It's not a job where you get to see people at their best.
People involved in health care deal with the cranky, the suffering, the angry, the sad, the belligerent. They patch wounds, put in IVs, run test after test, and not only witness death, but have to deal with families overcome by loss.
We really don't give these people enough credit.
Doctors, nurses, paramedics, licensed practical nurses, special care aides, lab technicians, X-ray technicians.... the list goes on and on. All of these people are vital to our existences. They do what they do because they feel it's what they are meant to do.
They don't get a lot of appreciation for it either.
Though they are bound by privacy regulations that they all take seriously, you get an idea, after talking to some of these health practitioners in generalities, what their lives are like, and it's not all glorious, helping people like they do.
They get kicked and scratched, hit and poked by people in crises who don't understand what is going on, why they need help, or that they are getting help. They get abuse hurled at them by those who are frustrated. They get cried on by those suffering. They have to cut people open to make them feel better; and give them news no one ever wants to hear.
Not great things to face workday after workday.
Yet they do it, again and again, and remain among the most gentle souls you'll ever meet.
They genuinely care about people, all people, and want to do their best for them.
They put themselves into situations that can be dangerous or at the least uncomfortable in order to make others feel better. They drag themselves out of bed because someone needs help. They sit up all night with someone who is dying, so that they don't leave this world alone.
They do things most of us are too selfish to ever think about doing.
We need to say thank you to them more often.
And we need a little objectivity when we need them, coupled with a little understanding about what their lives have been like that day.
Don't yell at your doctor if it takes a while to get in to see them. Just be happy you have a doctor to see.
Don't try and fly by that ambulance dealing with a collision on the highway. Stop and let them do their work without worrying about getting run over.
Don't get mad at that nurse who took too long to check on you in your hospital room. You have no idea how many people he or she is looking after that day.
Maybe aim to be the best part of their day. Because you wouldn't want to deal with their worst.
