Pediatric Guru

The Pediatric Guru is the greatest doctor I ever met, and is a friend. For these reasons, he deserves a lens of his own!

I remember when I interviewed for the Nurse Practitioner job I had for 13 years. I was told that the Pediatric Guru was by far the most challenging of all the five interviews I had to undergo to get the job.

I was told that the Pediatric Guru (PG) was difficult to please and I would unlikely get
the job because of this, even though all the other interviews had gone well.

Not one to believe authoritative negativity, I decided to win the PG over to my side. The way I chose to do this was to visualize a heart to heart connection between this man whom I never met, and myself.

I remember getting gas for my car across the street from the hospital where my interview was scheduled to take place one week later.

I did the heart to heart visualization in that moment and simultaneously felt an electrical jolt throughout every cell of my being. I wondered if PG was jolted awake at that very instant.

I imagined that he was.

As the seconds drew me closer and closer to the interview, I let go of the situation. I decided didn't really care if I got the job or not, even though I was in one of those miserable job situations I'd die to get out of.

I continued the heart to heart visualization for good measure, until it simply took over and I forgot about having to do it anymore.

Finally the day came, the hour, and the moment when I first met the Pediatric Guru.

At first, he seemed serious, but only at first. We liked one another immediately.

I had the job when he said, "Kate, why do you want to come to work at York Hospital?"

I said, "If I could, I'd rather work at an Indian Reservation, but since that is not possible, I've decided I will work here."

He lit up like a multi-colored long leaf old growth pine tree!!

It felt as if neither of us wanted the interview to end because we began to discuss medicine, Doctors and Nurses and the ideals of both professions.

When the interview did end, PG offered to walk me to the door of the hospital. And as he did, it seemed like both of his feet were dancing.

Later I overheard PG explain the interview this way: "Kate interviews well!"

I was trained as an OB/GYN Nurse Practitioner, and PG taught me everything I came to know about Pediatrics.

We worked in the basement of the hospital and took care of the poorest of the poor in what we all called The Clinic. If it wasn't for PG, the clinic would never exist. He fought all the bureaucratic entities to care for the people who loved him.

He saved many lives.

PG even moved to the neighborhood where most of our patients lived so he could be near them. His house was never robbed, and he was never harmed.

PG has a gift. He knows how to listen.

He leaves judgment out of the equation.

PG was an advocate for physically and sexually abused children in York, Pennsylvania.

He single handedly changed the way the courts tried child abuse cases in that town.

When what I considered to be the worst child abuse case I had ever seen ended when the child was returned to the abusing family, I was completely distraught.

I remember PG's response: "We are not here to rescue the children because in many cases, this is not possible due to the way the laws are set up. But we advocate to the best of our ability.

"And we don't get swept away by the way the courts rule. It is what it is. We must let go of it."

PG retired and I moved on to my present job, but we get together every two months, or so. We love the experience and live entirely in the present moment when we go out on the town! We used to go dancing, and think we will do that again, soon!

This lens is dedicated to my mentor, teacher and best friend, PG.

He is loved by many and is a mythic figure to the children he cared for who are now grown.

Because he listened and did not judge.

That alone propels him to Sainthood in the medical profession.