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From the onset of this article I desire that you become aware of the title – it does not say if but when. This past week we had an 18” snowstorm come through; much of the northeast and Long Island was among the areas that were hit hard. My house has always looked beautiful because it is well kept, and we have spent time and money in doing landscaping. We had a tree that was as old as our home (100 years). It stood proudly at 98 feet. It was a huge fir that my wife Celia loved as it had become the home of cardinals, doves, possums, raccoons and many other types of wildlife. This heavy snow deposited itself on the lower 60 feet of branches and the weight of the snow caused the limbs to splinter and fall. By the time the local electric company came and “amputated” the broken limbs, what remained was a “lollipop,” 60 feet of trunk with a sail of upper tree. Our landscaper came by and said if the tree were in the midst of the forest it would survive, but if it were to be exposed to high winds, there was an 80% chance that it would fall on the house or anywhere in the street and possibly take lives. Celia has had to make decisions such as this before with all of our cats and dogs and, once again, with tears in her eyes, she made the only decision possible, and they cut down our friend of the last 25 years. When the storms of life come, they are devastating.
This same snowstorm created far more personal trials for families. A limb of another man’s tree fell on him as he was outside and fell on his head, killing him instantly. A pizza store owner 2 miles from my home was shoveling his walk to have a path for his customers when his 52 year old heart gave out and he died of cardiac arrest. When the storms of life come, they are devastating. The precipitation of this past week has widowed families, taken young mothers from the lives of their husbands and children, have taken kids lives that were so full of hope, and snuffed them out in one ugly, terrifying moment. When the storms of life come, they are devastating. How do the remaining family members manage to survive these calamities? In truth, some don’t! Some become divorced, some become suicidal and are successful, some now live in a world of depression and anxiety, and some have lost hope, dreams and their faith. A few of the survivors have reached out to their source of religious belief and have embraced a personal relationship with their creator. Some have found the love and friendship of their communities. Some have clung together as a family even more ferociously than they had in the past. Some have called their health care providers as they have needed medications to “cope” with their situations, whereas some have gone no further than the local liquor store to bury their memories in an over abundance of destructive alcohol consumption.
This week I read the March/April Edition of AARP Magazine and become disheartened at the articles that left people without hope and in despair. One was entitled “Love Is (NOT) All You Need.” The traditional wedding cake has a bride waving farewell to the groom as the caption reads, “Till Illness Do We Part.” The article demonstrated how people of retirement age lose their self dignity and their entire incomes because the storms of life have encircled them, and they are devastated. One person suggested that at age 70 a couple should go on a beautiful one month vacation and see everything they had wished for in life, return to have a large party for their families and best friends, kiss their loved one goodbye and then enter a cabinet that has a button that has boldly imprinted upon it, disintegrate. We are missing something that our grandparents held on to: the belief that family was as strong as iron tempered in the fire and that, where there is life and breath, there is hope. When the storms of life come, they are devastating. What can we hope to do as PAs and NPs, as physicians, social workers, psychologists, clergymen and clergywomen? What can we offer? Do we have a healing salve that we can apply to the wounds?
Everyone that I have just mentioned can take a place in the recovery, the redemption, the renewal of these lives through his or her own personal calling or profession. Those of us in medical fields can sit down with these families and look at the patient, not at the clock, and offer our concern and compassion as well as our medical advice, programs, grief and bereavement groups and our prescription pad when needed. We can become familiar with each other and start a community group of professionals whose responsibility is to bring all of these disciplines together and work with one another through proper referral channels. We can also invite the clergy of all faiths to become a part of our group. They offer hope through a living faith in the providential workings of an all-powerful creator who knows the end from the beginning. There is a place for spirituality in the medical workplace. There will be times when we have done all we can, and the referral to a local pastor, rabbi, priest or omam is the answer to the devastation. Our job is to heal, and healing takes place through medicine, psychoanalysis, prayer, spirituality, and, mainly, from a concern that is genuine. I challenge all who read this article to find a solution and become a dispenser of hope. We are instruments in the hand of one who is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. The invisible hand can guide, but we need to be proficient in functioning in the manner that can best help our deserving patients.
 Robert M. Blumm has received national recognition as a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). He is the past president of the Association of Plastic Surgery Physician Assistants, and was past-president of the American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants, past president of the American College of Clinicians and NYSSPA, as well as Chairman of the Surgical Congress of the AAPA. In addition, Bob received the John Kirklin MD Award for Professional Excellence from the American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants. Along with his associate, Dr. Acker, Bob was the first recipient of the AAPA PAragon Physician-PA Partnership Award. He has been a contributing author of three textbooks, written 150 plus articles and is a sought out conference speaker throughout the United States.
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