C is for Care

Been back working at the hospital for a few weeks now. Initially I hesitated to go back. It is not a position I am interested in and definitely not my career aspiration. However, I have a special spot for this hospital because of personal experience and that was why I joined the project in the first place. I care about the vision and do wish the vision might eventually come true. True in a sense of real vision accomplished not any shallow media fanfare. But still at times I wonder whether the fact that I care is enough or not.

Back at the frontline helping patients is an experience that is completely different from sitting in the office putting systems and work processes together. You are actually part of the service equation that hopefully makes the day of a suffering patient better. You might not be the person to provide diagnosis or advice about treatment, or provide the actual treatment. But I believe by doing your little bit to them you help contribute making their difficult days a little bit better. I cannot say of other people but that was the reason why I agreed to go back.

The truth is no matter how important one is we cannot fight the natural process of aging and sickness. Especially for sickness as it strikes people at all ages and it is one of the most indiscriminative thing in this world. Every time you see a frail body frame coming towards you, you need to think about how you can make it better. I think this is what this hospital is about. Nobody can control the outcome but just making the journey a little bit easier could shed a little bit of light on a dark road.

One of the most important things I learned this time round is that you might think how unfortunate you are in terms of career, friendship, relationship etc. etc. but when it comes down to health nothing beats it. When I had one of the patients coming to me and thanked me for just greeting him and acknowledging his presence and then told me he felt that now he could make it to Easter to visit his sister in Perth because he wants to see her as much as possible while he can, you just have no words to complain about your own life. Does that mean I am not unhappy about certain things? No but it put me into a different perspective and appreciate what I have a lot better. And as you dealt with more people and listening to them you understand if these patients have the courage and determination to fight a seemingly unfightable battle that doesn’t seem to have an end at this stage, you can’t help but wonder why am I spending time moaning over things that are so much more trivial compared to these patients.

When I bid farewell to patients and their carers I dealt with I usually like to close off with either “Have a good rest of the day” or “Have a great weekend”. Most of them would appreciate and say thanks and some would say they would try. I didn’t say that because I want an anchor style closing but I do hope their days would get better.

Some people asked me where did I find the patience and energy to deal with situations – the answer is simple – I am truly interested in making a difference. I don’t expect everyone to have the same aspiration because that is just being unrealistic. But I do hope everyone would have a think about why they are working there and remember the motto displayed on their phones – Uncompromising Care – because only through real commitment the vision can become a reality. For me if people do not have a heart to make a positive difference to cancer care in whatever capacity they are working in, maybe it is time to think about whether this is the right place for them.

It is of course hard to keep everyone happy. However we don’t know what these patients are going through and if there is a tiny bit of thing that could make their days better without compromising our integrity, service standards or legal compliance why over-sweating about them? At the end of the day this could be a process anyone of us could go through. The hospital lost a valuable employee through the same sickness the hospital is trying to treat this year. I heard stories about how she soldiered on to deliver great care and services to patients in need while she was very sick. I personally think this should be the standard for everyone who is providing health care services.

I might be a bit too idealistic as we live in a real world but if I could stay idealistic and make a tiny bit of difference why not? You never know whether one day you could become that catalyst that sparks future changes. Yet again this sounds idealistic but I stand by it.