Anonymous Grant Provides Frontline Workers a Place to Recharge

Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts has been awarded a $115,000 anonymous grant to create a "recharge room" to help medical workers recover from pandemic stress. The pandemic has taken a significant physical and emotional toll on medical workers. Frontline staff have witnessed an unfathomable amount of death, suffering, and grief. With this grant, Mercy Medical Center was able to partner with Studio Elsewhere to design a break space with multisensory, natural elements to help staff relax and recharge.

These rooms are designed to promote a sense of safety, calm thinking, empowerment, connectedness, and hope. Through an immersive experience that includes music, scent, visuals, lighting, and sound, colleagues are transported to a preferred environment such as a twilight lake, serenity beach, or redwood forest. The space is customizable, allowing coordination of sounds, sights, and smells based on mood. Research shows that integrating natural elements into interior spaces is beneficial for health and well-being and can significantly reduce stress levels and increase control resulting in less need for pain medication, fewer doctor errors, better sleep, and improved outcomes.

"This generous gift ensures that our colleagues have a place where they can refresh and find respite, said Bradley Harmon, Executive Director, Mission Integration, Mercy Medical Center. Many thanks to Dr. Ari Kriegsman, our colleague care team, and all who made this possible."