#124 Making Magic in New York
Visiting the Elizabeth Seton Children’s Rehabilitation Center
About twenty miles north of midtown Manhattan but literally, a world away, is the Elizabeth Seton Children’s Rehabilitation Center in White Plains, NY. Indeed, it is a magical world where severely disabled children come for education, medical care, and several forms of therapy. From my very brief visit this week, I can see that all the services provided are wrapped in love.
The director of the outpatient clinic reached out to me several months to have me come speak to her staff. She related that her staff encountered some impatient and stressed parents who were quite difficult for the staff to deal with. She saw one of my interviews online and requested that I come visit the clinic to talk about the ideas from my book: Changing How we Think About Difficult Patients.
I said yes because the clinic staff are exactly the folks who I know can benefit immensely from hearing my message. After a tour and quick lunch to honor the birthday (86th!) of powerhouse chief medical officer Dr. Maria Pici, I entered the therapy gym to speak to about thirty staff members who crowded around on the matted floor.
The clinic treats up to 1000 people per week in their cheery facility. The website reports that:
“most of our children and families are economically disadvantaged (99 percent qualify for Medicaid assistance at the children’s center and 98 percent at the rehabilitation center). Most of the children we serve come from New York City, with the rest from Westchester, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island.”
During my brief visit, I saw children walking and in wheelchairs being transported into the gym and being greeted enthusiastically by all the staff. A lengthy line of various wheelchairs and adapted bicycles line the wall along a hallway studded with dozens of treatment rooms. Occasionally one could hear a cranky kid crying during an unwanted transition. This is what all kids do and naturally, children with cognitive delays do transitions even worse.
While the staff listened with rapt attention, I discussed the ways that both the children’s parents and the medical professionals think and behave during their interactions. Understanding some of the typical distortions of thinking in the clinician-caregiver relationship helps folks understand and to react with more curiosity and compassion. I introduced the think-feel-act cycle and communicated how the staff could generate more useful thoughts about even the most challenging family members.
The clinic director, Margie, had submitted some specific “difficult” situations that I discussed with the staff at length. I offered some useful thoughts about ways they can consider those special circumstances. Some of the stressed-out parents occasionally become aggressive and demanding during their visits. For them, understanding the limitations of scheduling of therapy resources can be quite challenging.
American Association for Physician Leadership
The staff thanked me profusely and I left with a buoyant feeling of gratitude and optimism. This community has an amazing resource to turn to when their most vulnerable citizens need care. If my message of radical acceptance resonated with just a few of those folks, I will have fulfilled my personal mission to keep more clinicians engaged and fully invested in the challenging work of clinical practice.
A little while later, this lovely message came into my in-box that thanked me for coming:
“I wanted to reach out and thank you once again for taking the time from your busy schedule to come to our humble clinic to present.
Also, to share with you all the wonderful feedback I received after your talk, helping them to begin thinking about our difficult patients/parents in a different light and to challenge themselves with their thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Your message did resonate with them and for that I thank you.
Hope all your wonderful efforts with this book may continue.”
Understandably, I spent the rest of my visit to New York feeling about as good as one little author can get. This is why a senior citizen introvert retired ER doctor puts herself out there in front of dozens of strangers to talk about changing our thoughts about “difficult” patients and their families. It is not to sell books. I want to share a beautiful idea that will help the ladies and gentlemen treating the children, who will then turn around to care for hundreds and thousands more.
I am going to take the win today and ride high all the way on my morning train to DC.
