Winter can be lovely if you are warm, well-fed, and safely protected from the elements. I too work in an emergency department where the cold means an added layer of suffering for those that lack these protective elements. Our city staffs warming centers throughout the area, but they close at 8 pm when the homeless shelters reopen for the evening. For those who can't find a bed in a shelter or feel the streets are safer than sharing indoor space with co-homeless inhabitants, are at high risk of hypothermia and death. Many come to the ED claiming suicidal ideations, chest pain, or acute psychosis. Often a turkey sandwich and coffee eases their symptoms. For most, they start to feel better by morning in time to move back to the warming center. We should be able to do better than this.
I agree my friend. We should be able to do better. It's easy to forget that when the ER is the best place our patients can go, then things are hard. I used to find this sort of thing frustrating. But now I see it as medicine and ministry rolled into one. Take care!
Growing up in an unheated house in chilly post-war England, I was astonished to hear Americans say how they loved the winter. Then I realized these winter-lovers could count on warm houses, schools and workplaces.
Rachel, I can't imagine how cold that must have been! My wife grew up in WV and her house had no upstairs heat until she was in college, as I recall. She and her siblings slept up there. It gets bitter cold in winter. You are quite correct that we can love winter because we count on warmth. This quote from Watership Down resonated with me years ago: "Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it."
I had experienced very cold and snowy winters growing up in Illinois, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, but the homes my family lived in were well insulated and had forced air furnaces. You could go outside in the wind and snow, and even if you got very cold, you could warm up again inside your house. In 1975-77, I was a new special education teacher in Barbour County, West Virginia. Our first house was built of concrete blocks, with drafty doors and windows, no insulation and a Warm Morning gas heater that made part of the dining room a little warmer than the outside. Many of our students had harsher living conditions, and unlike us, they didn't have decent winter boots or coats. I realized how much a person's appreciation for winter depends on their ability to get warm and dry.
Winter can be lovely if you are warm, well-fed, and safely protected from the elements. I too work in an emergency department where the cold means an added layer of suffering for those that lack these protective elements. Our city staffs warming centers throughout the area, but they close at 8 pm when the homeless shelters reopen for the evening. For those who can't find a bed in a shelter or feel the streets are safer than sharing indoor space with co-homeless inhabitants, are at high risk of hypothermia and death. Many come to the ED claiming suicidal ideations, chest pain, or acute psychosis. Often a turkey sandwich and coffee eases their symptoms. For most, they start to feel better by morning in time to move back to the warming center. We should be able to do better than this.
I agree my friend. We should be able to do better. It's easy to forget that when the ER is the best place our patients can go, then things are hard. I used to find this sort of thing frustrating. But now I see it as medicine and ministry rolled into one. Take care!
Growing up in an unheated house in chilly post-war England, I was astonished to hear Americans say how they loved the winter. Then I realized these winter-lovers could count on warm houses, schools and workplaces.
Rachel, I can't imagine how cold that must have been! My wife grew up in WV and her house had no upstairs heat until she was in college, as I recall. She and her siblings slept up there. It gets bitter cold in winter. You are quite correct that we can love winter because we count on warmth. This quote from Watership Down resonated with me years ago: "Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it."
I had experienced very cold and snowy winters growing up in Illinois, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, but the homes my family lived in were well insulated and had forced air furnaces. You could go outside in the wind and snow, and even if you got very cold, you could warm up again inside your house. In 1975-77, I was a new special education teacher in Barbour County, West Virginia. Our first house was built of concrete blocks, with drafty doors and windows, no insulation and a Warm Morning gas heater that made part of the dining room a little warmer than the outside. Many of our students had harsher living conditions, and unlike us, they didn't have decent winter boots or coats. I realized how much a person's appreciation for winter depends on their ability to get warm and dry.