Ivana Atmojo

As a response the article (”Not Too Busy To Care”) I wrote the other day, a friend of mine (Soerhong Liwang) wrote me about his past terrifying experience with ER. With his permission, I’m publishing some of his paragraphs on the story–I thought it’s worth knowing how dysfunctional the word ‘dysfunctional’ can really mean in a hospital unit whose function is to save lives.

So here goes his story:

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I’ve been
there in your position a few times unfortunately…some ended better,
some worse…

And the other experience that I had ended pretty bad. My uncle from my
mom’s side had darah tinggi and basically he got into this seizure pas
lagi kumat penyakitnya. He was rushed to the hospital soon enough
thanks to the people that were willing to help him. What’s
unbelievable is that the doctor actually just let my uncle in seizure
while in ER and TALKED about the payments and INSISTED on getting
those settled first along with the paperwork. Needless to say, my
uncle passed away due to the non-treatment while in seizure. At times
like that, all you can do is just not believe the “LUCK” that you
had…but the past is in the past, nothing else we can do but to move
on, right?

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I know, it’s HEARTBREAKING, right?
I’ve always thought that one of the most important things that we should learn in our lifetime is to think & to care about other beings (it sounds stronger in Mandarin: bang ren jia xiang). No matter what situation we find ourselves in, it’s wise to be able to see & think not only from our own perspectives, but also from those of others. “How would we feel if we were in her/his/their shoes?”

In every single thing we do, we HAVE to be able to see the helicopter view of the whole thing. What is the WHOLE picture about? Is it about saving lives or is it about completing the paperworks? Is it about check logs or is it about being there in time when we’re needed most? Are we doing our job just for the sake of doing it? or do we really believe in our job & that it may affect/change other lives for the better?

Whatever we do in our lives, and whoever we are (a doctor, a teacher, an employee, a mother or a husband or whatever it is), we have a job & a responsibility that we have to carry wholeheartedly. Because whatever we do–does affect other people! It’s not only about ourselves!

So, if we CAN make a difference for the better…WHY WOULDN’T we?