What Happens in Vegas Awakens You in Vegas is not the usual saying you would associate with a trip to Las Vegas .

But that was the message brought to America’s desert playground by a Social Worker at Health Sciences North/Horizon Santé-Nord (HSN).

Gary Petingola, Master of Social Work (MSW) and Registered Social Worker (RSW) in HSN’s Outpatient Diabetes Care Service recently delivered a presentation to a group of Nephrology Social Workers at the National Kidney Foundation of America 2014 Spring Clinical Meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada. This conference brings together renal health care providers to learn new developments and best practice related to kidney disease management.

In a four-hour presentation, Petingola talked about mindfulness leadership skills for Nephrology Social Workers. Since 2007, Petingola has incorporated Mindfulness Meditation into his work with patients as well as health care professionals and leaders at HSN. Mindfulness Meditation incorporates Buddhist teachings to create a powerful tool that can help to instill feelings of calmness, improved concentration and focus, a general sense of well-being, less reactivity, reduced anxiety, improved sleep and increased compassion for oneself and for others.

“Mindfulness Meditation helps people - specifically health care professionals - to be more aware and to be more present with their patients and hopefully, able to provide better care,” says Petingola, “It has also been proven to be effective in the management of conditions such as cancer, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, burn-out, post-traumatic stress and diabetes.”

In 2011, Petingola began creating weekly meditative readings that he sends to the Council of Nephrology Social Workers in the United States and in foreign countries such as India and the Netherlands. The readings are reflective and based on his personal experiences. Each Wednesday at 3:00pm, social workers all over the world read these narratives and take part in a 5 minute meditation session. Many social workers respond to Gary’s narratives with kind words, thanking him for the experience.

“Thank you once again Gary for your weekly meditations,” writes a participant from Hawaii, “Your words and artwork paint such inspiring and comforting pictures for me."

“The way these mindfulness teachings are used at HSN now, they contribute to our vision of being a hospital without walls, where our health care provision follows the continuum of care,” adds Petingola, “It helps our staff take better care of our patients and our patients take better care of themselves. My goal is to continue to make a positive impact on patient care with mindfulness and meditative practices.”