A group of faithful Rotarians gathered at Rotary Park, undaunted by the previous week’s rain gathered at Rotary Park. The group enjoyed a box lunch at picnic tables under the pavilion. After the meeting was called to order, Cara led the pledge, after creatively pulling up a picture of the flag on her phone. Singing and greeting each other followed.
We had several guests from the City of Wichita Falls Parks Board, including the new Director of Parks, Kaylee Robinson. We had a visiting Rotarian from the Netherlands, who had the honor of presenting new member, Ron Van Stein, with his red badge. Ron leads the Dutch contingent at Sheppard Air Force Base and is very grateful to be a new Rotarian.
Noros presented Jeff Spoeri with his Red Badge. Jeff is the Vice President for University Advancement at MSU.
John Deason and Benay Ayers shared updates on recent additions to Rotary Park, including the Peace Pole, and explained current needs. They noted that a couple of the shades were being repaired under warranty. John explained how Rotarians could help with yard work and cleaning. Rotarians responded by putting “service above self” into action by beautifying the park.
January 22, 2020
“Hey, nurse!”
It was a man’s voice, loud and gruff, coming from room 254. Jackie was taking a shortcut through the telemetry unit after another busy day in the critical care unit. These weren’t her patients, so she kept going.
“Yo, the blondie, it’s you!” the man shouted again.
Jackie stopped and went to the doorway of room 254 and glanced in. A large man with a big, friendly face was sitting up in bed.
“Do you remember me? You were my nurse on the fourth floor.”
“I’m sorry, but I work in the critical care unit. You must have me confused with someone else.”
“No, wait a minute.” He started snapping his fingers. “Your name is … Oh, let me think …” He looked up at the ceiling, a half smile on his face. Then he looked back at Jackie.
“Jackie, right? You’ve got a long, blond ponytail, don’t you?”
Jackie was dumbfounded. “Yes,” she said, peeking at her chest to make sure she’d taken off her name tag. She then studied the man’s face, looking for something that might trigger her memory.
“I’m sorry. I don’t work on the fourth floor, and I just don’t remember you.”
“That’s all right, Jackie. I’m just glad I got to see you again. You came into my room about 3 weeks ago. My heart stopped dead on me and you put those paddles on my chest. I remember you shouting out all these technical words, telling everybody to clear the way. Then you took those paddles and you shocked me back to life.”
Suddenly, it dawned on Jackie. She had been in his room, for a code she’d forgotten about. He was a different person back then – unresponsive, with dilated pupils and a red and blue face.
“Who told you I helped you that day?” Jackie asked curiously.
The man laughed and looked back up at the ceiling.
“Nobody told me. I was up on that ceiling there watching you. That’s how I saw your long, blond ponytail. And when you turned to look at the monitor, I saw your beautiful face. I’m so glad I got to see you again.”
He looked back down at Jackie, his smile gone and he was getting emotional.
“I wanted to say thanks. Thanks so much …”
A warm feeling welled up inside Jackie. She didn’t understand how the man could see her from the ceiling while his life was ebbing away. Some might call it an out-of-body experience. It might also be just a miracle of sorts – no different from many other small miracles that occur every day in the hospitals.