by Nick Jacobs

The hospital is full. There was one, male bed available today in the entire hospital, one. The emergency room has been packed this week-end, and each and every employee has been pushed to the maximum to continue to provide Planetree quality care to our patients and their families. We have not had any respiratory influenza this fall or winter, until yesterday, but it was only one case. This may be a preview of the next several weeks.

As we made rounds this morning, department by department, it was clear that we were dealing with the "A" Team. It was like observing the insides of a well-oiled machine. We contacted dietary and had their parent company deliver hundreds of large cookies that we personally distributed through the hospital to the employees to thank them for doing a great job.

We watched each department and each floor to ensure that we had appropriate coverage, and every patient and family member with whom we came in contact were queried as to their care, their feelings about their care, and how we could assist them.

After going home we continued to call in throughout the evening to check on the status of the medical center and our employees.

It worked today because we love our employees. We care about them, and we don't hesitate to let them know. No one is taken for granted. No one is a number. Everyone of them can feel it, and understand that it is real.

It's taken me a lifetime to get here and a lifetime to have the opportunity to prove that raising your voice, being dictatorial, tramping on people to get what you want, and causing people to shake and hate is NOT the way it needs to be. It's about "Doing unto others as you would have others do unto you." It's about working together for common goals. It's about caring for the people who do the job because they will take care of the people who need the care. That's what health care could be. That's what health care should be!