"Nice To Have Good Health Care"
By Capt. Fred Davis
Published: Friday, June 06, 2014



I last reported that I suffered an “unexpected” event while trying to make my way back to Michigan. I raved on about the tender care in the ER to the hourly reports by police officers regarding the safety of my vehicle left at a rest stop.

Southern hospitality it turns out is simply good treatment, delivered with a smile and question asked frequently, “Can I get y’all anything?” After about 10 hours of the sweet talk delivered by male and female personnel in the ER, I discovered southern hospitality is just a way southerners treat others.

I always thought southern hospitality was found only in the South. After all northerners never said, “y’all” and rarely had a twang in their voices. I was soon to learn southern traits are alive and well in the north.

My doctor’s office had kindly scheduled an appointment for me as soon as I returned to begin a battery of tests to discover what took me off the road. They all required long fasting times to see if I would starve without food or water, I guess.

When I signed in at 7 a.m. at the hospital, I was greeted by a sweetheart of a woman who eased me along quickly. She directed me to the lab where I found a couple of delightful young women. The first words out of Missy’s mouth were, “When was the last time you ate or drank?” My answer was, “Yesterday, and I’m planning on finding the cafe as soon as this test is complete.” As giggles rang out from another corner of the room, Pam spoke up saying, “The test could take just over four hours.” As the smiling faces peered at me, someone kindly said, “You may be done in two or three hours.” In between visiting these gals, I stopped off to see Erin and she did some further investigating.

I heard no twangs or y’all, which would have seemed as out of place as food, but I quickly noted there was no difference in northern hospitality. Everyone offered friendly smiles and genuine warmth that was totally sincere. Best of all, northern cooking at the cafe was really great — beef stew over homemade biscuits!

The next day I got my test results, and there was good news and bad news — they found out what I don’t have but are still on the hunt for what I do have. So I’ll be headed back to do some more testing, sure hope I pass this time.

We sure are lucky here in Huron County. We have specialists in just about every medical field and three hospitals providing services needed. I’ve visited all three over the years, and although none use the expression y’all, warm gestures and smiling faces are abundant at them all.

As I see it, Pam, Missy, Trisha, Erin, Kelly and all others I encountered in my past few visits really do rate right up there with the “Southern Belles.”

 

 

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