Connections

This year should have been filled with
…..* wisdom
…..* insight
…..* lessons learned
Instead we got this insanely stressful year.

……..I wonder.
….Will we? Can we?
Ever get back all that went missing?

…….And can I?
Get back time with my patients, my students?

What about the time I’ve
…..missed with my children?

Healing touch —
….that’s why I got into medicine.

I went from connecting with patients
in person (my white coat’s pockets filled
with slips of paper, my shoulders sore
from toting heavy books)
to connecting with a computer between us,
to connecting via telemedicine.
……I miss seeing patients.

How can we integrate technology
…..with what’s humane, empathetic?
……..With that healing touch?

……We’re all doing our best.
I know I’m not alone.

We’re handing our next generation a lot.
But they’ll figure it out.
They’re my hope, source of my optimism,
my sense of peace about the future.

Notes from the interview that inspired this poem:

She had chosen medicine because of its healing touch, that connection with patients and their families. This very stressful year had made those connections more distant and difficult. She wondered how to help the next generation of physicians and healers efficiently use technology without losing that personal connection to their patients. She believed they would be able to figure it out.

Interviewee: Anonymous, Physician
Listener Poet: Katherine Gekker