Up Close and Impersonal: Meet more of your health care team...probably NOT!

Gimme a break! Okay, I heard you, that you're a bit strained from all my Olympic coverage, capitalizing on the already numerous thrills as well as the spills just one week in, in demonstrating universally experienced emotions and other psychological dynamics from the world of athletics, sports psychology or, as I've pointed out in many posts, more universally experienced as Performance Psychology, the basic underlying elements of a successful performance in any domain, as well as when we have all come up a bit short. I'll return with additional posts featuring not only the performers themselves, but the other personnel who are part of the Olympic coverage team, ranging from the many commentators ("she's got the weight of the entire world on her shoulders..." NOT! GROSS exaggeration, hyperbole, discrediting the commentator, not the performer, when she/he might come up short of such expectations), to the unheralded folks holding the cameras (trying to bring us up close while maintaining a proper distance, even without CV-19), to, of course, those who have created some of the compelling commercials (many sponsors of which signed agreements well before the first delay, whereas others wrote in some wiggle room and pulled out, like a few athletes...). In the meantime, it back to reality for just a few minutes, taking you just a zip code or two outside the Olympic Village as a reminder of what we are all still in competition with, and a reminder of how many health care workers continue to work indefatigably behind the scenes, looking out for you as well as looking directly at you when you least expect it (did you know this was included when you signed your HIPAA disclosure?). Those that have been an instrumental part of all our health care teams all along, helping your PCP et al. making health care decisions on your behalf, as well as part of the team developing vaccines at such breakneck speed...

Suspecting the Unexpected: When you see photos of health care workers emerging from long shifts, whose countenance feature blood shot eyes among other indicators of weariness, do you think first of "Scientists who study the cause and effect of diseases, especially those who examine lab samples of body tissues for diagnostic and forensic (CSI, the percentage of which make up a small percentage of these specialists)...a health care worker who is responsible for performing lab tests, that are instrumental in helping other health care workers reach diagnoses..."? Probably NOT. "We examine your guts while Dr. Smith gets all the glory, OK with us..." 

Head to Toe, Cellular Coverage: When you are told to get a blood panel by your PCP as part of a routine physical (if there is such a thing), or when you are awaiting the results of a panel ("Should I call them since they haven't called; is no news good news?")...when you have to get a biopsy, when your surgeon pauses for a minute or two while the noted team member peers under a microscope, whether seated directly adjacent to the surgeon's non-scalpel hand or in the next room ("So, what do you think, Dr., should I cut more or close?")...

So Underappreciated, so 'over' You: A great study in contrasts, figuratively and literally. While distanced from us in the examining room, they could not be closer to us, while looking over us while we are under (either unconscious, under-aware, under the scope), peering at us in the form of images, contrasts, while blind to our true identity, totally unbiased,  highly passionate about our welfare, while...

In Reserve: From the 'sample' of those I have had the privilege to meet, and the few I have had the opportunity to get 'up close and personal' in developing their early career, these individuals are among the brightest, determined, dedicated, and humble health care workers. And also tend to be a rather reserved lot, while also, to a person, quite personable. I readily recall a particular med student (who I continue to call upon myself for her ability to explain incredibly complex, technical medical issues to me while not being patronizing), while perplexed after many clinical rotations, exclaimed "Eureka, I've found my calling...where I can be at the cutting edge while staying behind the scenes...I don't need the attention nor the credit, I just want to play a role as part of a team trying to save lives..." Who, after a few years into the field, after making chief resident (had to almost pull this out of her), also shared with me, "It's been incredible; I've been part of both surgeries as well as cutting edge research into new treatments... it's just so satisfying to know; I/we don't need others to know..." 

Well, now Dr. they will, for I bring to you, from behind the scenes, pulling them away from their microscope, your unheralded, health care worker, who has been thriving in their anonymity, your very own PATHOLOGIST ! Please accept our thanks, take a bow, before scurrying back to your heretofore place of obscurity. And, before going, please stick around to hear my "Medley to an unmet med worker":

♬"All by Myself"

𝅘𝅥𝅲"Someone to Look Over Me"

𝆕"I Only Have Eyes for You"

Unsung hero, no more -- back at ya, Doc!