**NOTE: I know this letter is long, however, it is extremely important to me, so I do hope you will publish it.
“It takes only three to five seconds to make a first impression, but it can take a whole career to undo it,” Dana May Casperson, author of Power Etiquette: What You Don’t Know Can Kill Your Career.
This is a quote I challenge myself to live by daily, in both my personal and professional career. It is an adage that I believe true, a saying we should all keep in mind with every encounter we have.
A few years ago, I was involved in an experience where my ‘first impression’ at Groves Memorial Hospital in Fergus was negatively affected by a select few (certainly not all) of the doctors and nurses I dealt with throughout that time. The service and care received over the course of this near two month involvement was terribly disappointing and I truthfully, felt was unacceptable. As a result, I promised my friends, family and myself, that I had no intention of ever giving the staff there the chance to ‘undo’ that “first impression” that I was so negatively impacted by. This disappointed me terribly as this was the hospital where I was born and where my children were born, the hospital where as a child I had had my tonsils out, stitches stitched and bruises tended. And, with one bad experience, I was bound I would never return again.
Thursday, October 2nd, however, presented me with a choice, one that could be impacted by this ‘first impression’ I have struggled with for the past 6 years. When while cooking dinner, my husband fell violently ill, I knew I had to get him to a hospital immediately. There are 4 hospitals within a half hour of our house, and his choice of hospital during this emergency, was Groves. During my split hesitation to take him there I thought of Casperson’s quote, and wondered if I was ready to give it the chance to ‘undo’ the conception I had, especially in a situation as critical as we were experiencing.
From the second we entered emergency Thursday night however, I understood that this experience would be different. From our point of contact with the intake nurse, right through to my husband’s release 18 hours later, our ‘first impression’ was nothing but positive. Admission was smooth and quick, the nurses were caring and compassionate and the doctors were responsive and extremely knowledgeable. Dr. Folkl was truly the most thorough doctor we have ever encountered and it was through his actions and the actions of the other professionals we saw through two shift changes, and 18 long hours, that our negative ‘first impression’ was undone.
We would like to sincerely thank the Groves Memorial Emergency Staff who were working from 6:00 p.m, Thursday, Oct.2 to noon Friday, Oct. 3.. I would like to thank them for their prompt professional service and for understanding and demonstrating that you can still provide this while showing compassion and quality care for your patients. I would like to thank them not only for the care they provided to my husband, but for also restoring my faith and appreciation in our small local hospital, and allowing me the chance to see that negative ‘first impressions’ can indeed be overcome when dealing with people who truly care.
Carrie Lawlor