the strongest creature

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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. She was learning to deal with this process within herself more easily so that she could best serve the people she interacted with.

Listener Poet Beck Klassen

Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital

July 2018

is the phoenix

who surrounds herself

with mortal companions

whose world she is

whimsical enough to enter

and selfless enough to embrace

for each time

one leaves her

she burns

she rises

still weeping

from the ashes

and when the others talk

about the phoenix

they forget to say that

each time she rises

she is stronger

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The Mind is a Rabbit Making Warrens of its Grief

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"I don’t know what I’m doing,” but this time, she admonished the negative self-talk.

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Crab Shell

She wanted to help people feel comfortable and transform the shame around colon issues. "I want to talk about things that matter, the things people don't want to discuss.

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"Death, in many ways, ignites new life for the ones left behind."

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A Good View

When we met, she was coming off a stretch of nine 14-hour shifts. She was tired but in good spirits.

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A Mere Flutter

Residency was challenging, and there were times when it felt chaotic.

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High Notes

She reflected on how her resilience was born from moments of shared mirth amid life's trying chapters.

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“Life is complex and dirty, but digging in is important to me,” she said. “Maybe if more of us understood history, we could understand each other better.”

Seams

We are expected to research, contribute to scholarship, earn grants – all on our own time.

Rescue

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The Waiting Room

Every day, I try to see through the patient lens, and I ask: what can we do to change this broken system?

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Captain of My Ship

He had been a primary caregiver for his father, doing all the hard tasks

Caregiver's Notes

She was very proud of her daughter and has hopes for “a bright future that’s as pain free as possible”

We Can Be Kind

“I’m trying to focus on doing little things to make people feel better during everything that’s going on in the world,” she told me.

what gives

“It’s hard to see others struggle,” she said. “How can I help with their struggle without struggling myself?”

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"I'd tell her it's OK to be loud...it's OK to challenge and to bring all of you into these spaces where no one looks like you..."

Delicate Hope

She was in the depths of transition and change in this “concentrated time.”

Safety Is A Six Letter Word

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New Year’s Evolution

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“It’s weird,” she said. “This is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life, but it doesn’t feel like it.”

Libation

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Our Own Legacy

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An Impossible Choice

“It’s been more challenging than normal lately,” she said. “I’m only one person. It's a struggle for me to say no, but I can’t do everything that’s being asked of me right now.”