Finding the lost

That was a lot of my job recently. Because our office is right off the beaten path, the lost seem to show up there a lot.

People come to our area by mistake. This week the clinic they missed the most was...(drum roll, please) the wheelchair clinic. Oh, I was calling our friend Ralph over there, a few times to say "I've got another one for you." Ralph, being the nice man that he is, was waiting down the way with the door open whenever he could. You just look down the hall, and there you go, I said, about 30 times it seemed like one day.

Some lost souls make me sad. The little guy with hemiparesis in his wheelchair who came all the way from Faraway at 0300 to make his appointment at the Hotel. He got dropped off right next to the elevator, but couldn't get on it. That's where I found him. I got him on it, took him to the clinic he needed to go to, got him his paperwork, helped him get it done, then I handed him off to the clinic nurse who was free. M. our clerk, even stuck around to get his paperwork.

A little later, I met an elderly band leader who was wandering through our building. He was with his wife. He was a little confused on where to go, but I got the two of them on their way, too.

It's not really my job to lead people around the building. We have transporters for that. I tell all the students, though, that it is my job to take care of patients.

If that's the only care I get to give them some days, I figure some care to get them to their appointments on time and happy, is the best care I can give.

Stay tuned...