My
wife and I were visiting a friend in hospital, and as we walked along the
corridor to his room we found ourselves looking in the direction of every door
that was open, as you do. You wonder at every drama that is being played out in
those rooms where family or friends are visiting the person who is the patient.
What are they suffering from and what might be their prognosis?
It
is one thing to have been brought into hospital because of some ailment that
has developed such as the flu but it is quite something else to be there
because one minute you were perfectly fine and the next you were involved in a
road crash because of someone’s carelessness, or worse your own.
We
read the statistics that note a certain number of people were killed on the
roads last year and that x-number were injured requiring hospital care. What
does that mean?
In
my country the head of emergency hospital care in the only hospital is also the
chairman of the Road Safety Council so there’s no fooling him. He knows how
many people were injured from road accidents, the extent of their injuries and
the degree to which they recovered; and he even knows the cause, including
alcohol and recreational drugs. He is constantly urging motorists, especially motorcycle
riders to slow down and to stop drinking and riding less they do both
permanently.
He
has heard grown men cry like babies calling out Mama! He has seen them faint at
the mere sight of a needle. He has had to remove limbs when that might well
have been avoided had common sense prevailed.
Doctors
and nurses are special people who have to deal with humanity when we are at our
lowest and most feeble point. It is a career choice that is entirely emotional
yet they must control their feelings and be able to leave their work at the
office. When they have to work with people who are in tremendous pain that
could have so easily been avoided it must be difficult for everyone involved.
Each
and every one of us can do our part by conducting ourselves so that we don’t
become an unnecessary patient. Making our way back to good health will be bad
enough but having to lie there and undergo awful pain while realising we did it
deliberately would be just too much.
Copyright
© 2018
Eugene
Carmichael
