Ways to Give
Contact Us >As a healthcare professional, where do you find help after being physically or emotionally traumatized by something you’ve seen or experienced?
At South County Health, a multi-disciplinary team of professionals provides support and education for colleagues, following traumatic or challenging incidents.
Who we are
The Peer Support Team at South County includes a team of 13 health professionals - nurses, social workers, nurse practitioners, and an exercise physiologist - who are available to South County Health staff around the clock as needed.
Team members have been trained in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), a method of helping first responders and others who have been involved in critical incidents that leave them emotionally and/or physically affected by those incidents.
What we do
CISM is a process that enables healthcare professionals to help their peers understand the emotional effects that might occur after being on the front line during an event. This process also helps people prepare to continue to perform their services or in some cases return to a normal lifestyle.
Healthcare workers are subjected to a number of challenging events, including:
• death
• violence
• unexpected death of coworker
• a multi-casualty incident
• overdose or suicide
• a code or traumatic transfer
• a challenging patient or family member
• any incident charged with profound emotion
The Peer Support Team does not discuss the events process or perform a root cause analysis following incidents. The group is focused on offering education on trauma, self-reflection, basic emotional support, referral resources, and basic coping skills in a confidential and empathic manner.
The South County Health Peer Support Team was recently recognized as an active team by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, which provides training for individuals interested in becoming a part of a crisis management team, or for an organization that is dedicated to helping individuals or groups recover from incidents.
To learn more, contact Holly Fuscaldo, MSW LCSW, Case Management, Peer Support Team Lead at 788-1505 or page her through the main number of the hospital 782-8000.