To all Salem Health employees and medical staff:
Here we find ourselves again at the precipice of another peak, of another surge, of another day of trying to find a way to continue battling on the front lines of this time in our lives which will be talked about for generations after us. And again we’re trying to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and again dig deep within ourselves, trying to access a hidden well of energy, perseverance and strength after we’ve already tunneled down through bedrock and exhausted what we thought was all that we had left.
And yet, somehow, we do just that. Day after day, surge after surge. Because in the end we all believe that what we do is important. It matters. It’s easy to lose sight of the very important Small picture amidst an unrelenting sea of negativity and exhaustion while everyone around us, including ourselves, tries to keep our perspective about the “Big picture,” but I truly think that when we are faced with what we’ve had to face down since 2019, with no discernible sense of finality on the horizon, that the Small picture begins to matter very much.
That small picture exists in the tiny moments of compassion we’re still able to show, in the tiniest moments, even now. It exists in holding a door open for someone when they have their hands full; in helping a family member find the correct unit to visit their loved one; in being present and unhurried at the bedside when the patient is trying to connect with you during their time of need; in asking a colleague if they need help, and how they’re doing, REALLY doing.
Because it’s within those tiny moments where the humanity we can show to each other lives. The negativity, hopelessness and separation all of us have experienced pervades our work and our homes but the potential to be good and kind to one another and to keep going when we don’t think we can is how we will all make it through this peak, this surge, this time.
Thank you for continuing to fight and for continuing to find the Small moments that matter. For getting up off of the ground again and again, to continue doing something that matters very greatly to the patients that come to us, feeling very much the same way we are: exhausted, spent and hopeless, but hoping that the people caring for them at the hospital still have something left to give them in their time of need. Thank you.
— With Admiration and Gratitude,
Salem Hospital Medical Executive Committee