Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. We placed a photo of Mattie in the center of his "Mr. Sun" painting. Which Mattie got a kick out of! Mattie created this large painting (4 feet by 3 feet) alongside his art teacher in November of 2008. This painting is on display in our living room and it became the inspiration for Mattie Miracle's logo.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 28,184,218
- Number of people who died from the virus: 500,172
It was a busy day for me today! I really feel like I have made a full recovery from being sick last week. Still on antibiotics, but my energy level is back, and even though I walked Sunny in the pouring rain today, I felt like my old self again.
My day started out with a conference call with a physician. This physician is interested in conducting a study at her hospital on clinician burnout. It was interesting to hear about her hospital, the issues they are facing, and naturally the barrier to providing support to clinicians. It always comes down to money! Which is why I imagine many hospitals have developed their own in-house peer support program to help assess, triage, and provide immediate support to colleagues.
While conversing she shared with me a story about a social worker. This social worker was employed in a prison system before coming to work with children who have cancer. She said that the social worker left the prison system because of burnout. The social worker realized there was very little she could do to improve the system or to help inmates. Yet found working with children who have cancer uplifting. Mind you I don't doubt working with children and their families is empowering, but I guess I have been reflecting all day on the fact that the SYSTEMS this social worker was employed in are similar. Whether we are talking about a prison or a hospital, there are many overlaps. Meaning it is hard to change the thinking about how care is provided in any large system. Most importantly whether working with inmates or patients, there is relapse of issues and also the lack of control to improve the quality of lives of those you serve.
So why does one setting produce burnout and the other setting (which has similar restrictions) doesn't? I don't have answers, but I think it is an interesting question. Certainly trying to prevent burnout has to be addressed at the individual, professional, and organizational levels. Perhaps there were different organizational supports for this social worker between her two jobs. But at the end of the day, I have to say that it is very empowering, life affirming, and meaningful to help people dealing with a life and death crisis like cancer. It is in this very intense set of circumstances that you develop very close relationships and connections and can see how resilience, hope, and the human spirit come shining through. There is a lot that can be learned from children with cancer, and I believe they serve as role models for all of us. They teach us priorities and ways to cope with the impossible. Though not mentioned on the phone call today, I really believe this could be a factor in this social worker's life, and could explain her resilience and satisfaction.
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