Cooper Monitoring Staff Mental Health Amid Pandemic

Cooper University Healthcare is taking care of the mental health of its front line workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

It is the second healthcare system in the country to begin using the Heroes Health wellness app, which was developed by the UNC Institute for Trauma Recovery to better support the mental health of frontline workers and first responders, the health system announced on Thursday.

Dr. Christopher Jones, an emergency physician and head of the division of clinical research in Cooper’s Emergency Medicine Department, is part of the team that developed the app, which launched over the summer.

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Since then, Cooper is among a number of leading health systems have encouraged its staff to use the Heroes Health app. At Cooper, the app was one of many tools enlisted by the health system’s Resiliency Resource Team to help support employees during the pandemic.

While the app is designed to help to support first responders and COVID workers during the pandemic, it will also play an important role in research, Jones said.

Individual health care workers can use the app to take short mental health evaluations each week. The app displays symptom summary reports to help them better understand the state of their own mental health and changes over time.

This survey provides a brief assessment of their anxiety, depression symptoms, stress, and sleep. The app also provides links to immediate support and mental health resources, if needed.

“Data collected anonymously from many hundreds or thousands of users from institutions across the nation will be analyzed to better understand the stresses faced by frontline healthcare workers during the pandemic, and to help design mental health resources for workers in the future, for example in future pandemics or natural disasters,” Jones said. “We will also be able to analyze data anonymously to see trends within our own institution to identify any particular units or departments or types of workers that may need additional resources to cope with the effects of work-related stress before they reach critical stages.”

Use of the tool is voluntary and confidential, and the app is available for iPhone or Android versions from the App Store or Google Play Store.

Cooper physicians have worked closely with physicians at UNC and other partnering academic institutions to study mental health outcomes among trauma patients for several years, the health system said.

Since the coronavirus temporarily limited many research activities at these institutions, the study investigators aimed to use their expertise in studying mental health outcomes to help support frontline healthcare workers during this pandemic. The Heroes Health app initiative is expanding to other healthcare institutions across the country.