Thursday, January 28, 2010

Why does "Arranging Your Life When Dialysis Comes Home" Matter?

Last night, Jane McClure and I presented our first Webinar through Home Dialysis Central (http://www.homedialysiscentral.org/). We were delighted at the response of folks in the group, and we will be doing another presentation on "Supporting the Caregiver and Preventing Caregiver Burnout" sometime in the future.

But it struck me that President Obama was delivering his State of the Union Address at the same time -- so he missed our Webinar(!). And, of course, it takes only a cursory glance at the news to be reminded of the devastation in Haiti to realize that our problems pale in comparison.

So why does our project, i.e. helping people design their Home Dialysis Centers for maximal function, efficiency, and comfort, even matter? It comes down to this:

We have the opportunity to take control of the things over which we have some control, to make our own little microcosm better -- to improve the quality of our lives and those of our loved ones.

Does that minimize the importance of what's happening around us, or happening more globally? Not at all.

But maximizing our own functioning helps us to be more effective in whatever we do....whether that's being a dialysis assistant, a physician, you name it.

After all, good design is not a "frill." It's based in optimizing function, minimizing stress, and living a better life. We serve best when we are grounded ourselves. "Arranging Your Life" helps us to be more grounded and therefore, we hope, more effective in our lives.

Take care. Linda Gromko, MD

2 comments:

  1. You have a funny typo in your post...but maybe it was kind of a Freudian slip. You wrote "...to make out own little microchasm better." I assume you meant MICROCOSM, meaning our own little world, but wrote CHASM instead which means A DEEP PIT OR GORGE! Sometimes dealing with life on dialysis certainly does feel like an endless chasm. So making it better in any way is that much more important to keep us from sliding down into the pit of depression.

    You two did a very nice presentation last night and I look forward to the next one. Maybe I can get my husband to tune in to the next one, too.

    Best wishes,
    Miriam

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  2. Oh Miriam, that is hilarious....heh, heh. Me? A Freudian slip alluding to a deep pit or gorge? Probably correct.

    Anyway, I changed it. Thank you for the edit.

    And, by the way, I am so happy to see the response you got re: your 100th Blog Review on DSEN. Very cool. Take care, Lindajo

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