The holiday season is a time of togetherness, an opportunity to count our blessings, and a chance to experience joy. We all know too that when you add children to the mix, their excitement is contagious.
As we become adults, however, we start realizing the truth in the adage, “It is better to give than to receive,” and come to understand the value of experiences over things.
The community members who call Highlands-Cashiers and the surrounding areas home — myself included — enjoy the gifts of living on the Plateau, including benefiting from the support of a caring community and much more.
I think of Highlands-Cashiers Hospital (HCH) as the recipient of so many gifts, including the talents of our highly invested providers and team members, unwavering generous support from HCA Healthcare, and the support of our community. The gifts we get from our community members are especially meaningful — they entrust us with their care, they choose to work within our walls, and they give their time to us as volunteers.
The greatest gifts here at the hospital are our team members. They step up in every way possible, always giving the best of themselves to our patients. That means in addition to our nurses and physicians providing lifesaving care, they also regularly take a moment to hold a patient’s hand when they’re afraid, listen when they have a question, and comfort them or their loved ones in the midst of uncertainty.
Our team members are all gifts, from those who welcome patients and register them to the ones who maintain our facility. Then there are those who ensure that our hospital is clean, and others who make certain that our patients, staff, and visitors are well-nourished. We couldn’t do it without our IT team either, since they keep our technology advanced and working properly, and other dedicated staff members’ work focuses on making our day-to-day operations seamless.
Our volunteers are also a huge part of our team. They can be seen with our patients and nurses as they support our team, or in the community as we engage in community events like our Teddy Bear hospitals or Christmas Parade float preparation. And of course, our nurses, doctors, and ancillary professionals who work in the lab, radiology department, respiratory therapy, and physical therapy department are the best I have worked with. Their clinical competence is exceptional, but most importantly, they show caring and compassion in every encounter and touch. To put it in terms I was taught when I first became a nurse, they treat every patient like they were their family.
As I move through the hospital each day, however, I witness and hear about the ways in which our caregivers consider the privilege of caring for their patients as one of the greatest gifts in their lives. They share that there are multiple rewards that accompany the profound responsibility of providing care to patients. These include patients trusting them as they heal, expressing extravagant praise and appreciation for what our caregivers do, and opening their hearts so meaningful relationships can be forged.
The gifts that hospital staff reference receiving on a daily basis are fulfillment in their work, since most people working in healthcare are called to this work — there’s truly nothing else they would rather do. They come to HCH with energy, commitment, and joy toward their patients — and their patients give them the gifts of allowing themselves to be cared for and their gratitude in return. Making a meaningful difference in patients’ lives is something that doesn’t leave you — ask any individual involved in caring for patients and they will likely tell you that they see the impact they have, and grateful patients express how caregivers create positive experiences for them here.
HCH’s extraordinary care teams offer the gifts that allow us to have a healthy, thriving hospital on the Plateau, so patients can get the best care without leaving their own community. Everyone at HCH gets the gift each day to serve our patients, and we treasure it. Whose gift is greater — the patients’ or ours — is hard to say, but I know with certainty that we feel deeply grateful to care for our community members when they need us most.
- Tom Neal, CEO Highlands-Cashiers Hospital
Tom Neal, RN, MBA, MHA, is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) of Highlands-Cashiers Hospital.