Announcing the launch of our Community of Practice and Fund

#FirstRespondersFirst and Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation Join Forces to Launch New Interactive Community and Fund in Support of Healthcare Workers’ Well-Being with an initial $1,000,000 in grant funding

Created in partnership with leading healthcare organizations, the ALL IN: WellBeing First for Healthcare website and ALL IN Fund will advance efforts to create and cultivate workplace cultures that prioritize health worker well-being.

LOS ANGELES, November 30, 2021 — Deepening their commitment to the well-being and resiliency of the country's healthcare workforce, #FirstRespondersFirst, an initiative of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Thrive Global, and the CAA Foundation that has raised over $10 million to support healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation today launched the next phase of ALL IN: WellBeing First for Healthcare, debuting a new interactive online community of practice. The ALL IN website will serve as a hub of mental health and resiliency resources, providing tools for implementation and a platform to share and engage with other perspectives and commentary from frontline healthcare workers, institutional leaders, and the public.

In addition, the organizations have launched the ALL IN Fund with an initial $1,000,000 donation, which aims to provide financial resources to implement healthcare workforce well-being solutions and/or further scale promising existing practices.

Grants from the All IN Fund will support organizations aligned with the coalition’s key areas of focus, leading with projects that modify operational processes to mitigate the known causes of burnout, programs that complement existing Employee Assistance Programs to broaden engagement with well-being and mental health support, and initiatives to support the well-being of the healthcare workforce.

“As we enter year two of this global pandemic, our efforts and donations are part of our steadfast commitment to ensuring that the well-being of first responders and medical professionals remains intact, as well as our pledge to use our resources implement and support solutions that prioritize the well-being of the healthcare workforce,” said CAA Foundation Executive Deborah Marcus. “We invite you all to join us in this journey.”

Along with funding, grantees will also receive exclusive access to toolkits, resources, webinars, and peer-to-peer support networks, alongside amplification opportunities. The fund will be invitation-only and will be managed by #FirstRespondersFirst, a fund of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation. Initial investment in the fund will be provided by #FirstRespondersFirst, the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation.

Collaborating partners include leading healthcare organizations such as The American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American College of Emergency Physicians, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, American Nurses Foundation, the Collaborative for Healing and Renewal in Medicine, the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation, Medicine Forward, National Black Nurses Association, Philippine Nurses Association of America, and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare. The organizations represent close to 300,000 frontline workers across the nation.

The initiative comes in response to a mental health crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, as healthcare workers have spent the last 20 months dealing with elevated levels of anxiety, depression, isolation, PTSD, and burnout. Each organization will commit to a set of expert-driven actions to measure efforts around workforce well-being and hold themselves accountable to achieving desired outcomes. ALL IN will also supply ongoing guidance and research on best practices, in partnership with lead collaborators.

"The healthcare workforce is experiencing unprecedented rates of burnout, trauma, and isolation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic—the most severe global mass trauma event since World War II. We are just beginning to understand the full impact of these traumatic events, but it is no exaggeration to say frontline workers are on the brink of a secondary health crisis—one that could last for generations," said Michelle Williams, dean of the faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

"Since the pandemic began, our frontline workers have risked their own health and battled burnout and exhaustion to keep the rest of us safe. That’s why it’s so important to help our frontline workers prioritize their own health and well-being,” said Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO of Thrive Global. “The next phase of the ALL IN campaign will provide an interactive community hub for this urgent conversation while also highlighting stories of healthcare leaders and professionals who lead by example. It will also give financial resources to healthcare organizations to implement new clinician well-being solutions and scale up already promising practices. I’m delighted that #FirstRespondersFirst is continuing to bring meaningful change to the healthcare workforce.”

"The ALL IN Campaign is poised to effect sustainable change where it is critically needed, and we are proud of the commitment we have made to contribute,” said J. Corey Feist, co-founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation. “It is the very least that our healthcare workforce deserves.”

"There is no question in my mind that the ALL IN Campaign is making a significant and dramatic impact on efforts to address the well-being of the healthcare workforce. There couldn't a more important time for them to engage in this work,” said Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH Professor of Medicine, Medical Education and Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Senior Associate Dean for Well-Being and Resilience, and Chief Wellness Officer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). “Our healthcare clinicians experienced considerable distress prior to COVID and many of the system-level drivers of burnout and mental health consequences have only been magnified in the wake of the pandemic. This group is helping to drive the positive change that is desperately needed in healthcare practice today."

For more information about the ALL IN: WellBeing First For Healthcare initiatives, visit www.allinforhealthcare.org.

About #FirstRespondersFirst:

#FirstRespondersFirst, an initiative of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Thrive Global, and the CAA Foundation, takes a whole human approach to addressing the needs of frontline workers in order to support their ability to serve on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. #FirstRespondersFirst’s fundraising call to action helps provide essential supplies, protective equipment, accommodations, child care, food, and critical mental health support and resources to this demographically and socially diverse workforce, ranging from minimum-wage hourly workers in home-care settings to social workers, nurses, physicians, and beyond, through its implementing collaborators Americares, Bright Horizons, CORE Response, Direct Relief, Give An Hour, Global Health Corps, Hispanic Federation, IHG Hotels & Resorts, InnerHour, International Rescue Committee, Marriott International, National Black Nurses Association,National Domestic Workers Alliance, Omada Health, Osmosis, Pivot, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, World Central Kitchen, You Okay, Doc?, Sangath, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation USA, and Médecins Sans Frontières.

Through strategic partnerships with the Johnson & Johnson Foundation and Center for Health Worker Innovation, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation, #FirstRespondersFirst equips first responders with the tools and resources needed to build their resilience and promote positive mental health while also advocating for change at the institutional level in order to ensure organizations prioritize workforce well-being. Powered by Thrive Global's behavior change platform, #FirstRespondersFirst also provides access to Harvard Chan School’s evidence-based content, specifically tailored to this critical workforce, to help improve the physical and mental well-being of healthcare workers. #FirstRespondersFirst is a fund of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that meets all 20 Better Business Bureau charity standards and carries the GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency.

About the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation

The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded by the family of Dr. Lorna Breen. The mission of the Foundation is to reduce burnout of health care professionals and safeguard their well-being and job satisfaction. Our vision is that obtaining mental health support services is universally viewed as a strength and job requisite for healthcare professionals. The Foundation has three main tactics to achieve long-term change:

1. Advise the healthcare industry on well-being initiatives that provide holistic mental health support.
2. Build awareness on mental health prevalence to reduce the stigma; and
3. Fund research and programs that seek to reduce health care professional burnout and improve their well-being.

For more information, please contact:

Meaghan Agnew

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

magnew@hsph.harvard.edu

617.291.8284

Shone Jemmott

CAA

Shone.Jemmott@caa.com

424.288.2000