Health care professionals say that, for every day spent in a hospital, it takes three days to recover from the experience. So, recovery from a ten-day hospital stay would take about a month under normal circumstances. Emergency abdominal surgery for appendicitis with complications is not normal circumstances, and recovery is taking longer than I had hoped. Focusing on my recovery is why you have not read my column for the past many weeks. I wanted to write, and there was so much to write about, but every keystroke was an effort, and my focus had to be on my regaining my health, something I had given little attention to since I have been blessed with good genes and usually powered through the challenges of getting older.

Health care in this country is a hot topic in the presidential campaigns, along with the cost of living, housing, and the economy in general. In Fairfax County and Northern Virginia, we are fortunate to have state-of-the-art health care facilities available 24/7. A friend recently broke her hip when she stepped off the pavement while on a stroll with her husband. She was taken to Prince William’s Sentara Hospital emergency room for treatment, and rapidly transferred to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital in the middle of the night so that her orthopedic surgeon could perform a complete hip replacement in the morning. She was up and walking later that day and discharged to complete her recovery with physical therapy at home. Good insurance coverage and good communication between health care providers resulted in a positive outcome, and I am sure that her spouse was an excellent patient advocate as vital decisions were made.

Every patient needs an advocate — a family member or trusted friend who can assist with asking questions and understanding the responses. When my late husband was in and out of the hospital, I often was frustrated when staff indicated that they had discussed treatment with my husband, outside of my presence. I had to make it very clear that patients, especially elderly ones, often do not understand what is being told to them. They’re sick, in the hospital, and dealing with non-familiar surroundings and non-familiar staff. Connecting with a charge nurse or hospitalist takes extra effort, but that connection can create greater understanding and better expectations and outcomes for the patient and their loved ones.
The Inova Health System is one of the largest employers in the region, with an incredibly diverse health care staff, from surgeons and nurses to the people who distribute food trays and transport patients for CT scans. I met nurses and technicians from India, Ghana, and Vietnam, some who just graduated, and others who have been nursing for two decades or more. The delightful young man who provided transport for a CT scan grew up here after coming from Central America as a toddler and applied for the hospital job because he “wanted to help people.” They are the faces and stories of many immigrants in our community, focused on the education and hard work that provide a path to career success, no matter your origin or circumstances.

George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College are collaborating to expand the opportunities for training nurses and health care personnel, but challenges remain. Health care professionals who trained in another country may face lengthy bureaucratic red tape to be licensed in this country. I am reminded of the Columbian radiologist who could only find work as a day laborer; the Central American geriatric nurse who now works in a laundromat; the young Afghani woman, only months away from earning her ophthalmology degree, who fled war with her family, and now will have to start her education all over again, at least a five year course; the French nurse who applied for an American license but faces a brick wall over English language fluency. They have health care in their hearts, and skills to match, but they need extra assistance to continue their career path in the United States. Such investment, at the public or private level, could pay dividends for the entire community, now and in the future.