There’s so much to freak out about these days, and much of it is beyond our control: the SAG/AFTRA strike, worldwide climate calamities, a Congress-stalled government, a deeply divided country, a North Korea/Russian alliance, the war in Ukraine, gun violence… I could go on and on, but why? It just adds to anxiety.

Smiles are contagious —

I can’t believe I’m admitting to this, but volunteering at the ER is actually calming during these tumultuous times because it gives me a reason to wake up in the morning and an opportunity to make the world a less combative place.  It’s like working in the United Nations of the hospital where we treat everyone, regardless of ethnicity, religion, sexual preference or political party, exactly the same. We must hear what patients are saying and respond to them in a way they can hear us. If only our politicians could do the same.

All Patients Think They Are The Priority —

Priority in Triage isn’t about who you are or who you know, it’s about who has the most life-threatening issue. Chest Pains, Asthma, Stroke symptoms, and life threatening injuries get to go to the head of the line. And everyone understands that. Or they need to. But sometimes they’re in pain or their loved one is in pain and that makes a tough situation even tougher.

I may not have control over the strikes, the climate, Congress or Putin and Kim Jong Un, but I do have the power to help ease the stress of everyone in my path at the hospital, so I’m going to focus on that… one person at a time.