It's harder and harder to be a nurse, or a physician, or any of the allied healthcare professionals. Day after day, we are bombarded with things we have to do, and day after day, there seem to be fewer of us to do them. We work with less: less equipment, less reimbursement, fewer supplies and fewer staff.
Once in awhile, we find a way to have fun. And fun is very important, especially if you belong to a profession that deals daily with life and death issues.
Yes, this week was the 20th Annual Rubber Ducky Derby at Podunk General.....
Northeast of the hospital, and one street north of Main Street, is a venerable old brick building. Currently, it is a church. In a previous life, it was an antiques' store. In the beginning, it was a planing mill.
Logs were trucked down from the mountains and turned into usable lumber at that planing mill. Underneath the mill, unseen and unheard, is a creek. It is aptly named Mill Creek. It winds southwest from the former planing mill, along Main Street, completely underground.
It surfaces, literally, next to the hospital. There is a length of creek, about fifty feet long, that meanders between buildings belonging to the hospital. On the west side, small decks have been build just off the walkway, so employees can sit and eat lunch, talk, or relax on break, listening to the gentle flow of the creek.
On Tuesday of this week, the Rubber Ducky Derby brought out lots of spectators, participants, and “boat crews.” The rules are rather simple: the boat had to be larger than 5 inches X 5 inches, and smaller than 12 inches X 12 inches. It had to be handmade—created from scratch—and they had to have a minimum of 3 different dimensional parts. (No floating a paper plate down the creek, sorry!)
Department members, and their vessel, had to be at the creek at 0830 for judging in three different categories: The Most Creative; The Best Department Theme; and Best Rubber Ducky Theme. A prize was awarded for the best overall time, too.
I didn't get to go this year: I had patients to see. But I did get to see our vessel. It was an inflatable raft sort of thing, with a piece of Styrofoam in it. Tongue blades (with our individual pictures glued to them) were standing in the Styrofoam....all two dozen, or more, of us! And an American flag waved proudly at the aft, just like any proud American vessel.
No, we didn't win the race. We didn't even win our heat. But that's okay. We had a lot of laughs with it and, from what I heard, there was a very large crowd of employees enjoying the festivities. And, I think we got something better out of it anyway....
You might say it was good for morale. You might think we got a sense of pride in our department. That is all very nice but, we got something even better:
Our vessel was voted The Most Creative.....and we get a pizza party for the whole department!
How cool is that?
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