Wellness Wheel Challenge Engages Health PEI Staff

“When I received the email about the Wellness Wheel Challenge, I thought it might be something fun to try and that it might help keep our staff engaged,” said Holly Paynter, nurse coordinator on the pediatric ambulatory (day) care unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). “The challenges felt like common sense things that we know we should be doing, and the staff wide challenge helped us to be accountable to something each month.”

Throughout 2023, the Health PEI Employee Wellness Team encouraged staff to participate in the Wellness Wheel Challenge. There were eight challenges that covered a range of wellness topics, including physical, financial, emotional, environmental, social, spiritual, occupational, and intellectual. In all, 3533 Health PEI staff participated in at least one of the challenges, with 45 staff completing all eight.

Holly was one of the staff who completed all eight challenges.

“I was trying to be consistent and do the eight, as they had a different target area. I thought it would be nice to try and complete all the challenges, to challenge myself.”

     – Holly Paynter, Nurse Coordinator, Pediatric Ambulatory (day) Care Unit, QEH 

When thinking about her takeaways from this initiative, Holly felt she connected most with the mindfulness challenge.

“It’s not something we always make time for in our day to day lives. We must do the financial piece, we must do the ‘get moving’ piece, but mindfulness was something I was lacking, and it helped me bring more of that into my day. It’s helped me get back into reading a book or picking a tarot card daily, just doing what works for me for mindfulness.” 

TaraRose Stewart, an RN at the QEH who has been working for Health PEI for almost 36 years and is on the Health PEI Employee Wellness Committee, also completed all eight challenges.

“I wanted to try them all and be an example to others. It allowed you even just five minutes to yourself. It helped me do things I wouldn’t normally do, like meditation and listening to podcasts, it got me out of my comfort zone.”

     – TaraRose Stewart, Registered Nurse, QEH

TaraRose found the environmental challenge to be the one she enjoyed the most. “I took my husband along with me, and we walked on trails we'd never explored before. We also visited lighthouses that we previously visited but hadn’t been for many years.”

When thinking about how the challenges have impacted her life, TaraRose said, “I find that in my own personal life, I’m more patient with my loved ones. I also realized that I don’t have to be the doer and the fixer of everything. I’m doing more for me.”

TaraRose also lost 30 pounds. “I had started to walk and lose weight, I had a goal I was trying to reach, and the challenges really helped to encourage me to keep moving. It made me care about myself more, made me step back and realize that I am just as important as everyone else, and it pooled over to my husband, we did a lot of the challenges together and encouraged each other.”

Learn more about the benefits of working for Health PEI.