We save lives

"I am busy saving lives"

Few days ago, I was standing in the middle of a very busy A&E with a matron and a consultant, discussing the issues and safety in the department at the time.
A man, in his late sixties, approached us with his wife walking behind, a big smile on his face, holding a box of chocolates and a card, he handed them over to us and said: early November I was brought to A&E and when I arrived here my heart stopped, I almost died. I could hear the tears in his voice, his wife held his hand as he gathered his strength and continued: but you saved my life, without you and what you did I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be alive, he paused for a second or two and said: thank you for saving my life..

We thanked him for the card and the nice words, and as he walked away I said to my colleagues: that is what we do, we often forget that because of the pressures and strains, but that is what we do ; we save lives and we are bloody good at it.

Whenever my friends text me to go out or do something and if I am at work I often reply "I am busy saving lives", I don't say I'm working, because I'm not just working, I am saving lives.

I am part of a big family : Barts Health, that I am proud to belong to. Part of a great institution : the NHS that I am proud to work for. Part of a noble profession : Nursing, that I have always been proud to be. And in nursing, in Barts Health and in the NHS: We save lives, day and night, that's what we do, it's a job, but not "just a job", so what do you do for living?