A Star in the North West Skies

Ahhhhhh, Maui!  A place to relax and, more importantly, a place to write after a busy December in the office.  Christmas break in an oral and maxillofacial surgery office resembles the holiday chaos at the Mall of America with college kids home and wanting wisdom teeth extracted, younger children needing cuspids uncovered or primary teeth extracted for bracesas well as an increase in trauma and orthognathic surgery.  I don't remember being as tired and stressed in other years as I have been this year!  When I'm stressed I tend to get cranky and it takes a conscious effort to give each patient the attention and compassion they deserve.

  I was given an excellent lesson in using these skills in the service of others by a NorthWest airlines flight attendant/purser on our journey to Maui, flight 217 from Portland to Honolulu to be exact.  That's a bit unusual on an NWA flight since the company reorganized.  I have been in first class and have had the flight attendant refuse to hang up my coat because they "weren't paying her to do that."  Not that I blame her.  It was her way of saying that we, the consumer, needed to know what cutting pensions, salaries and benefits have done to the morale at NWA.  Fair is fair, right?

  Well, according to Denise Hall, our purser, fairness is related to what the expectations of the traveler are, not what her work conditions are.  This lady has it all going for her!  She's attractive, intelligent and has been in the business a long time.  She's past the "stars in your eyes, look, I'm a Flight Attendant" stage."  I suspect she could work wherever she wanted but she chooses to remain with NWA.  Her attitude toward each passenger never exposed any animosity toward management, if any existed.  Instead she made our flight one of the best NWA flights I have ever experienced!

  In our practices, we are constantly faced with pressures that may draw our attention away from our most important priority, our patients.  Even when we feel we are delivering the best care possible it is appropriate to make a mental check as to whether we are meeting the expectations of our patients and putting other things aside to deliver our fullest attention to their health and well being.  In short, we want to treat our patients as we would want to be treated.