This past week has been one of the most challenging weeks I have faced in my life so far; with flight delays, a funeral, incident reports, and the busy atmosphere of the hospital.
When I got news week before last that Arlyn (who I could never describe in just a few words, but most well known as my loving friend and roommate) had lost her father to a year long battle with cancer. I was devastated. I was upset with myself that I was not there to be with Arlyn, upset that I did not get to see him one last time, and mad that such a wonderful man and loving father was taken away from family and friends. Mr. Baer was my dad in Spartanburg throughout college. He treated me like I was his daughter, always greeting me with a hug and a kiss and conversations about my classes and how my family was doing. Mr. Baer is a man that I greatly respect and love, so I knew I would do whatever I had to in order to make it to his funeral. I let Ar and the rest of the girls know that I was coming home and started looking for flights. I booked my flight home for Monday, the night before the funeral, however, my flight was later delayed and cancelled for unknown reasons. I worked it out with the airline to have my ticket changed to fly me into GSP the next morning, and I was able to make it in time to have lunch with my friends, attend the visitation, and the funeral. The ceremony was beautiful and something Mr. Baer would surely be touched by, but embarrassed to have his family tell such wonderful stories about him. Ar spoke and played the violin for him one last time, she stood up in front of all of us bravely and stronger than I have ever seen her. I love you Arlyn and appreciate and care for your family more than you will ever know.
I returned that same night to Little Rock, rested, and went to work the next morning. I was exhausted. My supervisors, as has been their character throughout, recognized how tired I was and with complete understanding, gave me some more relaxed tasks for the next two days while I caught up on my sleep. Friday proved to be eventfully making up for the two previous days though. In the Holiday tradition, choirs, bands, and various performers have been coming to spread some Holiday cheer in the atrium of the lobby for all the patients and families since the first day of December. Since Volunteer Services is over this programming and has it broadcasted over CCTV (the hospital’s own channel), I was given the task of running the camcorder. I have really enjoyed doing this for the second half of each morning. It’s fun to interact with other volunteers and to speak with families as they bring down their patients to watch. Unfortunately, Friday did not go as smoothly as the rest. The second group was an elementary aged choir, who had arrived an hour early and had been playing outside for that time. They came in, lined up, and I began recording. Shortly after they began their second song, one of the children passed out and fell forward onto the tile floor. The child was upset and bleeding, so I had admissions call back to the ER, and I got a wheelchair and pushed him back. Once I had him squared away and chaperones were with him, I went back out to the choir, who was still performing, to make sure that everyone was ok and try to console the kids who had stepped off camera because they were upset. About two minutes after I returned, another child passed out. Luckily the child did not fall, but had a medical condition which was made aware to the STAT team, and they called a code, which means we had to sit there until all the nurses and doctors arrived and then admit the child into the ER as well. Since that has all been said and done, I have become a running joke among my supervisors. I have apparently written the most incident reports of any Americorps ever placed at the hospital. What a title to hold.
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