essential

Time of Death. 

21:14

"I am so sorry for your loss."

The doctors remove their gloves, toss them into the trash, and walk out of the room.

Grief and the tapping of the nurse's keyboard the only sounds left behind.

The physicians go on to their next patients.

The nurses move on to their next patients.

The family is left alone with their loved one.

Uncertain about what happens next.

My way into social work was not straightforward and I was not a willing participant in the process.

{initially}

But now I find myself working in an Emergency Room.

And I love it.

People often ask me what I do.

A little of this, a little of that, I say.

{usually with more detail}

The truth is it is difficult to succinctly describe the social work role in an Emergency Room setting.

Sometimes it feels we are a valuable part of the medical team and sometimes not so much.

{it happens}

But in the moment of death 

When it's the job of the doctors & nurses & physician assistants & techs to move on to the next room,

It is my job to sit alongside a family as they come to terms with what comes next.

To sit alongside a family as the finality of death sets in.

At that moment my role is simultaneously vital and heart-wrenching; it is both ordinary and gritty.

And that is why I love my job.

rest in peace