It was my ILS training today (the annual grind of a day of doing something that you think you shouldn't have to do, that you don't have time to do, you don't want to do).
I write about it almost every year, and I talk about how magical it's been, how wonderful it was, and how glad I was I'd done it, but still, the lead-up to it seems to look like it's not worth it.
So, today, I got there with about 1 minute to spare; I walked into treatment room 6 with the rest of us who were lined up to do this training and met Yasma.
We use the same company (ECG) each year, and we generally have a different trainer each year, and it's the first time we've met Yasma.
Yasma is a 64-year-old nurse who has been in nursing for almost 50 years. She has worked everywhere and done everything.
She's had the most extraordinary career, working in the United Kingdom and in the Middle East, working for royalty, and working for all sorts of extraordinary and diverse individuals. She has worked in war zones and other places of huge conflict and has a vast, vast vault of experience, not just in healthcare but in life. She has 6 children and 11 grandchildren, with another on the way. She's been married for 49 years.
I could have turned up like (like I was feeling) grind it out, get through it, or we could have talked and explored who the person was who'd come to try to help us to make us better and to help us in the time when it would be most important when a patient's life is at risk.
It was a joy. We had great fun, learned a lot, and changed some things to make it better; it was truly lovely, but only possible because of her character and because of the way she allowed us, gave us permission to listen properly with both ears for the time when she was in front of us.
I would book your ILS training with ECG, and I would ask them for Yasma,
Blog Post Number - 4084