Care.

I keep going back to this video. 
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​This is Jim Mulcahey. An english teacher at a small-town high school where I grew up. He has had his bouts of bad health and so has his whole family. He remains strong, compassionate and always a storyteller. He tells of his encounters with the healthcare system. He talks about CARE and how impersonal the hospital setting can be. "[They] treated me professionally and not personally" he says. He also tells about breaking down these professional barriers and treating patients like people. Although he encountered the healthcare system from a oncology point of view, many of the same feelings resonate for me in different departments in the hospital. 

I would like for the health care system to look at the whole person. I would like to see healthcare professionals looking into their patient's eyes. I would like to see care from one person to another. 

I feel as though this is my role in the health care system. I feel as though my role as a doula is to help mothers, and their families, to feel cared for - to feel touched. To help the person, the mother, the family.

He is right. Caring for another person is a, "sacred opportunity." He speaks the truth. I want nothing more than to share a moment with you and your family as you go into the healthcare world for your birth. You are not sick, you have no illness. I would like to hold your hand and look into your eyes as you see how powerful and wonderful you are. I want nothing more than to care for you, mama and for you baby, and for you, family.