Wellness Committee

Diane Loftus, Institutional Coordinator

“I’ve come to value the act of spending time away from my phone/screen at home. So, for me, wellness is being able to spend time engaging in conversation with my husband instead of looking at a screen. Staying connected to my spouse, and not a screen is what's important.

I’m a big fan of simple self-care like pedicures, connecting with friends and family, going for a drive on the weekend with no plan, cuddling with my cat, going to the beach, reading a good book, planning our next vacation or listening to a podcast. All these things are what make me happy and keep me healthy mentally, and recharged.

I don’t hide from everything, but I try not watch the news; I can check it online. Unplugging is good for the soul.”

John Johnson, Program Coordinator of Internal Medicine

“Wellness refers to a state of adequate physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Wellness is something that we all strive to achieve in both our personal and work lives. It can be diminished by factors like stress and external or internal difficulties. We can work to improve overall wellness by focusing on positive factors and developing techniques to address specific aspects that are negatively impacting us.”

Smriti Bhatia, MD, PGY-3 Internal Medicine

“As a member of the resident wellness committee, I like to ensure that my co-residents and I remain physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy while completing our training. Residency can be an inherently stressful time, especially during the pandemic and it is important to take care of ourselves and our coworkers, identify signs of burnout and ensure early intervention and support.

I like to maintain a good personal and professional life balance, de-stress by travelling, picking up hobbies, working out and catching up on sleep. While at work, it’s important to have close and trusting seniors, leadership, and coworkers.

One should not hesitate to speak up, ask for help when needed and practice empathy. This is the culture I hope to cultivate as a part of the committee.”

Juleen Min, MD, PGY-3 Internal Medicine

“Wellness means maintaining a good balance to me. With different aspects of life including work, family, hobbies, friends and among other things, it is easy to focus on just one thing for a prolonged time. After a while, you are faced with uneasy feeling of imbalance, and you don’t feel well. I believe it is important to have regular reminders for the residents with hectic work life that caring about other things is equally important without feeling guilty, and that is the reason why I wanted to be a part of the Resident Wellness Committee.”

Vishak Kumar, MD, PGY-2 Internal Medicine

“Throughout my time as an intern during one of the worst pandemic’s events the world has seen; it became increasingly important to maintain a good work-life balance. To me, wellness is all about maintaining this balance. By making sure I have time for my family, my friends and especially myself; I can be fully prepared as well as be able to give my 100% while I am at work. To this degree, being able to destress when you are away is by far the most important aspect of wellness given the current situation and the stressors that come with it. It is this mindset that I aim to bring towards my fellow peers and the reason for joining the resident wellness committee.”

Parth Patel, MD, PGY-2 Emergency Medicine

Abdelrahman Abusaif, MD, PGY-1 Transitional Year

“For me, wellness is a comprehensive word that includes all aspects of a person’s life: occupational, social, physical, mental and spiritual well-being. I feel it’s very important that every workplace should promote all dimensions of wellness for its people, simply because every dimension of wellness affects the other dimensions directly and indirectly.”

Corinna Castillo, DMP, PGY-2 Podiatry

“Wellness means checking in with myself daily. Taking time to exercise and meditate and fuel myself with healthy foods. I find it important to find laughter with each day and do things I love weekly on my time off. Checking in on others is important also, as nurturing the bonds we have formed with friends and family nourishes us as people.”