The Medical Center And The Labrador 2/5/2023

 Good Morning,

I am blessed to be sitting in a warm house, drinking a very hot cup of Door County Autumn Spice Coffee. The sun has come up and it is time to write. 

I mentioned yesterday that I had a story to tell about a Labrador that visited the hospital. I will try to make it short. 

Many years ago, while working a large medical center I happened to look out of the window of my office. The healthcare system I worked for had their own credit union (bank) across the street from my office. This was very convenient for the 6000 employees who worked at the medical center. On their lunch hour or break time some would run across the street and perform a financial transaction. The street they had to cross was a very busy roadway. It was December and just a couple days away from Christmas. When I looked down from my office I could see a large group of people wearing hospital attire standing in the road. I concluded that my worst nightmare had come true, "someone was struck by a car, while crossing the street."  I ran down from my office to assist. ( I was a member of the safety and emergency management team) Once on the scene I could see that the someone was actually a large yellow Labrador dog.  The dog was injured and crawling. When approached it would growl. I got down on my knees and crawled slowly to the dog, speaking softly to it. The dog responded by letting me cover it with a blanket and seemed to calm down and trust us. Once the blanket was in place those medical experts took charge. I removed the dog's collar and could see the owner's information. Someone made that call. The owner lived close by and had been looking for the missing dog all day. 

In the meantime the dog was wrapped tightly in the blanket and put on a back board. A nurse from the Cath lab took charge and the dog was taken on a cart to a procedure room in the lab. They gave the dog oxygen and applied some ice packs to some obvious injuries. Security was called for assistance. It had been decided that the dog would be transported to an animal hospital. The dog was reloaded into the security Jeep on the board while on the oxygen. The owner of the dog was given a ride to the animal hospital and Jake the missing dog was reunited with her at the hospital. 

The dog was in critical condition, but being so close to Christmas we all felt good about what we did. The owner did tell us that the dog belonged to her son who had passed away a few days before and as dogs will also get depressed, Jake thee Labrador had wandered off. The procedure room was terminally cleaned from head to toe and everyone involved was sworn to secrecy. 

A few days after Christmas a handful of us were summoned to the hospital administration office.  Jake's owner had read our name badges and stopped by to have administration give us a pat on the back. Oh boy! The administrator was quite surprised that a dog had been treated in a procedure room. Remember! We had thought it best to conceal our kind act. We were told that Jake had a long road ahead of him and that he would survive. We were thanked and thanked again. Once the lady was leaving and I was headed quickly to the door. I heard my name and one other called to come back into the office for a chat. We were both thanked again for taking charge and delivering kindness to our hospital's neighbor. We were also reminded that this should have been reported to administration in case the news groups made a big deal of it. They would have involved our Public Information Officer. 

My point for the day is this. Titus 3:1-2 remind the people to be subject to the rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle to everyone. 

Where we went wrong was that we failed to communicate to our superiors. Where we went right, was performing a kind act to a stranger. 

Remember to respect the authorities placed over you.

Marty