Words from Long Ago Resonate Today

Good morning!

It’s the last Friday of the month, when I normally would answer your questions.  But the release of our 1,000th recovered COVID-19 inpatient earlier this week sparked a memory that I feel inspired to write about today.  So I’ll look forward to answering your questions next week.  In the meantime, have a fun and safe Halloween.

The memory I’m thinking about is of words spoken to me by a resident when I was a medical student:

“You are stronger than you think you are.”

The resident was and still is a friend, but not a close confidante.  I imagine, if asked now, the person who said those words to me would not even remember saying them.  Eight words of advice given during a casual conversation, but those words have run through my mind thousands of times since they were uttered in the early 1990s. 

Those words gave me courage when I was a resident, facing the daily challenges of new and uncertain clinical situations.  Those words gave me strength when I was a new faculty member and a young mother, facing the impossible task of making it through each day without succumbing to the overwhelming sense that no thing and no one had been sufficiently tended to.  The moment-by-moment efforts to prevent yourself from drowning in the needs of patients, children, spouse and life.  (For all the parents out there balancing life with young children – I feel you!  It is a wonderful, special time, but also full of tough moments.)

Many times over the years, sometimes daily, the voice in my head said, “You are stronger than you think you are.”  And you know what – that voice was right.  This statement was true for me over and over as I faced challenges and fears and self-doubts and still forged ahead.

What I also know to be true is that YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE.  YOU, the Medical Center family collectively, and YOU as individuals.  I have seen so much evidence of that strength.

I have spoken with many of you who have drawn deeply from internal reserves and brought more to the table than you knew you could.  You have cared for and ministered to our patients tenderly and in ways we might not have imagined last year.  Nurses, doctors (including our wonderful residents), respiratory therapists, techs – all who touch our patients – you have honored our duty and privilege to provide excellent care for our precious patients. You are stronger than you think you are. 

Despite the many uncertainties that are our reality right now, you have charged forward to conduct the business of the Medical Center.  You have found the strength and the positive, innovative spirit to teach our students and set a (near) record year in research funding.  Faculty, research assistants, techs, administrative assistants, veterinarians, course coordinators, academic affairs deans and student affairs deans – kudos for a job very well done. You are stronger than you think you are.

You have opened new facilities full of promise and continued to provide all the critical support and infrastructure services necessary.  To our police officers and our staff in housekeeping, food services, DIS, facilities, HR, finance, fundraising and to ALL of you who keep the machine running – pandemic or no – you have our deep gratitude.  We couldn’t do it without you. You are stronger than you think you are.

Our students are doing their very best to adjust to the disruption of the pandemic and somehow get to know their classmates while working to advance their education.  It is hard.  It is a struggle.  Students, we know how hard you are trying.  Keep trying.  You are our future. You are stronger than you think you are.

To our chaplains, our chairs, our deans, our chiefs, our directors, all of our leaders, and to our communications team running point, keeping us all informed – you are doing a great job.  We depend on you to provide strength (that perhaps sometimes you don’t feel) to others.  To be a model of resilience and patience.  To encourage, to reassure and to boost spirits.  To demonstrate grace and wisdom. You are stronger than you think you are.

This has been an unprecedented, historic year.  Unimaginable, really, from a year ago.  It has tested all of us.  Loved ones have died, people we care about have lost jobs, and work and school are stress-inducing in unfamiliar ways.  Aren’t we all tired of living in “unprecedented times?”  I will be glad when we no longer hear our reality described in that manner.  But, here we are.

And for the time being we have to persevere.  How do we do that?  It is different and personal for each of us.  Each one of us has a unique way in which we recharge and find some joy during these unprecedented times. 

Our celebration of our 1,000th discharged inpatient on Monday was one of those joyful moments.  It was a moment to pause and recalibrate our perspective and to experience the joy and the success that single patient represents. 

To all of you: Find joy.  Celebrate the little things.  Celebrate the big, important milestones (like we did Monday). And always remember – You are stronger than you think you are.