Small towns kick ass

Columns again.... we'll see!

I'm home! After two years away, nothing says home like the Columbia Valley, and I am sure as heck happy to be back in your midst!
There are so many reasons I love this place, not least of all because my children are here.
Family, friends, familiar places and a general feeling of being back where I belong have all meshed together to give me that ol' Mayberry feeling I wrote about years ago when I was a new reporter for The Echo.
Having been out of the committing journalism scenario for some time, I look forward to writing a column now and again and offering my sage and brilliant perspective on all sorts of valley issues... heh heh! Oh I hear the collective groans now!
But one thing I do want to touch on with no uncertainty is our health care.
Now, I know there are always going to be people who gripe endlessly about small town medical care, and I know that just like in every profession there is a wide variety of talent and experience.
And I know something else.
I am sitting here clacking away on my computer today for one reason and one reason only: our hospital rocks.
See, a few Mondays back I got sick. Very sick. By Tuesday morning my husband Tony made the decision for me that I needed to see my doctor, Theresa Ross, immediately. And I did. An hour later I was in her office, with Tony doing the talking as I was in a fog of pain and fever.
And Theresa had me up in the ER, then the ICU, very shortly after that.
Things are a little hazy from that first day or two, though I do recall snippets here and there, many of them coming back like clips from a “best of” show.
If I could play it on a screen for you, with internal monologue dubbed in, it would have sounded something like this.
Upon first arrival...
Me: I hurt everywhere... so cold... please help.
Nurse: We're going to give you something for the pain Stephanie.
Me: I'll take anything.
About half an hour later...
Doctor: Stephanie you are very sick, we need to do more tests and you are being admitted.
Me: Mmm, yes sick. Goodness Percoset is lovely.
Ok, ok, of course my memory is a little befuddled, but my point is the doctors and nurses did such a good job of caring for me I really had no idea just how ill I was, or how close I came to dying.
Had I been in Calgary or Edmonton, sitting in a waiting room for untold, and precious, hours, the outcome for me would have been very different.
But I was not in a big city hospital.
Nope. I was here, in our little town, in our little hospital, getting the treatment I needed exactly when I needed it. Theresa, along with Drs. Francois Lowe, who was in the ER that day, Mike Walsh and Shannon Page, and nurses Teena Godlien, Ann Zurbriggen and Clara not only did their job, they exemplified professionalism, compassion, and respect for me that week.
I know there were other nurses who were involved, and please know it is not that I value you less. I have to plead memory issues from that week. What I do clearly recall is that first day in the ER with Teena, long days with Ann and long nights and Clara, my primary pair, who checked my vitals too many times to count, and made decisions for me when I was just incapable of doing so myself.
It did eventually occur to me how serious it all was. But when you have a group of people doing their job so well... heck, it just made it easy not to be afraid. And I was so confident they would take care of me, even without the Percoset I drifted in and out with an underlying sense of safety.
We have a wonderful team here.
I am thankful for all of you. I know I would not have received the same quality of care or compassion anywhere else.
Too often we take the bonuses of small town life for granted.
Heck, we take life for granted.
Not so much anymore for me. I am still recovering, still feeling the effects. I guess it`ll take a while. But when I think of the damage sepsis can cause, and look myself in the mirror, I remind myself my kids still have a mom, my husband still has a wife, complete and essentially in good working order.
And let`s face it. I just have too many opinions yet to voice.
Catch you on the flip side folks. Sure is good to be home.