NOVEMBER 2024LIFE SCIENCES REVIEW8IN MY OPINIONIN MY OPINIONow many of us enjoy those compassionate videos where we see someone who may be on a busy journey, pausing life to help someone in need? We scroll, we pause, we watch, we like, we smile, and then we share. Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it beautiful to see someone stopping in their busy day to show compassion? I pose this question to you. What would that look like if a camera were to follow you around to capture you showing compassion in action? What would the camera capture? What would the audience see? Would we see you busy scurrying, head down, scrolling, looking at your calendar, or talking on the phone, reminding your spouse to take out the meat so you won't be delayed cooking dinner? Or would you be lost in your thoughts, having tunnel vision, speeding to your next destination? Are you living in the moment enough to see those around you, those passing by who may have a sad face, crying in a corner, looking for directions, or scrambling to pick up the belongings off the floor? What would your viewers see, and what would they say about you? Would they watch, smile, like, and share? Our daily lives keep us busy, but we should never be too busy to look around and live in the moment. Love is compassion in action. A phrase that is often repeated in healthcare. It is the act of doing, not just saying. My grandmother has a saying, `Words are wind,' and I've learned that it is true over the years. Throughout my 16 years as a healthcare leader, I've realized that we have the gift of gab. We say things but fall short of the action. Not because we are mean-spirited individuals but because we are always focused on our feelings, agenda, and goals. Our self-centered nature makes us miss opportunities to spread love and compassion to those who need it the most around us. As a native New Yorker, this habit comes naturally. I've sat on the train and watched people scurry to their destinations while mothers struggle to carry their infants up the stairs in a stroller. Each man focused on their path. This level of ignorance doesn't only happen during our commute, but it occurs in all healthcare settings. Employees refuse to assist because they're on break or because `it's not their job.' Ignoring someone who looks lost, hoping they don't ask for help, as it will force us to stop what we're doing, or better yet, losing our patient with an irate patient who can't seem to gather their emotions because they've just received a sad diagnosis, arrived on time to their follow up appointment and was told 30 minutes after waiting there is a delay. With pure exhaustion of the `New York mentality,' I decided to go to the South where the Southern hospitality would embrace me, and we would work seamlessly together. I was in for a big surprise. Upon moving to Georgia, what I thought I would experience differed from what I had expected. Instead, it is what I call `copy/paste.' The same people once again. Then it hit me! People's emotional intelligence has nothing to do with the state/city. It's simply just us as humans. When By Shantae Prince, Senior Manager for Patient Experience, Emory HealthcareLEADING WITH LOVE: COMPASSION IN ACTION HShantae Prince
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