Heroes Health Initiative

Heroes Health Initiative logo

In collaboration with the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and Google Cloud, McNeil Family Professor of Health Care Policy Ronald C. Kessler, PhD and health professionals across the country have created the Heroes Health Initiative

This initiative aims to support the mental health of health care workers and first responders during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Available as a smartphone app, the program provides weekly mental health self-assessments for individuals as well as worker outreach for health care organizations.

Kessler worked closely with Heroes Health Initiative founder, UNC School of Medicine physician and research vice-chair in the department of anesthesiology Samuel McLean, MD, MPH on designing the assessment. The questionnaire assesses key areas such as sleep, stress, anxiety, and depression that may be affected in essential workers during the pandemic.

The Heroes Health Initiative was built in cooperation with funding from The Rockefeller Foundation and Bank of America and will be hosted by Google Cloud services.