Brave Enough To Be Bliss

On November 19, 2021, I awoke at 4 a.m., rolled over to go back to sleep and had severe chest pain. My heart wasn’t beating any differently, but the chest pain was intense, so I felt I needed to have it checked out.

While I was laying in an emergency department (ED) bed around 6:30 a.m., waiting to be admitted for observation, I heard the staff trying to wake up a patient in a room near me. Having worked in healthcare administration for 20+ years, I could tell the patient was addicted to some substance by how the staff were talking to the patient. They were very frustrated, which I understood knowing the issues created when patients who don't need emergency care are taking up beds and staff time in the ED. But still, knowing what I know about trauma and being a human being who has a heart for people in pain, I was struck by the lack of compassion. A social worker was soon called to help get the patient out of the bathroom right across from my room. My healthcare experience allows me to give grace for the lack of compassion because I know how hard their jobs are day in and day out, but my heart also hurts for the patient. Ever since this observation, I have felt led to do something about the issue in order to support the exhausted hospital staff, the struggling healthcare system, and the patients who are coping the only way they can at the moment and who are not being treated with the compassion, dignity and grace all human beings deserve. The way things are handled right now is a vicious cycle where the police don’t have anywhere to take alcohol and substance abusers except the ED. The hospital ED doesn't want them because they are rarely in a true healthcare crisis that warrants being seen at that level of care. It is costly for the hospital and in these situations, there is generally no reimbursement, meaning the hospital only loses money providing the care that often isn’t truly needed in an ED. And the patient is often treated poorly and/or uses the ED as a place to get more drugs because the hospital is required to provide some type of pain control for patient’s reported symptoms. This cycle is not good for anyone involved and it just continues because no one knows what else to do. There is no hope for any type of healing in this scenario and all the parties end up very frustrated and less likely to treat one another with any level of compassion as it continues on. No one has time or energy to ask or care what happened to the patient that led them to their addiction in the first place, or to offer them any hope for a better future. I don’t have all the answers, but it’s possible representatives of each discipline could come together to develop a pilot program where police could take patients to a place with an appropriate level of medical care, thereby reducing healthcare costs, and staff it with people who understand addiction and who could plant a seed of hope for real healing through existing resources in the community. Clearly, I’m simplifying the issue as there are barriers, but when we do nothing to dig into and solve problems, there is absolutely no chance a solution will be found. I believe we can do better for everyone involved in this one. “Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to a place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.” Henri J.M. Nouwen After remaining under observation all day, I was finally able to leave early that evening. The good news was my heart was in tip-top shape, the bad news was, extremely expensive tests were run to rule out any heart issue. My primary care physician felt it must have been esophageal spasms, as typically nitro only works with that and heart-related chest pai n. I’ve had no further issues since. I tried to make some connections to follow up on the issue I mentioned above but wasn’t able to generate any interest at that time . I’m not done trying though, as I feel I witnessed that scenario so I would be aware of the issue and do something about it. I ran across this post on Instagram from Cory Buckner #talesofmedic6. “I can teach you medicine. I can teach you how to intubate, how to recognize heart rhythms, how to perform assessments for both medical and trauma patients, how to be the best most badass paramedic that has ever walked the face of the earth. But at the end of the day, I cannot teach you compassion, empathy, or heart. That is something that you either have or don’t have. Because no matter what ailment, illness, or injury your patient may

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