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"Angels In The ER," by Robert D. Lesslie

By Kate Loving Shenk

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 06Sep2008 Word count: 806 Viewed: 305 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

The book, "Angels In The ER," by Robert D. Lesslie, was suggested by Joan Adams, Squidoo Lens maker and author of "Banish The Blahs" and "10 X 10."

Joan recently chose Dr. Lesslie to be her doctor because of his willingness to listen, his kindness and compassion.

These attributes also shine through in his new book.

Heroes in the medical field are many, but often the sheer pace of health care delivery and the inability for health care workers to pause and process whatever tragedy they just witnessed, can cause flat out burn-out.

Robert Lesslie does a beautiful job capturing the fast pace of the ER and in his stories, you know that he has fine tuned his perception and intuition over many years of service and experience.

We all know that it takes a very special person to blend Science and the Art of Medicine, which is exactly what Dr. Lesslie does, and does very well.

The nurses and doctors and everyone else who work with Dr. Lesslie must be so happy to have his influence in their lives.

I worked with a now retired physician whom we called and still call "The Pediatric Guru."

In fact, we plan to have dinner with him tonight!

Pediatric Guru was my mentor, now friend, who believed in serving his patients and the community.

He brought physical and sexual child abuse out of the closet in the York Pennsylvania community and single-handedly made lawyers and judges aware of this unfortunate reality in our cities, townships and boros.

I will always remember the effect he had on our patients. He drew them out. He patiently sat with each family and listened to their story.

They invariably told him the truth of their lives.

And he remembers to this day the saga of every one of these patients.

He played Santa Clause every year in our clinic and because the children were his patients, he called everyone of them by name.

This had to have a profound effect on the psyche of these children, many now grown.

Imagine, Santa knowing your name and you carry this aura of specialness with you through out your life.

In these times, it's a rare doctor who takes the time to know his patients. I mean to Really know them. The Guru knew them all including the homeless and those alienated from their social networks.

Dr Lesslie and The pediatric Guru come from the school where medicine is a calling and a service and is the key to--angelic intervention? to other worldly synchronicity? to the beauty of nature? to the blue birds who visit and remind Dr. Lesslie that his father still communicates his love for his son, even though he no longer inhabits the physical body.

Dr. Lesslie works the night shift throughout his book. This is my shift, as well, the shift where angels dare to tread.

More and more I work in the Triage area of my hospital as a staff RN, which is an Emergency room, of sorts, mostly for pregnant patients.

This is where the action is in our hospital.

Some nurses hate working there. Others thrive on it.

My many years working as a Nurse Practitioner in a fast paced clinic setting, has made me feel comfortable working in this busy environment, where you never know what will walk through the door.

Dr Lesslie sites the difficult, dangerous and sometimes drug seeking patients and discusses the necessity of not lecturing these patients about how to live, or speaking to them with any sense of moral authority regarding the plights these people find themselves in: walk a mile in your patient's moccasins, in other words.

He speaks of how his experiences as an ER doc have helped him grow as a human being. I dare say, his experiences have also helped him grow spiritually, as well.

Patience, love and compassion all flow from the pages of this book.

The Pediatric Guru would love this book.

Dr. Lesslie and the Guru are cut from the same cloth.

We never know how the many patient encounters will effect not only us but our patients.

Recently, one of my former patients sought me out and "found me," she said, after googling my name.

She then emailed me and told me how much I meant to her. She cited examples of the time we spent together, working through multiple pregnancies, and problems at home.

She told me her mother had a severe motor vehicle accident in 2000, and her memory is almost gone.

But she still remembers me.

This is indeed a gift and taught me, especially while reading Dr Lesslie's book: never under estimate the power of these encounters where we selflessly serve and give of ourselves.

These moments are larger than life.

They serve to heal the world.

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