#284 - JD

For you working folks out there...When you stop to think about it, don't you find it funny about how much time you actually spend with your co-workers.  I mean in a day...a week...a month, you really log in a lot of hours with people that are not related to you.  I have been very fortunate to work with some great folks over the years.  This post is about one of them.

When I graduated PT school and started working, I was 21 years old.  Pretty much everyone (patients included) were older than me.  I was pretty shy and not very vocal.  I was quiet and polite and always remembers my manners.  Even though I was young, I was a "professional" and I joined a staff of three other much more experienced "professionals."  One was my boss who had been a therapist for close to forty years.  The other two had been practicing since the year that I had been born and the year that I turned three.  To me, that meant that I needed to address them as "Sir" and "Mr."just like my parents taught me.  After about three weeks of that, #284 pulled me into his office and said, "Look, when I started work here, Ken (aka "the boss") called me in his office and said drop the mister and just call me Ken.  Now, I'm telling you, drop the mister and just John will do."  It took some time to break the habit, but John he became, and its funny because the equal language made me feel more like a professional and less like a kid playing grown-up.

As the years have passed, John and I have developed a good working relationship.  We have never been in competition for patients and we see eye to eye on how patients need to be treated and for the most part on how the company needs to be run.  That is not to say that we have not had our disagreements, but we are always able to work them out professionally and courteously.  (Except for that time he threw me under the bus...... remember this?)

I have seen our lives come full circle.  When I started, I was about to be married and had no children.  His only child was in elementary school.  Back then, he would need time off for school awards programs and parent luncheons...now I do.  He use to take off early every Friday to make it to his son's baseball or football game...now I do.  He use to plan his summers around his son's football schedule and take his vacations near whatever city the team would be travelling to...now I do.  His son is now grown and a father of his own.  #284 is a grandfather now, and looks forward to the weekends the include a visit from his son or the chance to keep his precious granddaughters.  (I'm totally not there yet)

When I first started working with #284 he was a member of the local rotary club.  He invited me to several meetings to help me to get involved and meet people in the local business community.  I have learned a lot from him in the way of therapy skills, especially when it comes to hospital work, which he did for many years at our local hospital.

One funny story... Whenever #284 had the hospital contract, he worked every other weekend.  When he needed to be off, he would ask me to cover for him.  I would show up at the hospital and work my way down the list of patients to see.  I remember, more than once, going into a little old lady's room and telling her that "Mr. John" told me to work with her on getting in and out of the bed.  The LOL would say to me, "Oh...that Mr. John!  He is so good - looking!  And so nice!  He doesn't make me work to hard.  He usually just picks me up and carries me from the bed to the chair."  It was hard to break the news to them that Ms. MHT was not 6'1" and would not be "carrying" them, but they would actually have to put their feet on the floor and walk.  The little old ladies still love him years later.

All in all, I feel lucky to have been hired, and then welcomed into such a caring office of people.  There are probably other offices out there who are more efficient, probably make more money, and are better at the "business" of health care.  But...I know that we have them beat, hands down on quality of care and kindness.  #284 is a big part of that and I want to say thanks for making work a great place to work.