Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Community Involvement

The Everett Clinic is a community. The Clinic is a community because it is a group of people bound together by a common interest. Not only do we share healthcare responsibilities, we also share a strong commitment to helping others in the community. The group is held together because it’s a great place to work. We get to go to work everyday and have fun, and we get paid for doing it. Being able to make a difference in people’s lives is also very rewarding.

With such a large community of workers, there are varied interests: from community work, to skiing, to just hanging out with family, we probably have a group that does them all! The biggest interest we all share is to support the community through various charity events. We recently had a very successful bake sell for Haiti relief. The biggest need is obviously to support the family, but a need to be happy in ones job, certainly plays a large role as well. Commitment to good patient care and the teamwork and community involvement, show there’s some real values in this community.

For the most part, there are not many tensions and everything goes pretty well. The most difficult part of this community is probably the rare, but irritating, chronically late co-worker. Working with chronically ill patient can be physically and emotionally draining as well. This can lead up to job burn out which is why we are encouraged to use our vacation time. Occasionally, working with the same people everyday can be nerve-wracking. If you happen to work with someone who thinks they know everything, you probably know what I mean.

I fit in with this group because we work together. It really more than that though, after working together in the same department for five years, we have really become more like family, sharing joys and sorrows throughout the years. I want to be a part of this community because it is a great place to work. Being able to help sick people and knowing they appreciate it, really makes me feel good at the end of the day! I get to learn new things on a regular basis and interact with a wide variety of people. I never get bored on the job because I am constantly busy which makes the day go by fast. Being a part of this community is very rewarding!

1 comment:

  1. Great insights- this is a great example of community! While most of us would consider our places of work a community, you've taken it a couple of steps further by showing how the interaction (both positive and negative)between co-workers, the aspects of patient care (both how it benefits patients and rewards you), and how your community steps outside its boundaries to reach out to other communities in need, all work together. I've really enjoyed looking through your portfolio and participating on your team, Kathi.

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