Tune in - to People!

Every Christmas we start thinking of the new year and what we will do, what we would like to do and what we would like to accomplish. If I could have one wish for 2015, it would be that we would become more aware of people in all aspects of our lives

When we become so engrossed in our own world, to the exclusion of how, what we do affects others, we run the risk of creating that which we don't want. People who need our attention don't suddenly appear. They have been here all along, but, we've been too preoccupied to see them, let alone attend to their needs. Not everything is going to be so drastic as the following examples, but, the fact is, this does happen. Don't let it happen on your watch.

Two People - Neglected to Death - Two Outcomes

In 2011, a woman suffering from advanced MS died as a result of complications from bed sores. Although she died in the hospital, her death was ruled preventableand her caregiver husband was convicted of criminal negligence in 2014 and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

In 2008, a double amputee makes it to the emergency room for care of a bladder infection. He sat in that emergency room in his wheelchair, ignored for 34 hours. When he was finally attended to, he had already died and rigor mortis set in. His death was ruled preventable (that's an understatement). Although the death was preventable, there was no one held accountable for the neglect. No one in that emergency room in the 34 hours he was there, lost their job. Although it was stated, some abandoned their careers following the incident. And perhaps that is just as well.

In the first case, a person is being cared for by their spouse in the other, a host of trained professionals should have been attending. But, how do you even prosecute an institution for manslaughter or criminal negligence? Instead, we conduct studies and write reports that take months to process and even longer to implement change where change is immediately and desperately needed!

Empathy should not have to be written into a job description of a caregiver, health care worker or medical professional. If people become so institutionalized that they lose their humanity and forget the primary reason they chose their career, that is sad and does not bode well for the future of health service or in any service organization.

In my life, decisions are not life and death, however, I would hope that there wouldn't be a person I would reject or dismiss if they needed my help. I do get preoccupied and sometime I become engrossed in my own direction; as we all do. It is definitely something I will have to work on in 2015.

So I would ask, do we not need to become aware and tune in - to people? We can't change what we don't see.

All the best in 2015! Do what matters!