The positive:
I think it is great if people can go and volunteer at the hospital. I mean, it would be great if institutions would go on and admit, the model does not work, and we cannot fix it the way things are. I equate it to tell my kids, “sorry, no Disney this year,” or “no iPhone 12” or whatever for this or that reason.
Of course, health is not a luxury item like a phone or a trip to Disney.
And yet, it is.
President Trump did not get the same treatment the guy in the COVID unit at the hospital where I work got. Certainly not the same bed or the same food. Of course, I don’t know how was the hospital where he stayed, but I know that no sane head of state will spend one more minute than necessary in 5 West at the hospital where I work!!!!
And health truly encompasses so many more things than hospital stays. I’m sure I don’t eat the same food as people with more money than me, the same as I don’t eat the same food as people who can only afford to go to the Dollar store.
Now, in all this, there is a lot about how do we choose to live our lives. Or how we are able to live our lives. Which, I think it is kind of like a different ball game because you and me (at least me) may not be millionaires, but we are able to realize we need to go for a hike in the hills.
But the point I was trying to make is that having volunteers in the hospital can be great because I think that a lot of what you do as a nurse is companionship.
Not all of it, of course.
But as the healthcare system tries to push us to work as technicians with only so many minutes allocated for each patient and each task, we lose the ability to provide the so important human interaction or connection. And I think that it is a very important aspect of health. To feel valued and important.
Many times nurses complain about 2 kinds of patients.
The needy man who somehow feels that he will go out on a date with the nurse 30–40 years younger than him. They are a minority, but when they show up, guess who gets to be the nurse??? Moi!
I mean, it is not that often!
The other is the elderly who tell us his/her life story. I, personally, love this kind of patient, but it is demanding for our time. But I recognize the need to been heard.
Hey, I’m a writer, I’m craving for an audience!
And here I am monopolizing your time, so my apologies.
My point is, that even to go to the hospital and sit and listen to someone’s story can make a huge difference (for the patient and the staff). We know this. We are also readers.
(I will spare you the intricacies of doing that in the time of COVID when I think we need to assume that when going to the hospital you are walking into a Petri dish-wich may be the same when you walk to the grocery store-, but that is for a different story)
