Take a closer look!

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you have set in place - what are mortals that you should think of us, Ps 8:3-4

There are lots of things you and I pass by every day yet never see. How long does it take you to notice the new glasses your coworker is wearing, or the new hair style, shoes or smile? We miss them in the busyness of our lives. We assume they are the same so we don't see the differences.

Take a closer look. Not just at what is around you but how it all fits together.

This past week we had just such a privilege at SMMC as five very helpful and encouraging visitors from the Joint Commission took a very close look at how you and your team make SMMC function.

A closer look that identified some things we had assumed and some we had overlooked. But these had to do with record keeping, dating and timing entries for example. While important, these were five findings in a very complex system of care that need to be addressed. Wow! As one visitor said, "You have a very fine hospital, one where your mission and caring lives each day, not just when we show up!"

The visitors affirmed the open and engaged way that you and your associates went about their work. They even commented on how calm and friendly you were when they stopped to talk; Environmental, Central services, Nursing, Pain Clinic, Wound Care, Radiology, Facility, PT, Rehab, Home Health Care, ED, Surgery, PACU, the list goes on and on because they went everywhere!

They took a closer look, and affirmed with smiles, the quality and excellence of SMMC not only in care, facility and environment, but particularly in the remarkable associates and physicians we are privileged to serve with. This all about you!

Socrates said: "The unexamined life is not worth living." Taking something so precious for granted is to waste the gift. During the first day's devotional I shared this quote with the visiting team and noted that the unexamined hospital is not worthy of the title "Hospital" and that we welcomed their eyes and wisdom to help us take a closer look.

Today, you will be the eyes for someone, helping them take a closer look at their situation, their illness, and their worries. Stop for a moment and ask the Lord to walk with you to help you take a closer look and therein, be much more than medicine.

Much more than medicine indeed!

Peter

Peter Bath, D.Min.
V.P Spiritual Wellness & Human Development