A good friend of ours Frank, shares a story of a recent encounter he had with a very special social worker:
I made a new friend at a recent Sunday brunch. Patricia is an Oncology Social Worker who had recently retired after thirty years at the Mayo Clinic.
“What does an Oncology Social Worker do?” I asked.
“Oncology Social Workers provide services to people with cancer and their families. People diagnosed with Cancer are often shocked and feel lost. Because they’re upset, they often find it impossible to think straight. They are immediately drawn into a world of highly sophisticated medical practice and frequently don’t understand what the Doctor has said to them. That’s where I come in. I explain their situation in language they can understand. I might help them sort out their insurance; find transportation to and from treatment; introduce them to community services; arrange for housing near the hospital; explain their disease to their families; sit with them when they break the news to their spouse; provide counseling to reduce stress for both cancer survivors and their care givers.”
“I didn’t even know there was such a specialty in social work. What a wonderful service you provide to the neediest patients at just the right time,” I replied.
“We work behind the scenes. You might say we support the person behind the illness, the family behind the person, and the communities behind the families. Basically, we address the non-medical concerns that people affected by cancer have.”
“Did you enjoy your work?” I asked.
“Yes, very much,” Patricia answered. “I realize it’s not for everyone, but it’s the only thing I wanted to do. Forty years ago, when I was just a student, I came upon a quote by Henri Nouwen. It read:
'Compassion - asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish.
Compassion - challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears.
Compassion - requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable and powerless with the powerless.
Compassion - means full immersion in the condition of being human.'
When I read that quote, I knew what direction my life would take.”
Social workers all share a deep and profound compassion for those less fortunate. They’re not in it for the money, or the recognition. Like my new friend, Patricia, they’re in it because they just couldn’t be anywhere else.
