the homage to healthcare

Healthcare heroes is a movement just recently becoming really popular. With the rise in COVID-19, healthcare personnels have been at the frontlines. In my opinion, I may be a bit biased, healthcare personnels should be recognized ALL the time. I am not talking like we should receive anything in the form of gifts, but what we ALL deserve, more than anything, is respect and kindness. Truthfully speaking, EVERYONE should be treated with respect and kindness. My, what a world of a difference that would make🥰

This is not a new concept, but I feel like the concept is slowly disappearing and/or being taken for granted. Some examples: treating housekeeping like they are your maids, demanding certain medications, and impatience. In my years of being in healthcare, it never ceases to amaze me the amount of impoliteness that people display. People would complain about their copays, their wait times, and even the the diagnosis of their ailments.

I am not saying the provider is ALWAYS right, but I am saying that they are making an informed, educated diagnosis of YOUR situation. Not every diagnosis is a textbook diagnosis; God created us ALL different for a reason🥰. Not every symptom is grouped to ONE diagnosis either. Meaning, please do not Google your symptoms or go to social media asking for advice🤦🏻‍♀️. Instead, go to your primary provider to get a thorough workup; you don’t want to miss anything important.

I have encountered many situations in which I feel like I am backed into a corner. Patients come in telling me what they WANT, instead of letting me work them up to get a correct treatment plan. This can actually slow down the treatment progression or even steer us in a completely wrong direction. If I feel like the patient is right, we can discuss it and create an individualized treatment plan together. I am ALWAYS about including patients in their plan of care. That way, they can feel in control of their diagnosis instead of feeling like the diagnosis is controlling them. I hope that makes sense. Patient empowerment all the way 🙌

One last thing I want to mention, probably the most important: be kind. Us healthcare workers are stretched thin. We have policies to keep up on one hand (management), patients on the other, and families to balance. I am by no means saying we are bringing “baggage” to work, but simply saying we are humans too. We get stressed out and anxious during the day, especially with COVID-19 creeping back up again. We want nothing more than for our patients to be healthy, but with all these new guidelines and restrictions DUE to COVID we stretched even MORE thin than before and risk supplies running out.

So, please be patient with us, be kind. Healthcare is constantly changing and we are trying to keep up with best practices to improve community outcomes. Yes, wait times may be longer and phone calls may be missed. BUT, do remeber that we are taking away time and safety from our families to help yours. We are only human and we are ALL in this together.

Be healthy and be Blessed