“Many thanks to WRAMC for supporting Nurses Week and to helping hands for an incredible experience.”

Caring for the Caregivers at Walter Reed

Annually since 2005 we have offered a Caring for the Caregiver Clinic at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Caring for the Caregiver Clinic provided acupuncture and therapeutic bodywork to nurses, doctors, chaplains, social workers, physical therapists, administrators and support staff.

The goal of the program was to offer services to restore and renew the nurses who care for all those coming to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) for treatment: Soldiers, their family members and others who receive the services of WRAMC. At the heart of Caring for the Caregivers is a belief that nurses who care for individuals impacted directly and indirectly by military service in wartime are themselves subject to special stresses and would benefit from a stress-relief program.

Throughout the three days of the 2007 program, participants were invited to a designated area in the main hospital building at WRAMC. Here they were offered a choice of group ear acupuncture and three forms of bodywork – seated massage, mini-Zero Balancing® sessions and Seva/Stress Relief Acupressure. These services were free of charge to participants and were available for 12 hours on each of the three days. The program ran from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day to ensure that each shift of nurses had access.

For more information, click here to view the report and click here to view the appendices, “Caring for the Caregivers: A Report on a Stress-Reduction Program for the Nursing Staff at WRAMC".