Ms. Benjamin,
I had some email correspondence today with an obviously dedicated biomedical technician
who was taking some heat from others in our industry. He mentioned that he was working
long hours with (implied) little recognition. I wrote him a private reply to encourage him
to persevere in his dedication to his profession, and he related the following story,
which was the first business email to ever bring tears to my eyes:
I remember someone once said, “If you love what you do, you'll never work a
day in your life." I look forward to going to my job every day. I honestly feel this
is the best job in the world, and I am so fortunate to be in this career. Just a quick
story I tell other biomeds and then I will be quiet:
One day I came in early to work on a laser in OR. They were bringing a little boy
in (about 5 [years] old), and he was clutching a teddy bear and crying. As I started to
leave the room, the nurse called my name. When I turned, the little boy was holding his
arms to me. We assumed I reminded him of his dad or something. Anyway, I held him and
showed him all the equipment in the room (and of course showed his teddy bear), and he was
instantly quiet and stopped crying. When it was time for surgery he held onto me tight,
but I took the mask and put it on his teddy bear and then on him, and he went to sleep
peacefully. He had a minor surgery and recovered just fine.
I tell people this story because our job is not just equipment, it is patient care.
I will always remember that incident because I felt that I made a difference, just
comforting some little person before they had a procedure done.
I will keep caring and will keep helping. Now, you sir, can know that you’ve
inspired me to work harder and keep the faith in my career field.
Many of you have expressed some dissatisfaction with your jobs and feel
underappreciated and underpaid. Perhaps this letter will reassure you that sometimes job
satisfaction can be found in unexpected places.
It’s About
Caring
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