How Our Military Community ERG Supported Our Veterans
We have several Employee Resources Groups (ERG) at Carilion made up of a collection of employees who share a passion for diversity and inclusion. Each group has a mission they focus on to help Carilion achieve its goals.
Our Military Community ERG's goal is to foster a welcoming environment for all past and present military service members, their families and supporters – and they recently put into play some creative ways to support the military community.
Memorial Day Taps
Taps is the traditional bugle call to honor veterans. In light of Memorial Day, the Military Community ERG arranged to have a local bugler, Mike Hullett, play Taps near the flagpole at Riverside 3 on Memorial Day at noon. This was an opportunity to formally remember those who gave their lives in service for the United States. The event was open to all Carilion employees and the community. This is the second year the ERG coordinated this observance.
Take a moment to watch the video from the event.
Schwartz Center Rounds
The Military Community ERG worked with Phyllis Whitehead, Ph.D., clinical ethicist and clinical nurse specialist in Palliative Medicine, Deb Ferron, senior Schwartz Rounds facilitator and the Schwartz Rounds planning committee to coordinate the May Schwartz Center Rounds “Service, Sacrifice and Struggle: Navigating One’s Mental Health.”
May has been Mental Health month and it was the perfect opportunity to bring light to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as it is paramount to the connection with suicide in both healthcare and the military community.
The Military ERG helped connect the planning committee to possible panelists who could serve dual roles in both healthcare and in the military community – whether they were reserves, newly retired or transitioned, or family members.
Left to Right: Chad Runyon, Moderator; Dr. Brian Unwin, Veteran;
Adam Kozerowitz, Veteran; Shari Toomey, Veteran; Dottie Cook, Nurse
“We wanted to use the Schwartz Rounds to help reduce the stigma of military service and show what PTSD could mean for those in our community, not just how it’s viewed in movies or news stories,” says Rachel Linkous, a Military Community ERG member.
The May Schwartz Center Rounds was one of the highest attended Rounds, with more than 339 participants in-person and virtually from across the system.
