Called to Serve

Here at SSM Health St. Anthony Shawnee, we recently held our annual MISSION CELEBRATION event.  This event is an opportunity for all employees to celebrate the work that is already being done and to consider new or improved ways of fulfilling our mission.  This year’s theme was “Called to Serve.” 

As we prepared for the event, our Mission Team (the group responsible for planning and leading the event), invested a good deal of time and energy in considering just what it means to be “Called to Serve.”  On the surface, responding to such a call includes meeting the needs of others, not just ourselves.  But isn’t that our job?  Aren’t we supposed to meet the needs of others?

But isn't that our job?

To be sure, answering the call to serve starts with meeting others’ needs – patients, families, and coworkers, alike.  The manner in which we respond to those needs, though, more accurately defines whether we’ve truly responded to that call.  I can treat a request as an obligation or as an opportunity.  When I fulfill an obligation, I’m doing my job.  When I seize an opportunity to make a difference in someone else’s life, no matter how small, I am truly serving.

Fully answering that call to serve is doing my job and so much more.  That call actually includes two calls – a call to care, and a call to act.  If I don’t really care, I may meet an obligation, but I won’t truly have served.  And what good does it do to care if I don’t choose to act?

Answering the call to serve, caring and acting, can take many forms.  It may be a major life decision such as choosing a profession, pursuing a degree or certification, changing jobs, or something else altogether.  More often, though, answering that call involves smaller choices we encounter on a regular basis.  It may be something as simple as saying “Have a nice day!” to those I encounter in the course of my day.  It may be spending just an extra few moments with someone who is confused or concerned.  It might even be taking the time to pray with a patient or coworker who has shared a concern. 

Most often, answering the call to serve is simply a matter of paying attention and choosing to act.  I’ve heard it said that, “Not to decide is to decide.”  If I don’t intentionally choose TO do a task, I won’t do it.  The end result is just the same as having chosen not to do it.  Not to decide, then, truly is to decide.  However, if I’m willing to simply pay attention to the needs around me AND to choose to act on them, I will have answered the call to truly serve. 

Not to decide is to decide

I’ve heard countless stories of our employees doing just this kind of thing.  For instance:

- A lab tech arrived to draw blood and noticed her patient was having difficulty shaving, so she invested a few extra minutes to help him complete the task.

- A therapist, on his way across the parking lot after work, spotted an elderly gentleman who was confused and agitated.  He invested time in helping the gentleman find someone who could help him clear his mind and get where he needed to be – again, all after work.

- A nurse took the time to sit and talk with a patient who, recently diagnosed with a stroke, was refusing life-saving treatment.  The nurse heard the patient’s pain, recognized his fear, and shared the compassion and insight needed to help the patient make a more productive choice.

- Another nurse, talking on the phone with a patient, recognized the despair in his voice and, when the call abruptly ended, chose to call the police out of concern. They later let her know she’d saved the patient’s life, as he was planning to commit suicide.

Not every opportunity to serve is as dramatic as some of these, but each is an opportunity to make a positive difference in someone’s life, and we all have them every day.  The real question is whether or not we’ll take the time to recognize and respond.

The real question is whether or not
we'll take the time

Sure, acting on the call to serve is our job, but it’s also our mission.  Our mission statement here at SSM Health reads, “Through our exceptional healthcare services, we reveal the healing presence of God.”  We’re called to reveal God’s presence by the way we respond to the call to serve. 

It’s no exaggeration, then, to say that the call to serve is, quite literally, a call to reveal God.  It’s a pretty profound call, actually, and it’s one we don’t take lightly.  Caring for this community is our job, but it’s so very much more. It’s a choice we make over and over again, each and every day.  And we’re grateful for the opportunity.

#call  #caring  #serving  #servant  #mission  #ssmhealth