Spirit

I have had the good fortune of being away this week with my family. I have enjoyed seeing extended family members, celebrating Independence day and having fun. But everyone knows that the email does not stop coming.

I am very lucky to be the President of GBMC because the positive news hugely outweighs the negative. Among the messages I received this week was one from a GBMC colleague who had been admitted to the hospital after a holiday visit to her patient centered medical home. She was effusive in her praise of those who had served her.

Among the other messages was the notice that next week, July 9-15, is GBMC Spirit Week. This got me wondering about spirit. My first reaction was just how wonderful our marketing, human resources and philanthropy groups are. They are clever and tireless in their efforts to make the hard work of patient care and its associated tasks more rewarding and at times actually fun. I was then wondering which socks I would wear for ‘Crazy Sock Day’. (I don’t think that many who know me would be surprised by this. It is amazing how many comments I get at work if I am not wearing a dark suit, white shirt and a tie.) I also thought about karaoke at the barbecue this Wednesday….

But then my thoughts returned to my GBMC colleague who had been admitted to the hospital for July 4th. Her story awakened me to what spirit really is. Spirit is a rallying cry. It is what joins us together in our mission. Outside of work we have so many differences in our daily lives. But in the hospital, our physician offices or in a Gilchrist setting we are one Team. Teams are all imperfect because they are made up of humans who are imperfect. But spirit brings us together and makes us stronger together. Spirit helps us rejoice in our inherent differences and helps us see them as assets to make the Team richer and better. Spirit helps us look out for each other, celebrate together in good times and console each other and be resilient together in bad times.

So as I return to work I want to wish each and every one of my GBMC colleagues a Happy Spirit Week!