Northwell Health strengthens worker well-being with ‘stress first aid’

To strengthen workforce well-being, Northwell Health scaled a “stress first aid” program first implemented in its psychiatric hospital in 2021 to all its hospitals. The New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based health system trained 35,000 of its team members in stress first aid, consisting of three core elements: recognizing stress in oneself or others, understanding available wellness resources and taking appropriate steps to provide or seek support. Workers use a color continuum of green, yellow, orange and red to describe their stress levels, with green indicative of feeling good and red indicative of a need to seek support. Northwell posts resources in care settings to enable people to easily access and use them. It is measuring the program’s effectiveness through surveys. (HealthLeaders Media article, 6/25/26)