shay Moral Injury Center’s evidence-based Resilience Strengthen Training™ (RST) program since 2017. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, VOA adapted the program for frontline healthcare workers to process moral distress and maintain resilience and commitment to their work. The VOA|ReST 4 First Responders program is an online, one-hour small group process led by a trained peer specialist to address the experience of workplace stress and trauma.

“We are proud to partner with the Volunteers of America as they provide additional access to their VOA|ReST 4 First Responders program,” said Joanne Pulles, vice president of community engagement at HCA Healthcare and president of the HCA Healthcare Foundation. “Our frontline caregivers show incredible resilience every day, and we are honored to partner with organizations that provide support to these remarkable individuals serving on the frontlines in communities across the country.”

With the support of the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, an $80 million community impact fund focused on addressing high-priority community needs and health equity, VOA will launch a national campaign and peer support service to help an expanded group of First Responders, including fire, police, EMT personnel, hospital and emergency staff process experiences of moral distress and burnout.

“This grant means we will be able to make a meaningful impact in the lives of first responders who are struggling under the demands of their careers,” said Dr. Rita Brock, director of the VOA Shay Moral Injury Center. “There is no fix for moral distress, only the opportunity to address it through resilience building and connection, and that’s exactly what our peer-support sessions do.”

With more than 300,000 annual behavioral health patient encounters, HCA Healthcare is a leading provider of behavioral health services. In addition to patient care, HCA Healthcare promotes mental health and wellness for its nurses and caregivers through programs such as Nurse Care, a unique, free and confidential mental health program for the needs of HCA Healthcare hospital-based nurses. HCA Healthcare caregivers will also have access to the VOA|ReST 4 First Responders program.

In addition, HCA Healthcare has responded to the growing need for mental health resources and awareness through partnerships in communities across the country, including:

• Girl Scouts: In 2022, HCA Healthcare announced a $1.38 million grant to Girl Scouts to support Girl Scouts’ Mental Health 101 workshops, a series of workshops aimed at addressing mental wellness among girls.
• EVERFI: In 2020, HCA Healthcare announced a collaboration with EVERFI, an international technology company driving social change through education, to implement an interactive, mental health and wellness digital education course for middle and high school students. With HCA Healthcare’s support, the Mental Wellness Basics course has reached more than 126,000 students and approximately 1,300 teachers at 548 schools across all 15 of HCA Healthcare’s U.S. divisions.
• The Jason Foundation: In 2013, HCA Healthcare formally partnered with The Jason Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the prevention of youth suicide through educational and awareness programs that equip young people, educators/youth workers, and parents with the tools and resources to help identify and assist at-risk youth. HCA Healthcare has 13 The Jason Foundation affiliate offices across the nation. These offices serve as hubs where parents, teachers, guidance counselors, students, churches, and other community organizations can obtain educational materials and learn about training programs available through The Jason Foundation.
• Psych Hub podcast series: This year, HCA Healthcare and Psych Hub, the world's largest mental health education platform, in collaboration with Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry, partnered to create a 10-episode podcast series called “You Ask, We Answer” to bring people credible online mental health education.

Since its founding in 1982, the HCA Healthcare Foundation has awarded more than $231 million in grants. In May 2021, HCA Healthcare announced the Healthier Tomorrow Fund, which provides grants to nonprofit organizations in 25 cities where HCA Healthcare has a presence.

About HCA Healthcare

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 182 hospitals and approximately 2,300 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. HCA Healthcare has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44%. HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its more than 35 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives. Please click here to connect with HCA Healthcare on social media.

All references to “Company,” “HCA” and “HCA Healthcare” as used throughout this document refer to HCA Healthcare, Inc. and its affiliates.

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