{"id":715,"date":"2013-06-04T00:16:35","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T00:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=715"},"modified":"2013-06-04T00:17:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T00:17:02","slug":"chronic-pain-illness-respect-and-appreciation-for-the-lowly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/06\/chronic-pain-illness-respect-and-appreciation-for-the-lowly.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Pain & Illness: Respect and Appreciation for the “Lowly”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Now more than ever, I realize how important it is to appreciate everyone who participates in our healthcare.\u00a0Not only our doctors, but those who provide essential services that we sometimes overlook.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0it is the seemingly “least significant” of those people in healthcare-related jobs who make the greatest difference in our lives. And it is so very important to treat these people with great respect and appreciation for the times when they go the extra mile or provide extra care.<\/p>\n

For example, anyone who has tried to get an appointment with a busy doctor knows it can take awhile. Minutes on hold, hours to get records transferred or a phone call returned, days or months to get the appointment itself. It isn’t the doctor who facilitates all of this. Rather, it is someone in his or her front office – a nurse or assistant who fields the calls and often makes the call about whether a situation requires immediate attention or can wait a bit. Yes, these “gatekeepers” are important, many times under great stress, and seldom underworked. But how often do we forget and vent our frustrations or otherwise act less than patient and courteous toward them?<\/p>\n

Think, too, of the people who draw our blood or manage our scans, X-rays, and MRIs. If they don’t do their job properly, we might be in for pain (multiple needle sticks) or repeated tests. Yet, how often do we approach these procedures without a kind word or smile for those carrying them out?<\/p>\n

As we start to look at the healthcare we receive as service rendered by many different individuals, not only our physicians, we can begin to see the people in the positions and extend our respect and appreciation to them, too. Believe me, the more conscious we are of this, the more smooth the path through any healthcare crisis or ongoing challenge.<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day!<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now more than ever, I realize how important it is to appreciate everyone who participates in our healthcare.\u00a0Not only our doctors, but those who provide essential services that we sometimes overlook.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0it is the seemingly “least significant” of those people in healthcare-related jobs who make the greatest difference in our lives. And it is so…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4],"tags":[188,29,44,615,514,614,283],"class_list":["post-715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-appreciation","tag-chronic-illness","tag-chronic-pain","tag-courtesy","tag-healthcare","tag-medical-team","tag-respect"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Pain & Illness: Respect and Appreciation for the "Lowly" - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/06\/chronic-pain-illness-respect-and-appreciation-for-the-lowly.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Pain & Illness: Respect and Appreciation for the "Lowly" - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now more than ever, I realize how important it is to appreciate everyone who participates in our healthcare.\u00a0Not only our doctors, but those who provide essential services that we sometimes overlook.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0it is the seemingly “least significant” of those people in healthcare-related jobs who make the greatest difference in our lives. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":718,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions\/718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}