by Nick Jacobs

After 20 years as a non medical observer in a health care setting, some of my greatest observations regarding personal change have come through my own interpretation of the results of brushes with mortality. It’s interesting how the human mind works, the depth of denial that we persuade ourselves to embrace and the creation of sometimes self-created turmoil that helps us avoid the daily realities that are occasionally too emotionally unforgiving to acknowledge.

Typically, we go on until we hit the well-known, proverbial brick wall that causes us to stop, rethink our future and make decisions as to how we should attempt to proceed.

The most extreme outcome resulting from these near death, life threatening and often life changing experiences, has been my observation as a lay medical person of primal change. So many times people have entered my life with a terminal or near terminal diagnosis, survived that illness and come back to a life that even they had never imagined. This brush with death made them realize that they were either lucky or, in fact, selected to stay a while longer and potentially make a difference. This is what I refer to as the sickness epiphany.

Don’t get me wrong. There are still plenty of us who hit the wall and happily return to the life that brought us to that event. What is that quote that is attributed to Benjamin Franklin? You know, the one that I used to think of when I practiced my trumpet for four hours a day, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

On the other hand, we have all seen the heart attack victim who, after smoking heavily for 45 years, stops cold turkey without hesitation and then tells every smoker he knows how awful the habit is for them. It is has also not been uncommon to begin a discussion with someone who had a physical scare, and then decided to quit their job or change their marital status. Finally, we have met those individuals who were barely hanging on to a spiritual thread when they faced death and found their faith. It’s the epiphany. "It came to him in an epiphany what his life's work was to be!"

Some people decide that their new found life should be spent more at home, in church or at play. We have all heard the well worn expression, “No one on their deathbed ever says I wish I had worked longer hours.” On the other hand some survivors become passionate toward causes, i.e., helping similar patients face the same situation that they survived. Still others have decided that they will take the time they have left and work to literally change the world.

It is this type of purpose driven existence that can have a phenomenal impact on all of us.

A little over three years ago, I faced death. When I realized what many people have embraced for decades, that each day was truly a gift, my initial response was, “Why me? Why was I saved?” As I searched for that why, it came to me that at least one purpose for still being here was to change the way health care is being delivered.

Co-incidentally or maybe serendipitously, another individual from a completely different background met with me today to discuss the fact that his life had taken a similar health twist. His passion, as described by him, was literally to change the way that health care is delivered.

We only have about 4500 more hospital to change in order to make this transition.