There has been some time passed since my last blog.....My wife had a heart attack and, needless to say, this has been a profound event in our lives. I am happy to report that Judy is doing very well and being a good girl following the doctors' directions and rehab follow up. BUT THIS BLOG IS NOT ABOUT MY WIFE'S HEART ATTACK!
The events that surrounded this are really significant. While dealing with our family crisis, I had occasion to spend many hours in waiting rooms at the hospital....Trillium -Mississauga to be precise. They have one of three specialized cardiac units there and they did a grand job of their work on behalf of my wife. Herein lies the heart of the matter.
While in those waiting rooms my eyes and mind would always wander and inevitably, as I am want to do, I found my way to their posted vision, mission and value statements. I am a mission oriented person and my work calls me to focus on this constantly. So, here I went looking at their statement and wondering to myself, "Do they live it?"
Since I truly believe that the most important part of these statements is the expressions of what an organization values, that is the place I go to. That is the place where, 'The rubber hits the road!' So in my own way, I set out to assess the work of the doctors, nurses, maintenance etc. and how they all fulfill their values statements. What I found was truly inspiring.
At Trillium they espouse the values of Compassion, Excellence and Courage. In our dealings with their staff we were treated with the kindest, warmest and supportive relationships. (I must admit, I was shocked never having experienced such in other hospital settings, especially in Emerg.) The level of hospitality and the establishment of compassionate relationships with both my wife and myself gave us great confidence at a critical time.
I listened to a doctor explain heartbreaking news to a couple whose father was in his final stage of life due to a severe stroke. The doctor's courage to be honest, forthright and tender with this couple almost brought me to tears. Judy's cardiologist came to apologize to her thinking he missed the blockages she had in two arteries....and yet he had not neglected to test for these. Once found, she was on her way to recovery and while humbled, he had not played God. The professionalism of this staff was truly beyond reproach.
I could ramble on with praise and other examples where the maintenance staff were warm and smiling, cleaning up routinely around patients with the joy of providing warm hospitality. Just remarkable!
This all hit home to me in a different way. In my work and training, I always talk about how that which our organizations value must be integrated into the very fibre of our work, our personal presentation with clients, and in the DNA of our agency practice and policy. During this experience I was on the receiving end as a consumer of service and felt the vibrance of values well lived out professionally. It has caused me to renew my own commitment to living our values as people who are the service providers through Good Shepherd. This has caused me to reflect on the ways that I demonstrate how much I value a certain passion(Zeal) for this work; what are the little ways that my professional presentation is one of compassion for our people (both clients and staff); how do I show that I really value each individual person? Will I have the courage to seek reconciliation knowing more intimately my own vulnerabilities in the face of others or in challenging times?
I guess it can be inspiring to see glowing, well articulated mission and value statements on the walls of our agencies; but, really the heart of what matters most is how we make those statements alive in our own work and relationships. Thank you, Trillium, for renewing my own faith in the possibilities that this can be REAL everywhere!
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