Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2004. Mattie was almost two years old and as you can see he and Peter were having a major play session. Cars and other toys were all over and naturally why not also incorporate a large umbrella into the scene. Peter's umbrella had a way to peek out between the layers, which intrigued Mattie. To me this made for a whimsical photo.
Quote of the day: Caring can be learned by all human beings, can be worked into the design of every life, meeting an individual need as well as a pervasive need in society. ~ Mary Catherine Bateson
I went this afternoon to push the Mattie Miracle snack and item cart at the hospital. As I went from room to room in three units, I had the opportunity to witness both the caring and insensitivities of hospital personnel. You would think that being back in the physical space of the hospital would set me off, or how about passing all the rooms Mattie received treatment? Certainly I acknowledge those feelings in some way, but what triggered me at today's visit was observing the hospital food service delivering dinner. Why? Because this person was coming into the units to deliver dinner at 4:20pm! It was a ridiculous time to deliver trays of food.
I ran into Mattie's favorite HEM/ONC nurse and I observed her talking to the woman from food service who was pushing the dinner cart. She explained why delivering food to children at 4:20pm wasn't appropriate and that she should consider delivering food to the adult units first. After all, if you feed a child at 4:20pm, it is a LONG night without food until the morning. I have to remember that most families aren't as lucky as I was to have food delivered to us daily. Most parents can't leave their child's beside looking for food, and this is a problem because nights are LONG in a hospital. There is not peace! With vital checks every 4 hours, noise constantly in the hallways and bright lights. It is amazing that people go to a hospital because they are sick, because in reality the environment is toxic to healing.
Despite trying to rationalize with this food service person, she kept on rolling in her cart and began delivering food to families. It is observing this highly selfish and insensitive behavior that stayed with me tonight. In the midst of all the kindness we received when Mattie was ill, we also received a lot of what I observed today. This "I don't care" demeanor!! In fact, what I fear the most if getting sick and having to enter a hospital is contending with people like this!
There are a great deal of people who work in a hospital setting, who truly shouldn't be there. They have no regard for fear, human frailty, and forget about compassion. I have a feeling if some of these people had to live in a hospital for a week, it would be SUCH OUTSTANDING sensitivity training, that observing what I did this afternoon would be a rarity. This food service person was on her own time and with her own agenda, totally disengaged from the environment she was working in and to the suffering around her. The families made no impression on her and this left me terribly sad because I know what it is like to be at the mercy of these clueless and heartless individuals.
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