We Were Heroes
by Adeeti Gupta, MD
We were heroes, locking the clinic doors every night and walking home in the apocalyptic I Am Legend-like streets of Manhattan.
We were heroes to people lining the glass canyons shouting, screaming, clapping, and beating pots and pans to thank us for risking our lives to keep them alive.
We are heroes no more.
Patients come into our lobbies and exam rooms screaming, throwing potted plants, and cursing us several times a month.
Few weeks ago, a patient came into one of our offices, threatened her provider – assaulted her with a lamp (thankfully missed the provider), punched a hole in the wall, and showered verbal abuse on the entire office. She then proceeded to physically threaten all the team members who were in the office at that time. Our pregnant team member had to secure herself in a room for fear of being assaulted again. When the police made it to the office, our place of work was in chaos until the patient was escorted away. The entire incident shook the whole team deep to their core.
This is happening every day (more and more).
What changed?
It is whiplash-inducing how things have shifted. In 2014, when I opened Walk In GYN Care, the nation’s first full-service Walk-In Center focused solely on comprehensive Women’s Health Care in the heart of NYC, the response was phenomenal. Within the last seven years, we have expanded to seven locations, including the West Coast, serving nearly 60,000 women annually. Women are grateful for being able to come into a warm, compassionate environment where they can get the care they need when they need it.
We are the same, but the rest of us aren’t. Medical professionals make a commitment before any degrees are conferred or any white coats are worn. We commit to care for everyone and anyone. To first do no harm. No harm to others while we expose ourselves to harm by definition. We exist this way day in and day out.
Those who have never known a health care worker closely do not know how much risk they take daily to do their job. Our job is to heal others…at all costs. Our driving force is compassion and giving tirelessly to those in need. We are on our feet all day, running around, changing dirty linens, cleaning disgusting beds, bathing sick people, and the list goes on. Unlike the chart-toting bedside visits filmed for ER, Grey’s Anatomy or Scrubs, our lives are filled with the less cinematic kind of menial labor-intensive stuff that many people cannot even imagine. Yes! We do this every single day, rain or shine.
Why choose this instead of a comfortable, remote, or flexible job? We do this because we get fulfilled through making others’ lives better. Yes, we get paid to do it, but there are many ways to make money. How many professions exist where all one does is give and do so selflessly, tirelessly, and endlessly? I can think of very few.
But back to the story…
Most of my team members are women, single mothers and sole care providers, working multiple jobs and trying their best to survive. These women showed up to work through those desolate streets every single day. We were one of the rare women’s health centers that stayed open while the ERs overflowed with Covid patients.
Only women know that women’s issues do not stop because of a pandemic. Women will still get breast, ovarian, uterine, or cervical cancers; they will still have bleeding issues with life-threatening anemia or serious infections leading to death. And yes, they will still get pregnant and undergo childbirth or miscarriages. And who takes care of all those situations?
The health care heroes.
So, we stayed open and ready every day.
Three days ago, at one of our other locations, the story repeated itself… Another patient threatened the staff verbally and physically while spewing curses at the team. The unfortunate part was that she had a 3-year-old kid with her who witnessed this entire scenario.
These two incidents are not isolated; they only increase in frequency and intensity. And these are not restricted to any particular location. We have centers in Manhattan, Astoria, Brooklyn, Bayside, and Los Angeles. It’s happening everywhere.
The rising tide of anger, entitlement, and frustration is being experienced in all service industries. The air stewards trapped 30,000 miles above with a violent customer or the cashier being threatened at gunpoint…the tales are only piling up.
I have practiced medicine for the last 25 years in three different countries in very extreme situations. I have witnessed the entire spectrum, ranging from real poverty to the elite upper east side’s wealthy population. Never have I seen such a terrible assault on humanity outside a psych ward.
What has led to the degradation of humanity to this level?
By adulthood, all of us have lived through a breakup, the loss of a job, or a car accident. None of us were adults during the last global pandemic, and none knew what was coming…nor how we would feel in the aftermath.
The losses of the pandemic, the isolation from lockdowns, the rise in domestic violence, increasing mental health issues, and so much more have put everyone on the edge. Inflation has added the cherry on top. Everyone is angry, everyone is sensitive, and everyone feels that they deserve the best.
We understand.
However, we still go on and about doing what we must do, even if we are exposed to these verbally and physically abusive patients.
No, we don’t excuse ourselves because we need mental rest; we simply continue caring for the rest of the patients and finish out the day giving our best to every single soul!
In our staff meetings, we now have to cover procedures for such violent outbreaks – both verbal and physical. We had to install panic buttons in our offices. All these conversations invariably turn to the question, will we stick it out and leave for a “safer job”?
Not one of the 100 staff has left.
Our team motto is “Caring with Compassion.” I have strived to imbue that in my team from day one. And they do… they are proud to provide compassionate and stellar care to all women all day, every day.
However, compassion is not a one-way street.
Have you thought that the person who is taking your blood pressure or checking you in, or examining you might be having a terrible day? Yet, they showed up here today and are “giving” you a piece of themselves. Don’t they deserve some compassion and kindness just like you do? I simply urge you to look in the mirror and give us a little bit of the same.
Our commitment to care does not change.
Not because we are heroes.
Because we are human.
____________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Adeeti Gupta is a physician, entrepreneur, author and an educator. She is the founder and CEO of Walk In GYN Care.