For the past three years since moving to Oklahoma, we get a letter in the mail at least quarterly that looks like this:
The name of the donor listed on this letter is a name I do not personally know, and so the first time we received it, I asked my husband who in the world this person is... and what had he done that caused this person to donate in his name?!
My husband smiles each time and says he was just doing his job.
At Wake Forest, JJ was known throughout the entire hospital as the "bow tie guy" - the pharmacist who showed up each day dressed in a bow tie, suspenders, and a beard. He always brought corny jokes and a willingness to go above and beyond to serve his patients. As manager of the Specialty Pharmacy, JJ did a lot more than simply filling a prescription; he regularly met with patients to educate them on their disease and therapy, called them at home to follow up, visited them when they came to clinic appointments, and checked in on them when they were admitted to the hospital.
Among his patients were many with very sensitive health issues including HIV, Hepatitis C, and kidney transplants. Some of these patients came from very difficult and controversial social situations, and they were accustomed to being judged by society for their resulting health issues. It was not unusual for JJ to tell me on our way home from work that we needed to make a stop at an anonymous patient's apartment to hand deliver their medications. He never told me their name, simply that this patient was worried about the neighbors confiscating their package and asking too many questions.
So, back to this anonymous donor who continues to give to the hospital in JJ's name... This donor - a transgender individual - came to JJ's pharmacy for a medication therapy consultation, and JJ treated this patient just like any other. He smiled, shook hands, and sat down on the patient's level. He listened. He empathized. He told jokes and offered to pray with this patient when the opportunity presented itself. He showed no judgement, no condemnation.
To JJ, he was just doing his job. He was treating this person as an important human being, a person created in the image of God, a person with legitimate feelings and real needs. It shouldn't have been that big of a deal.
But it was.
It was such a big deal to this patient, that four times a year for three years, a donation has been made in JJ's honor to the very hospital where these interactions took place.
This situation has resonated with me so much over the years, and every time I open that donation letter I am reminded that you don't have to agree with someone's lifestyle or choices to love them. You simply need to love them. As one of JJ's favorite quotes goes, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." You never know how much your simple actions will significantly impact someone's life in a time when they needed it most.
In a world where our differences are so often called out and used against each other as weapons, may we instead choose to be people who care about people, more than we care about our differences...
-L
The name of the donor listed on this letter is a name I do not personally know, and so the first time we received it, I asked my husband who in the world this person is... and what had he done that caused this person to donate in his name?!
My husband smiles each time and says he was just doing his job.
At Wake Forest, JJ was known throughout the entire hospital as the "bow tie guy" - the pharmacist who showed up each day dressed in a bow tie, suspenders, and a beard. He always brought corny jokes and a willingness to go above and beyond to serve his patients. As manager of the Specialty Pharmacy, JJ did a lot more than simply filling a prescription; he regularly met with patients to educate them on their disease and therapy, called them at home to follow up, visited them when they came to clinic appointments, and checked in on them when they were admitted to the hospital.
Among his patients were many with very sensitive health issues including HIV, Hepatitis C, and kidney transplants. Some of these patients came from very difficult and controversial social situations, and they were accustomed to being judged by society for their resulting health issues. It was not unusual for JJ to tell me on our way home from work that we needed to make a stop at an anonymous patient's apartment to hand deliver their medications. He never told me their name, simply that this patient was worried about the neighbors confiscating their package and asking too many questions.
So, back to this anonymous donor who continues to give to the hospital in JJ's name... This donor - a transgender individual - came to JJ's pharmacy for a medication therapy consultation, and JJ treated this patient just like any other. He smiled, shook hands, and sat down on the patient's level. He listened. He empathized. He told jokes and offered to pray with this patient when the opportunity presented itself. He showed no judgement, no condemnation.
To JJ, he was just doing his job. He was treating this person as an important human being, a person created in the image of God, a person with legitimate feelings and real needs. It shouldn't have been that big of a deal.
But it was.
It was such a big deal to this patient, that four times a year for three years, a donation has been made in JJ's honor to the very hospital where these interactions took place.
This situation has resonated with me so much over the years, and every time I open that donation letter I am reminded that you don't have to agree with someone's lifestyle or choices to love them. You simply need to love them. As one of JJ's favorite quotes goes, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." You never know how much your simple actions will significantly impact someone's life in a time when they needed it most.
In a world where our differences are so often called out and used against each other as weapons, may we instead choose to be people who care about people, more than we care about our differences...
-L
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