Over the past year, workers in the restaurant industry faced a slew of challenges. From layoffs due to COVID, then often long hours working in a hot kitchen with a mask, all the while worried about keeping themselves healthy during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

On this episode of Run The Pass, Host Andre Natera talked with Hemalee Patel, an internal medicine physician with a nutrition and lifestyle medicine background, for a unique episode about burnout, health, and wellness in the restaurant industry.

One of the most important things Patel notes is that health and wellness are tied to your environment. Not just your surroundings, but the people you are around, as well. Healthcare is trending toward a more integrative approach to medicine, and it includes emotional well-being, as well as physical.

“There’s so much evidence that when you take care of yourself, it not only increases your well-being, it also increases productivity, efficiency and improves a company’s ROI." -Hemalee Patel

“I have a lot of family who work in the hospitality industry,” Patel said. “I think healthcare and hospitality are very similar in that you provide a service, and the outcome of that service is dependent on the experience.”

She noticed that during COVID, her family had a ton of stressors. The industry had to shift constantly, from being close to having to reopen for business suddenly. This meant employees had to ramp themselves up to show up for work. According to Patel, this emphasized the stress of burnout in a profound way, who noted that taking care of oneself became more critical than ever.

“There’s so much evidence that when you take care of yourself, it not only increases your well-being, it also increases productivity, efficiency and improves a company’s ROI,” Patel said. “You really get the best outcomes from people and maximize outcomes.”