The AFF supported the Zen Den during the 2024-2025 academic year, both monetarily, through donations and fundraising, volunteering, and in other ways as needed. 

In 2022, based on evidence that respite/solace rooms can help reduce staff stress and anxiety, Nursing Retention and Resiliency Council started to explore potential spaces at HMC. Later that year, Staff Support Chaplains joined the Council. Their vision also included the creation of a central space that gave employees permission to briefly disengage from their work and rest, recoup, and recharge.

While designated space was at first elusive, one day CNO Michele Szkolnicki was thinking about Pop-Up Biergartens she experienced in Philadelphia. Inspired, she asked what it would take to try a pop-up format as an interim solution and a way to build the proof-of-concept for a permanent space.

So began the Staff WEllness AREa (WE ARE!) in 2023. A mobile cart transported LED lights, white noise machines, blankets, floor cushions, and a giant memory foam mattress that a team of nurses and chaplains set up in available conference rooms and advertised. Headlining these “Pop-Up Solace Rooms” was the promise of cuddle time with our staff support canine chaplain, Skye.

With very minimal advertising, each 7-8 hr event drew 60 to 100 people. Visitors included staff from all areas – clinical, office, support, therapy and more. A common theme for feedback was that “Just 5 minutes” with reduced sensory stimulation and a home-like environment “made a huge difference.” A furry friend and a hot beverage helped, too.

The search for a permanent physical location continued, with an emphasis on making this desired resource available to more employees, over more hours, that would serve as a highly visible symbol of commitment to HMC staff and students that WE CARE about our wellbeing. Pop Ups had minimal supply costs, but required hours of paid humans to set up, tear down, reserve space, and advertise. Persistence in advocating for staff, and willingness to pilot the pop-up model in the meantime, finally paid off. The former chapel space was designated for a semi-permanent home in December 2023. A small budget got the location a new coat of paint and minor renovations. Furniture donations, sweat equity, design savvy and ingenuity fueled the final furnishing and decor.

Currently, through an underutilized sign-in sheet, the team reports over 400 unique employee and student visits per month. A badge reader for security and better utilization reporting has been approved as a next step in making the Zen Den a continually valuable and relevant space for our healthcare workforce.

For more information, contact core team members at ZenDen@pennstatehealth.psu.edu