Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Love- the secret ingredient in patient care!

A few years ago, I was flying home from a conference where I was teaching musculoskeletal ultrasound, and I was fortunate enough to sit next to a very kind woman who had moved to Pittsburgh from India a few years earlier.  She had been an engineer in India, but since coming to the United States, her primary focus was raising her 12 year old son, who was a child prodigy already taking college classes.

She related to me a story of how one time her son was upset that her mom made her dinner every night rather than going to restaurants.  I thought her response was very sweet, and changed the way I think about things:

“I explained to him that when you go to a restaurant, no matter how good it is, they were making that meal for a generic person.  When I make dinner for you every night, I am making dinner for YOU.  Every decision I make, whether it’s how firm to make the rice, or much coriander to use in the seasoning, I am making that decision because I want you to be happy.  Most importantly, there is one ingredient that I can give you than no restaurant can give you, and that’s love.”

I was obviously touched.  I think back to that kind woman often when I am taking care of patients.  One of the things I most love about working in a small physician owned practice like Lake Washington Sports & Spine is the love that our team can put into the care of each patient.  Being small, this empowers us to customize the patient experience.  Whenever we make a decision, we are making it for YOU.


Welcome to our family!




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