Canadian HealthCare Professionals and the Anatomy of an Injury

About seven weeks ago I was up at the north end of Algonquin Park camping. While  I was packing up my stuff a big brown bear came into the camp and came directly at me at which point we started to fight. In the ensuing chaos I sustained an injury to my left hand but was able to kill the bear.

Of course those that know me know that this story is absolutely false. For one, I don't camp, and two I don't even glamp. What actually happened was I was doing recycling the evening before garbage pickup day and severed the tendon on one of my fingers on a lid of a can while pushing garbage into a larger garbage bin.  It's a terrible story and I wish it was more dramatic but in the ensuing weeks I've heard more recycling jokes and more one handed man jokes than I ever thought possible. For those that know me I'm always up for a good laugh and it has actually helped me through a very long three to four month physiotherapy journey.

But this article isn't about my injury. It's about the amazing healthcare professionals I encountered from the very first time I walked into the emergency in a hospital just West of Toronto. I came in with my injury and was assessed and triage quickly at which point some world class healthcare began.

Telling my horrible story to surgeons, nurses, and intake people was interesting. One surgeon even commented, ‘you gotta come up with a better story when you're telling people because this one is just really lame’. I couldn’t stop laughing. Nor could she.

In the last seven weeks I've had surgery, I've had my tendon realigned, I've had two different casts, and have now started a long journey of physiotherapy to get my left hand working again. I don't know how healthcare professionals stay so calm, give such great advice and provide world class care with people who are so profoundly uncomfortable.

The surgeons are cool as cucumbers and the O.R. nurses are absolutely professional. Their calming words, the clear advice, their managing of expectations, and their ability to put us at ease when we're at our absolute worst is something that has impressed with over the last seven weeks during my repeated visits to the hospital and physical therapy clinics.

As I would wait for my weekly appointments I would see people in horrendous conditions far worse than me being treated with phenomenal care, professional care, and with patience I'm not sure I could entirely summon.

People are hard on their bodies, people don't necessarily take care of themselves, and then when things happen they expect so much from people who work under very difficult circumstances. I remember during CVD19 in Canada, the United States and abroad anti vaccine people would be picketing hospitals for God knows what reasons. Yet these amazing people, people we could describe as those that are in harm's way, were there to make sure that we make the best recovery possible given our own circumstances and in some cases carelessness.

Working with my physiotherapist, whom I've nicknamed Attila the Hun torture master, has expertly walked me through a series of exercises that will one day return me to 100% mobility. It's their confidence, their professionalism, and their ability to believe in our recovery that is truly remarkable.

My many trips to the hospital gave me a Birds Eye view of how truly gifted and committed these healthcare professionals are. But hospitals don't just include nurses, doctors and surgeons. The lifeblood of a hospital is also a massive volunteer corp. During one of my stays at the hospital I saw a volunteer walk over to a baby grand piano in a large waiting area. He must have been about 75 or 80 years of age. He walked over put a list of music on the piano and immediately started playing jazz, blues and classical music for a ton of people waiting with me. The spirit of the room changed instantly. As a guy with musical training, I really appreciated how good he was and the fact he could play with NO music, which actually was kind of irritating. My ability to memorize music was never very good.

As he was playing I noticed an old Polaroid photo of a woman that he put in front of him beside the list of songs he wanted to play. During one of his breaks I thanked him for playing David Brubeck tunes, an amazing jazz pianist who changed jazz in the 1950s and 60s and 70s. I asked him who the picture was of. He told me it was his wife and that a few years ago she passed away at this very hospital. It was at that point he decided to volunteer his time by playing music for all of us sitting waiting for our procedures and doctors appointments. He does it as a tribute to her. When he finished playing that day he picked up the polaroid and kissed the picture. He stood up and quietly walked away.

As a person who served in law enforcement for over 30 years I've seen healthcare professionals work under extremely difficult circumstances. I've seen many healthcare professionals during times when I've lost family members to illness. I don't know what we pay them but I always assume we never pay them enough, we don't appreciate them enough, and we really have no idea how hard it is to sit there and watch all of us go through trauma while they calmly tend to our injuries.

Over the next 6 to 12 weeks I get to work with one of these gifted healthcare professionals to improve and complete my therapy for my finger and hand. I'm at best a very difficult and impatient patient. These people are never deterred and make sure that we get the very best care. I don't hear much about healthcare professionals on LinkedIn but I thought through my experience I could highlight how truly gifted committed and generous they are. Here’s to them…