Work-life balance is one of the most important components of a healthy work environment, especially given the unpredictable, often under-pressure environments many in healthcare work in. Add the blurring lines between work and personal life now that many are working from home and this balance is now more important than ever.
The VJH physicians know this. They know that the benefits of a work-life balance are less stress, improved physical health, increased creative thinking, and increased engagement, just to mention a few, and this results in happiness and fulfillment. Our physicians are all about making people feel better. Not only do they care about their patients, they care about the people they work with.
The Great VJH GeoCache Hunt encouraged VJH staff to get outside and move (=exercise for the body) while using GPS coordinates and written clues to pinpoint cache locations (=exercise for the mind), improving work-life balance and making people feel better. Kind of a win-win situation.
So, they created a work-life balance project by hiding 20 specially marked containers or “geocaches” in 20 amazing outdoor places and invited every staff member in every department to join in The Hunt.
⇒ Click to view the video
The Hunt ran from September 15 to October 14, 2022. Caches were removed on October 15 and entries on the attached log strips collected. Hunters were encouraged to take selfies when they found a cache, both to ensure their entry for prizes and as a safety precaution in case the caches was accidently whisked away by an animal or were destroyed. Weekly prizes draws were made from the photo entries plus a grand prize winner was drawn from those hunters who found all the caches.
The winners:
Week 1 winner = Chelsea Bateman from Lab Services
Week 2 winner = Alanna Simms from Physiotherapy
Week 3 winner = Amanda Clarke from Education Dept
Week 4 winner – Sierra Blake from Transcription
Grand Prize winner = Patricia Mallet from Speech Language Pathology