01/04/2023
A special message to my friends who work in healthcare:
By now, we've all heard what happened to Damar Hamlin in Monday night's football game in Cincinnati. Some, perhaps, even saw what happened. I did not.
Now, I am in no position to speculate clinically on the cause, the incident or the treatment plan; but I've worked with dozens hospitals and practices all over the country for a very long time, and I am qualified to tell you this.
Damar Hamlin is not some iconic sports star - I mean, he is, but he's also just a 24 year old kid, living his dream. He's somebody's brother, boyfriend, neighbor, teammate, etc. More important, he's somebody's son, and his proud mother was in the stands that night when she watched her son collapse on the field.
Like any mother, she made her way to the field to comfort him (heck, she probably leaped over entire sections in the stands to get there). And I saw on the news coverage that she rode in the back of the ambulance with him.
And that's where the story begins.
If you work in healthcare, you, necessarily, get somewhat desensitized to a lot of trauma, disease and the day-to-day of healthcare. Everything is, and must be, completely clinical - if you're going to do your jobs at your best. But to us "mere mortals," healthcare and hospitals can be very scary. No one vacations at a hospital, and few people ever want to be in the hospital, even as a visitor. It's foreign. It's an anathema. And it's frightening.
Just imagine how absolutely terrified Damar's mother was in the back of that ambulance, with the crew attending to her boy, as they rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center's Emergency Department. Here they are, in a distant city, with people Mrs. Hamlin doesn't know, and it's obvious (even to us mere mortals) that it's life or death, touch and go, for her son.
Whether they were pulling up to the best hospital in the country (which, btw, is Cleveland Clinic) or your local community hospital, the people on duty in that Emergency Department that night were as good as healthcare gets for Damar and his mother, at least at that hyper-critical moment. As patients/families, we're just scared to death, and we know nothing about the practice of your craft. Again, it's just foreign - and extremely frightening - for us. We are praying for you to help.
And that's the takeaway for my friends in healthcare.
You alone, every one of you, have the power to make a difference for that patient and that family - to be as good as healthcare gets.
So, when you go to work today - or tonight - remember that, for every patient or family you encounter on your shift, you are as good as healthcare gets for them at that moment. That's a huge responsibility. And a huge opportunity.
After all, if you pause to really consider the subject, you didn't get into healthcare to become frustrated with Administration, Leadership, staffing cutbacks, staffing shortages, insurance, or handoffs - none of the things that can easily occupy you day, your mind and your attention. You got into healthcare because you wanted to help people.
Kudos to the ED staff on duty last Monday night in Cincinnati - every doc, every nurse, every tech, every lab person, every radiology guy, every pharmacist, every intake person, every media relations person - everyone who made the most terrifying night Mrs. Hamlin ever had be just a little bit more bearable. Because you were there. And because you chose healthcare as a profession.
Let's continue to hope that Damar Hamlin makes a full, speedy recovery.
In the meantime, thank you from every mere mortal in the world.
