Angels On Your Tree, Angels Around You and Me

       "...they had horrendous diseases to deal with despite a shortage or even a complete lack of proper medicines or personal protection, getting little or no sleep, little in the way of recreation - yet they banded together to provide...In the middle of a malaria infested jungle...they worked around the clock in operating rooms and open air field hospitals, those band of angels..." (From a review of Elizabeth Norman's 1999 book "We Band of Angels" which, with only a few minor insertions/deletions, approximates a more contemporary story unfolding before us, about yet another 'Band'...)

       I ordered "We Band of Angels" for a special nurse in the life of out family shortly after she embarked on her nursing career, answering a call similar to that of her grandmother (I remember the day she quietly disclosed to us, while working in an assisted living facility even prior to completing her degree, "I think this is my calling" -- little did she know what awaited). I don't recall where I first came across a review of the book, nor does it matter. When I give a book as a gift, in addition to writing a personal note inside the cover, I frequently attach a sticky note asking to borrow the book, if they would recommend it. As a rule, I don't read it first, as it is now their book. This was an exception, as I was for some mysterious reason compelled to read beyond the inside cover, after which I could hardly put it aside. I also realized I only had about a week before giving it away, applying assiduous effort in not spilling coffee or leaving energy bar crumbs as clues that I peeked. 

Spoiler Alert: Well, not really...the story, which has precedent in history and one which is playing out in 'real time' (if we bother to look anymore), is thematically about a superhuman feat accomplished by women and men who banded together to provide care for wounded and sick soldiers 'left behind' in the Philippines, during an acutely dark time for the allied forces in WW II. Silence all your technology and preoccupations, and take a moment to visualize what it would be like for your leaders to abandon you, leaving you with whatever forms of "do your best" messages they could muster, being told it was for a longer term victory, that they would eventually return (as we know, General Douglas MacArthur and Company did eventually wade back on shore, in 'humble triumph'). You know with a great deal of certainty, even with yesterday's communication systems, it was only a matter of time you would find yourselves in the hands of the enemy, with rumors aplenty swirling of the atrocities you might experience (one of the lesser told 'miracles', according to the women interviewed, is that they were generally spared such treatment). I invite and encourage you to read the full account but as you continue your visual reverie, fast forward to February, 2020 and you are now a health care worker, first responder, or otherwise find yourself on the 'front lines'...you start hearing rumors about this COVID enemy, invading from a foreign land, arriving at our shores, with vivid stories of the atrocities it could ravage among our families and friends. You are told you may likely be the last line of defense between COVID and a horrible outcome. We start banding together...

'Meager Advice': We soon learn, apparently to the astonishment of some leaders, that we have been 'left behind' with meager protective gear, lacking in both quality and at a per capita ratio approaching that of the lifeboats on the Titanic. And the patients start flooding into the ER's, ICU's and overflow areas that serve as our own makeshift life rafts. The waters keep rising...After which we start experience ourselves as surrogate parents, spouses, and siblings to the loved ones left behind, those the families were forced to abandon to us. We band together on their behalf, for each and every patient and his/her family, regardless of whether COVID or not, taking no time to ask how they may have acquired the disease, whether through inadvertent contact or recklessness. 

Time Out (Not!): Like aspiring Olympian athletes, thespians pursuing their star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, or anyone answering a call in life, we can and do periodically experience burnout and have learned to guard against it, more so with experience. Gradual burnout or more acute, like when marathoners 'hit the wall' around the 20 mile mark the first time around. We learn to take a 'time out' to refresh, take a breather, get out and enjoy fresh air before returning to the quest. Before we become depleted, prior to losing the joy of the journey, before complete burnout and depression grips us. And we may even regret 'answering the call'. But for too many of us, the pause is brief these days, insufficient in quantity and lacking in places left on our wards in which to seek sanctuary. This, accompanied by a tsunami of negative news and rumors on social media that we are part of some conspiracy, some health care 'scam'. We band even closer together, away from the din, seeking shelter in the storm...

Abandoned Again(?): We are now smack dab in the midst of what others outside our hospital walls are referring to as a 'second surge'. Inside, We Band, while having better and more abundant PPE's are developing a 'love hate' relationship, as the same PPE's designed to protect you and me, are wearing us down. At the same time we are hearing a chorus of complaints outside the walls about simply wearing a piece of material over your nose and mouth for a few hours at a time. We do not ask for free meals, parades, or banners draped over balconies. We only plead that you don't abandon us in our moment of great need, as we do our very best, while becoming ever more tired and weary, while providing life saving care for you and yours. Please BAND TOGETHER with us, even from afar. Just do your own very best to not find yourself under our care. Whether or not you consider yourself an angel, you too can 'hang' with us...

 Angels On Our Tree, Angels In Our Midst...