At one point Dr. Petrino talked about AI as a too, but I couldn't help but connect that human kindness, touch, social communication, and grace are also tools, as social workers in health care need to address the human side of what is being done patience (and their families) in a health world that just might be losing the care in their work to the digital platforms brought into human spaces...a detachment of simply connecting, human to human.
I can't help but connect this with what my two sisters and father have been dealing with at St. Joe's Hospital in Syracuse, especially as the vascular dementia sets in and a fall triggered the need for a trip to the ER. Nurses come at my father without communication and he grows agitated, because they don't communicate with, it is not a familiar environment, and he has dementia. The man brought to the hospital has been altered by the hospital and their response to 'providing care.' He has been moved to a room, a social worker has been provided, and some sanity is being restored.
Dr. Berrette-Abebe presented a rose metaphor and asked us to turn to a stranger and answer three prompts:
- the petal - something that went well today
- the thorn - something that was difficult today
- the stem - something that makes you feel grounded
