ROCHELLE — In honor of National Gratitude Month in November, Rochelle Community Hospital created a gratitude tree.

RCH utilized its existing Standards Tree decal in its basement and decorated it with colorful leaf post-it notes featuring what employees are thankful for. By the end of the month, it looked like a fall tree with its leaves turning. 

RCH Marketing & Public Relations Specialist Kirby Heward also distributed information to employees and the community about the health and social benefits of gratefulness in November. 

“Our brains are hardwired to sort of problem solve and progress,” Heward said. “That often can be us looking for a problem, because we want to elevate our lives and progress from there. Sometimes from the opposite end of the spectrum, we also need to sit and reflect and be grateful for the things that we do have in order to have a more balanced life. I think it was a small initiative with things people can take for granted. I think if they start small, they can realize how much bigger of an effect it can have on their lives.”

As a community hospital, Heward said RCH’s “north star” is investing in the community and making sure its health is taken care of. Being grateful and thinking positively are aspects of health that aren’t always considered, she said. 

“It does have effects on your health in ways that you wouldn't normally expect or realize,” Heward said. “We're compassionate and we're taking care of our neighbors and everybody in our community. We would also appreciate having that investment back and people can donate through our foundation. We want the community to invest in us so we can continue to take care of the community and invest in its health. The gratitude tree is a small thing, but we wanted to show people that it feels nice to be grateful and maybe people did a little more research and thinking themselves.”

RCH employees’ responses that adorned the tree included gratefulness for family, health, jobs and spouses.

“I think those are things that we tend to kind of take for granted because they're always there,” Heward said. “And then one day something could happen and you wish you had been more positive. It's something to think about.”

RCH Dietician Janelle Stein spoke about the physical health benefits of gratefulness.

“An attitude of gratitude really does have physiological benefits,” Stein said. “It decreases inflammation. Just changing your mindset and attitude towards the positive and dwelling more on the positive really does have physiological benefits. There is no negative side effect.”