Elkin, NC, September 30, 2025 – Hugh Chatham Healthannounced that it has been recognized as a Wellbeing First Champion for 2025 by ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare. As a Wellbeing First Champion, Hugh Chatham Health has verified that licensure/credentialing applications are free from any potentially intrusive or stigmatizing language around mental health care and treatment. This means that Hugh Chatham Health teammates can seek needed care without fear of impacting their license or job.
“We are honored to be recognized as a Wellbeing First Champion,” said Paul Hammes, CEO of Hugh Chatham Health. “Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our teammates is essential to delivering safe, compassionate care to our community. By removing barriers to care and encouraging open conversation, we reinforce our longstanding commitment to creating a culture where every health worker feels safe seeking the care they need.”
Verification that any invasive or stigmatizing language around mental health has been removed from applications is confirmed annually by ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare, a coalition of leading health care organizations that work to eliminate barriers for health workers to access mental health care.
“Across the country, health workers are at an increased risk for burnout and mental health conditions,” said Corey Feist, co-founder of ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare and CEO of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation. “Many health workers feel they cannot speak up about their mental health without being criticized by colleagues or losing their jobs. Today, physicians and nurses die by suicide at two times the rate of the general population. We as a nation must better protect these lives, and I applaud our Wellbeing First Champions for their leadership to support the wellbeing of health workers.”
###
About Hugh Chatham Health (www.hughchatham.org) is a not-for-profit community health care network of physician clinics and an 81-bed acute care hospital that serves residents of the Yadkin Valley region of North Carolina and southwestern Virginia. Recently becoming part of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Hugh Chatham employs more than 900 teammates at its hospital, 24 medical practices, and home health agency. Headquartered in Elkin, North Carolina, Hugh Chatham has been nationally recognized for patient satisfaction, patient safety, and clinical quality.
About ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare, led by the The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation, is a coalition of national organizations committed to advancing a state where the healthcare workforce’s wellbeing is prioritized, and individual health workers feel valued and supported so they can sustain their sense of purpose and meaning in their work. Coalition members include AHIP, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, American College of Emergency Physicians, American Dental Association, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, American Nurses Foundation, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, CAA Foundation, CHARM, Federation of State Physician Health Programs, FIGS, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Heart of Safety Coalition, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Johnson & Johnson Foundation, Moral Injury of Healthcare, National Medical Association, National Black Nurses Association, Medicine Forward, Organizational Wellbeing Solutions, Philippine Nurses Association of America, The Physicians Foundation, the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, and Thrive Global.
