Dear Healthcare Boss… Thank You, Your Patients and Staff

         I am not a doctor or Nurse, but I am a health care professional and as an Occupational Therapist I service adult patients alongside them. At a doctor’s request for rehabilitative services, I evaluate several skills including performance of basic self-care tasks, getting in and out of the bed, standing and transferring to various seats, walking a distance, and present muscle strength and range of motion of bones/joints. Sometimes I enter a patient’s room and they are not very kind upon approach and other times they are pleasant, but when one is in the hospital with pain or other ailments, you can never expect them to be jolly at all times during their stay. 

There are times where I get complaints about the process of being in the hospital and I do my best to explain things and answer any questions a patient might have to reassure them of my services and relay any messages as needed. The biggest gem I give each time they have an issue is that they have a right to advocate for themselves whether as an individual or with family/friend support when it comes to their healthcare needs, and they should not be afraid.

       As a healthcare worker, my motto is always to “treat people as you want to be treated.” There are times where I ask for help or ask questions and get brushed off by colleagues when my issue does not equal an emergency; this often causes frustration for me as it relates to my job of doing all I can for a patient.

      The purpose of my story is to shed some light on my experience in the hospital after hearing about the case of the baby tragically decapitated at birth; we have to learn to slow down as a society because in 2023, these events of negligence is more common than not, and should not be happening in such a developed country as in the US. In this country, we have a work, work, and more work mentality often due to companies’ productivity requirements and our need to make money for ourselves and/or family and this is one of the biggest problems we have. Sometimes we just need to SLOW DOWN. So, what are some things that I envision as a way to make some improvements in the healthcare setting; these are my dreams, but unfortunately not a reality in most cases.

1. All employees should be required to take off every 6-8 weeks: Having 1 or 2 days off at this frequency of time allows you to reset for greater outcomes in your work responsibilities especially as it relates to someone’s health
2. All employees should have one hour of lunch: Having a meal is not the only reason for lunch, it’s also a time to mentally break from the first half of your day to be more productive in the second half
3. All employees who birth a baby should receive up to 6 months of paid leave with healthcare: as a new mother your body is healing all while taking care of a new life and the stress that comes with it needs time to be managed before returning to work stress
4. All employees should have a reasonable limit of the amount of patients to be seen for the day: Being responsible for too many people makes room for mistakes that can cause tragic events to happen

       With all of this, my heart breaks for the parents who lost their child and after hearing that their request for faster treatment was overlooked is horrible and I hope nothing like this happens again. With the month of August being Black Business Month, here is the link to the National Black Doulas Association because these problems with health providers during pregnancy and childbirth occur more for black mothers in this country. If you need a supportive voice during this time, Doulas can be of great help and Dona International is another resource to help find providers.