I try to make each hospital safety huddle that we have every day at 9 am. Recently, after safety huddle, I came down from the fifth floor to the first and was making a mad dash back to my office for a conference call. As I traveled down the hallway by the chapel, I noticed a person who seemed very upset.
So I did what I normally do and I stopped to ask her if I could help her in any way. She proceeded to tell me that she had just called a law firm and she was suing “my” hospital for kicking her mother out to a place she didn't want her to go. As I processed her words “suing the hospital,” I collected myself, calmed down all the thoughts that were traveling inside my head and tried to calm her down.
As I began to talk to this person and gather the facts, on one hand I was upset that she felt she needed to sue us and on the other hand I was happy that she was so involved in the care of her sick loved one. As I started to piece the puzzle together, it really came down to the fact that she wanted her mother to go to another one of our facilities that was full. I placed a daily call to the facility over the next two days and worked with their administrator to try to fit in this patient. With a little bit of my help and a whole lot of fortunate timing, a bed opened up and the patient was able to be transferred to the family’s first choice facility.
The very next day I was given a card with on the front of the card were those “two powerful words”: THANK YOU. You see, this patient had been in our hospital for over 25 days and the ICU wanted to thank me for helping facilitate getting this patient to their desired facility. I was blown away that the staff signed the card and recognized me, when what I did took so little time. Their card reminded me of two more powerful things:
1. Our value of “We are in it together.”
2. Sometimes the smallest things to us make an enormous impact to others and also make a memorable and meaningful moment.
I want to thank the ICU staff for the card and making me feel appreciated. It definitely put gas back into my tank.
Thanks for all that you do!
Talk soon, Jason