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September 30, 2021
2021
Yvette Perry
Re-set

"I grew from the experience – though I think it aged me 10 years!" This is how a resident described a turning point with a specific patient when he recognized how burned out he was.

August 24, 2021
2021
Elle Klassen
Words of Silver

Although he had been through many stressful experiences in his life and recently, he always held onto his positive outlook. He took particular care to use words intentionally, paying attention to their connotations, so that his positivity extended to those that he interacted with as well.

February 4, 2021
2019
Ravenna Raven
In the Cath Lab

“I’ve always loved hearts,” she said. She was a cardiac nurse who had been drawn to a job in the catheterization laboratory. “It’s so rare to have an opportunity to immediately do something good for somebody, but it happens often in the cath lab,” she told me.

October 13, 2020
2020
Frankie Abralind
PPE

She was tired after working twelve straight days on her current rotation. It was her third year of medical school, and she was already feeling burnt out. “I have five more years like this,” she said. “My sister tells me, ‘Keep pushing, you can get through it,’ but I don’t know if I can.”

August 24, 2020
2020
Jenny Hegland
Skin

He had been thinking a lot about race over the past several months. He’s a White man with two children: a 20-year-old biological son who is White, and an 18-year-old adopted daughter who is Black.

Elle Klassen
April 16, 2020
2018

the strongest creature

Elle Klassen
April 16, 2020
2018

Being in healthcare can be extremely rewarding, but it comes with the occupational hazard of loss. This woman loved the work she did with dementia patients and the connections she was able to form with them. However, she also struggled with the frequent loss of people she had bonded with.

Tagged: Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital, Elle Klassen, Healthcare Staff

Frankie Abralind
April 11, 2020
2020

After This

Frankie Abralind
April 11, 2020
2020

He was an ICU doctor at a hospital in a big city, facing the pandemic head on. Having met him years ago, I noticed during our video chat that he'd shaved his longtime beard. “The N95 mask is a harsh master,” he said.

Tagged: Frankie Abralind, Healthcare Staff

Ravenna Raven
April 7, 2020
2020

Traveling Nurse

Ravenna Raven
April 7, 2020
2020

She told me that she had lived in Florida for 50 years but now that she had an empty nest, she’d become a traveling nurse so she could live in different places. “I was only supposed to be in D.C. for three months,” she said, “but now I’ve been here for nine because I just love it so much.”

Tagged: Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital, Ravenna Raven, Healthcare Staff

Jenny Hegland
April 5, 2020
2020

Cat Comfort

Jenny Hegland
April 5, 2020
2020

“I miss my four cats back home,” she said. “Want to see pictures of them?!” She was a graduate student in biotechnology. She explained that the program consumed her life. She saw other students studying abroad, posting pictures of travel and fun, but there was no room for that in her life.

Tagged: Georgetown University Medical Center, Jenny Hegland, Medical Students

Kay McKean
April 3, 2020
2019

Lightening Bugs

Kay McKean
April 3, 2020
2019

The five of them work together in a Pediatric ER unit. “People die here,” one exclaimed, and part of their job is to bring light to a dark place.

Tagged: The Gold Humanism Summit, Healthcare Staff, Kay McKean

Katherine Gekker
April 1, 2020
2020

Healing

Katherine Gekker
April 1, 2020
2020

“Art is healing,” she said. She approached my table to show a picture of artwork a friend had created for her to help her through this time.

Tagged: Katherine Gekker, Patients

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Photos courtesy of Jeff Krentel Photography, Deborah Raven, A Byrdseye Photo, and Brendan Bush for The Mayo Clinic.

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