4th of July at Saint Joseph's Emergency Room

Many of you know of my retirement plans. For two specific reasons, I plan to make my residence outside of the USA. The first reason is purely economic. I can not afford to live here with any measure of dignity on the retirement income that will be mine. The second reason is my disillusionment, even discouragement, with the state of the growing mean-spirited, self-focused, unkind, materialistic, disrespectful and generally fractious atmosphere that pervades our culture. I want out! I want kindness… consideration… respect… care… gentleness… even harmony in the last decades (if I am so blessed) of life on this orb. Well… brace yourself… I had an “out of reality” experience today that was initiated by Elaine (my ’gift from Life’ sister) when she showed up at my front door and asked “Can you please take me to the hospital right now?” And here is what unfolded.

We went to Saint Joseph’s Hospital’s emergency room. Now all of you are thinking what I was thinking… “This is going to be a complete pain in the… well in every conceivable place.” I was certain (based on recent experiences with my Dad’s hospitalizations and news accounts of mergers of hospitals to improve corporate “bottom lines”) that we would be cast onto some industrial-style “conveyer belt” of herding through excruciatingly frustrating forms to be filled, uncomfortable seats to be sat in while enduring the interminable waiting… and waiting… and more, and more (you know… just what you expected when I mentioned “HOSPITAL.”)

Surprise!… Surprise! We were met at the entrance (you heard me correctly… THE DOOR!) to the emergency room by a courteous and engaging staff member who asked the nature of our need. And REALLY focused on us and displayed genuine interest and concern. Well, I must say that I was quite taken aback. We were then handed off to a person behind the desk who was… I hope that you are seated… efficient, and gracious… I know… knock me over with a feather! We were escorted with a group of three other patients, through several sections of the emergency department with each patient being deposited in their respectively appropriate place, with Elaine and I ending up in the CDU (Clinical Decision Unit.) It was there that we were to spend some six hours while the staff tried to discover the genesis of Elaine’s pain. And it was here that I received the blessing of having my cup of appreciation and admiration filled to overflowing.

Let me start with what I learned about Andrew (a gift from Poland)(learned solely through observation and only the briefest of verbal interaction.) Andrew is a professional health-care giver (I know neither his title nor his level of professional education or rank… I would surmise that he (at minimum) is a registered nurse or nurse-practitioner). He has an uncanny gift of being able to focus on some intensely demanding document or form whilst being completely in tune with all of the dynamics of an ever changing environment all about him… and responding to that environment with efficient and compassionate care and humanity. He earned my unbridled admiration and respect within the first of what was to be many hours of observing him in action. Humor without pandering, care without pampering, efficiency without disattachment, all are tools wielded with aplomb by him. If ever I had to choose one individual to face a challenge with, I would choose an Andrew.

Then there was Angie… a registered nurse (of fifteen years [if I recall correctly]) at St. Joseph’s Emergency Room. Angie struck me, initially, as somewhat detached from the ebb and flow of the combined energies of that section of the operation… then I began to understand the reason for the “detachment.” Angie was embroiled in a battle with an unknown assailant trying to steal away the life of the patient just on the inside of the door that Elaine’s bed was parked outside of (there seemed to be a rather full house and each room had a bed outside of it that was occupied as well.) The lady inside of that room was in a battle with death, and Angie had allied herself with that woman to fight the best of possible fights against the unknown weapon being used against that lady. I watched, and listened, as Angie discussed with other staff possible tactics and methods (responding to many suggestions with “I’ve already tried that.” It was obvious to me that this was someone who was determined to leave no stone unturned in searching for a remedy to the lady’s (Angie referred to her as “My Patient”… not a room number or formal last name… but a very personal “My Patient“) decline. When the Adversary ultimately won, all eventually left the lady’s room… save Angie… for a long time. When she emerged, it was in tears… tears that were with her in despondent and agonized loss until Elaine and I left. Here was a woman… a trained and committed professional… who genuinely cared. I heard her say “She begged me all morning to not let her die” and I knew, without question, that Angie gave every measure of herself to meet the request of that woman… “Her Patient.”

And all the while, I watched others of that facility's staff, go about their calling with concern for and involved interest in the needs not only of their charges… but each other. The nurse who reassured Angie that she need not be concerned about medical charts that required her attention during the time that she had her focus demanded by the needs of a woman facing the ultimate conflict. This unnamed nurse told Angie that she had attended to the administrative requirements for her, and that there was no need for concern. Un-asked… just sensitive to and caring for another. And at the center of all of this meshing of operational gears… in the midst of a quietly humming mechanism of intricately blended personalities, talents, needs, egos, and responsibilities was a man of Gibraltar qualities who moved smoothly from one situation to the next with near-invisibility. He moved within an environment of unstated, but clearly evident respect from each participant in that symphony of instruments known as the CDU. So unassuming was he that I had to enquire as to who, exactly, he was and what his official status was. As I had surmised, he was the conductor of the orchestration that was meeting the needs of so many people in so many varied ways today. He is Doctor Lyon. An Emergency Room Physician who has chosen a professional path, that he has served in for thirty years, ministering to the physical requirements of every imaginable sort and kind of individual with every imaginable (and some unimaginable) variety of health complaint. No “Specialist” he. No pedestal does he look down on the throngs from. He is at the heart of the day-to-day fray, balancing all of the resources available against all of the demands brought against those resources. An amazing man who spoke to us with involved interest, intelligence, humanity, and care. How refreshing!

So, today, in the midst of this cultural desert of uncaring, unconcerned, self-absorbed Me-ness… I found an unlikely oasis. I drank from a well-spring of refreshing compassion and genuine concern. (Made more real and less metaphorical by Angela… who came by several times during our visit and asked if she could get us any refreshment, more comfortable chair for me, blanket for Elaine. Thank you Angela for the cranberry juice.) My parched spirit was relieved by the shade of caring hands outstretched to unknown strangers seeking relief. I am renewed by a visit to the little outpost known to our community as St. Joseph’s Hospital Emergency Room. And, for the first time in a very long while… I am encouraged about… us!

I thank you Saint Joseph’s Hospital Emergency Room Staff… named and un-named… all.

Your admiring and inspired Friend and Servant, John-Michael


IMAGES through the gracious courtesy of Jon Sullivan, PDPhotos.org