Another Family Life Lesson

So, Sunday morning started out cloudy and cool. It was a perfect day for an early Pasadena walk to Peet’s and a Havana Cappuccino. I took some photos along a leisurely stroll back home. Madison Heights sports honor system-based outdoor libraries throughout the neighborhood. Inevitably, the books seemed housed in dispensaries surrounded by Biden/Harris signs. I planned on sharing my photos with colleagues who had lost their way in 2016 and had yet to pick up their reading pace. I was thinking of all the people I’d seen not wearing masks.

I’d planned on doing a Peloton class, hitting some balls at the Altadena range, and then indulging a breakfast stop and a Mexican scramble at Yahaira’s Café on Colorado and the Theater District. Lots of football and World Series Game 4 would follow.

Instead, I went straight to the office to finish up with some bills and our Invisalign offer for the rest of “thought-it-was-never-gonna-end” 2020. I made short work of some frozen blueberry waffles with cinnamon bun spread and spiced chai tea, courtesy of Trader Joe’s. And then I got a call; that’s when I began thinking again.

Our office is beyond safe. Throughout “stay at home” we planned on doing everything possible to protect the team and the patients we see as family. We have our core values listed on a white board in our lunchroom; the acronym spells out FFEARLESS. The first “F” stands for Family.

The call came from Dani, our Team Leader of over 10-years. Everything was fine. But I started thinking, “What if?”

Dani is like a daughter to me; she’s level-headed and thoughtful. Dani has always been eloquent and empathetic in the seamless way she relates her words to the concerns of others; she’s careful, fair, and has my back. Our Team Leader experienced a high-risk pregnancy last year and is Mom to a beautiful one-year old daughter. What if Dani tested positive for Covid-19? Viruses have no sense of fairness.

And I seriously think I need to cut back on my thinking, especially when it comes to “What if?”

I couldn’t wait to see everyone on Monday morning. I just wanted to know how everyone was doing. Our huddle takes place in the lunchroom 25-minutes before the first patient. We’re all masked up; the huddle lasts about 10-minutes. Everyone was fine. The quote on the whiteboard read, “Being like everybody is being like nobody.” Rod Serling

There were no “nobodies” in the room.

I tested for Covid-19 yesterday.

And every day, we spend significant time educating patients regarding oral disease and the varying risk to all its forms including periodontal, biomechanical, and functional manifestations. We have conversations regarding the strong connections between healthy mouths, healthy bodies, and healthy lives.

The good news is we can do the best we can to protect ourselves and we can learn. The less positive news is we can never assume. And we know our resistance to disease is as personalized as our fingerprints and DNA.

We haven’t turned a Covid-19 corner. And “nobodies” do not exist when we are family.

And maybe our best defense is absorbing a good, long look at our family core values (once we think about them and write them down.)

I’m looking at the white board and seeing family, fun, empathy, appreciation, representing the community, love, enthusiasm, service, and support. Writing them is easier than being them.

When the clinical assistant came out to my car for the nasal swab Covid-19 test, he asked if I had symptoms. I responded no but that I was a dentist and just wanted to do the right thing (our whole team has tested as I type.) The assistant shared he’d look out for my name and have the results back within 2-hours, not 24-hours.

When I returned to the office on what was my planning day, I saw a familiar number come up on the phone. It had been less than an hour since my test. The caller said, Jack, your test is negative. I thanked him, times a thousand. My fave urgent care assistant responded, “Doc, it’s my pleasure; we’re family.”

And to paraphrase It’s a Wonderful Life’s Clarence the Angel, “No man is a failure who has family.”