To My Colleagues in Healthcare-
I have not had one day in the past 19 years when I have gone into work without some element of fear. We never know what will come through the doors. It may be someone who suffered a terrible accident, a dying child, a violent patient, or someone with undiagnosed cancer.
Focusing on kindness and gratefulness is what gets me through. Being grateful for all of the people that work in the hospital – the housekeepers, nurses, nursing assistants, medics, techs, registration staff, security guards, pharmacists, interpreters, students, residents, for all of you. The main reason I like emergency medicine is because it is a team sport. Everyone has to show up and give their all, everyone. We all have the same goal, to do what is best for the patients. And we all need to work together as one in order to meet the extreme challenges.
This is day to day life in the emergency department. You are a healer. You show up because you care. You could be doing something else. But you’re not. You are showing up in the place where suffering people go, to relieve their suffering. You show up 24/7/365. You show up when you’re tired, when you should be sleeping, when you’re sick, when your kid is sick, on your kid’s birthday, on the holidays, when you’re yelled at, kicked, spit on, punched, derided. You give the care that is needed, to the people who need it, and you do it with compassion, dignity, and respect.
And that was life as we all knew it in the emergency department, five years ago.
Then came March 2020 and something that none of us have ever lived through before. A global pandemic that is finally under control, but not before 7 million people died from the disease.
We didn’t know what it was, how it spread, how to treat it. We didn’t know if we had the safety equipment we needed. We were terrified for each other, for our families, for the community. It was in the midst of this fear and intense challenge that I saw an incredible outpouring of courage, love, determination, and endurance, from all of you that ran toward the danger, instead of running away, and also from the community that supported us. Multiple individuals and businesses donated masks, gloves, gowns, whatever they had. Volunteers bought sheets of plastic and garbage bags, and figured out ways to make us safety gowns. We figured out how to clean and save the N95 masks that we had. Researchers worked around the clock trying to find preventions and treatments.
It was a tragic and incredibly intense time. Seeing patients gasping for breath, unable to be with their family members while they were dying, because of the risk of spreading the disease. Saying their goodbyes over FaceTime.
What helped us all do it? Kindness. Compassion. You would go in because your friend was doing it. Your coworker. The people that you share life with. You wanted to be there to help those that were sick. It was so hard.
That is who you are.
Thank you for being you.
I have not had one day in the past 19 years when I have gone into work without some element of fear. We never know what will come through the doors. It may be someone who suffered a terrible accident, a dying child, a violent patient, or someone with undiagnosed cancer.
Focusing on kindness and gratefulness is what gets me through. Being grateful for all of the people that work in the hospital – the housekeepers, nurses, nursing assistants, medics, techs, registration staff, security guards, pharmacists, interpreters, students, residents, for all of you. The main reason I like emergency medicine is because it is a team sport. Everyone has to show up and give their all, everyone. We all have the same goal, to do what is best for the patients. And we all need to work together as one in order to meet the extreme challenges.
This is day to day life in the emergency department. You are a healer. You show up because you care. You could be doing something else. But you’re not. You are showing up in the place where suffering people go, to relieve their suffering. You show up 24/7/365. You show up when you’re tired, when you should be sleeping, when you’re sick, when your kid is sick, on your kid’s birthday, on the holidays, when you’re yelled at, kicked, spit on, punched, derided. You give the care that is needed, to the people who need it, and you do it with compassion, dignity, and respect.
And that was life as we all knew it in the emergency department, five years ago.
Then came March 2020 and something that none of us have ever lived through before. A global pandemic that is finally under control, but not before 7 million people died from the disease.
We didn’t know what it was, how it spread, how to treat it. We didn’t know if we had the safety equipment we needed. We were terrified for each other, for our families, for the community. It was in the midst of this fear and intense challenge that I saw an incredible outpouring of courage, love, determination, and endurance, from all of you that ran toward the danger, instead of running away, and also from the community that supported us. Multiple individuals and businesses donated masks, gloves, gowns, whatever they had. Volunteers bought sheets of plastic and garbage bags, and figured out ways to make us safety gowns. We figured out how to clean and save the N95 masks that we had. Researchers worked around the clock trying to find preventions and treatments.
It was a tragic and incredibly intense time. Seeing patients gasping for breath, unable to be with their family members while they were dying, because of the risk of spreading the disease. Saying their goodbyes over FaceTime.
What helped us all do it? Kindness. Compassion. You would go in because your friend was doing it. Your coworker. The people that you share life with. You wanted to be there to help those that were sick. It was so hard.
That is who you are.
Thank you for being you.
Spot on, Tom! Thank you for perfectly describing the daily grind, with all its vulnerabilities, challenges and leading us back to our focus as healers. A wise man once said, during difficult times “look for the helpers”…your experience, compassion and introspection is so important as we move forward in these crazy times!