By Blair Kent, administrator of Intermountain Medical Center
Have you ever felt like old tires? Like you’re worn down, out of balance, or low on air? Feeling that way makes everything harder. Bumps in the road are more pronounced. We’re more likely to have problems getting where we’re going. I feel that way sometimes; I think all of us do. I also think most of us are good at using the resources we need to maintain and repair our physical health. We get check-ups. We eat right. We exercise. We get patched up when something goes wrong.
But how often do we get the emotional help we need? How often do we pull into an emotional tire repair shop? We have a good one right here at Intermountain—our Employee Assistance Program (EAP). You and members of your family can call them anytime at 801-442-3509 or toll-free at 1-800-832-7733 to schedule an appointment. All the support they provide is free and confidential. They provide counseling, crisis help, family support, and training, including 15-minute CARE sessions, which are virtual emotional wellness classes. Reaching out to EAP doesn’t mean you’ve failed or you can’t cope. It means you’re protecting a key component—maybe the key component—of your overall health.
The warning light came on in my wife’s car a couple of weeks ago. It said: Check your tires. We looked at them. I used my mechanical skills to notice there were four of them, and they were all round. We decided we needed additional help, so we took the car into a tire shop, and they said everything was okay. But the light stayed on. I tried ignoring it, but you can only do that for so long before whatever little problem you have becomes a big problem. So we took her car to the dealer, and they saw a nail in one of the tires, which the tire shop (and I) had missed.
It would have been easy to say, “It’s only a small nail!” or, “Look, 75 percent of our tires are just fine! We’ll just carry on.” But we feel better wherever we go because we fixed it.
My ask today is: Check the tires of your emotional health. If they’re low, remember the EAP and call them for a check-up. Why? Because you’re important to everyone we serve. And because we need you.