In a January 3rd article in our local paper, The Reno Gazette, printed an article by Garret Condon of the Harford Courant, which outlined the results of a study from Brigham Young University that examined the possible link between religiousity and better psychsocial health. The study revealed a truth that surprised everyone. THe head researcher, Patrick Steffen, said that religious people had the best health in his study..however, when they controlled for compassion, the religion-health relationship disappeared.

What the study showed was that if religious people had the best health it was because they were more compassionate. While more studies are being designed to go beyond the local Utah community,

I am reminded why self-employed people seem to have lower absenteeism from work. Not because they are healthier, but because they cannot afford to take off a day… Musicians, similarly, have the lowest absenteeism of any professional group for the same reason, with added pressure of not wanting a substitute to replace them.

In my own experience, compassion, hope, strong relationships that come forward at times of crises define the health experience. It seems that those who have the least to lose, lose the most. Those who have the most to lose, hold on dearly.

The article went on at its conclusion to say that it is clearly not enough to just go the Church on Sunday..or to Synagogue or Mosque on Saturday, or to bible study on Wednesday evenings. Rather what is most important and seems to have the strongest impact on health is learning the principles of compassion, love, and interpersonal skills and integrating this into ones life that makes the difference. Even a person who would defined themselves non-religious who are compassionate would show the same benefits…

In our work, we have witnessed the astounding caring and compassion with the Catholic Hospital system, community hospitals, Jewish Hospitals, Malaysian hospitals… it is clear that compassion knows only the hearts of the individual and can be wonderfully pandemic within a culture that holds it of great value. Unfortunately, lack of compassion can run as rampant.

There is something about the myth of the New Year. A second chance shows up each January 1st as if we can each clean our slate. Since I was a child, I could never take another chance. That is the problem with being a musician. A note played is one gone forever, never to be played again the same way…for better or worse. Rather, I had to settle for the next opportunity. Furthermore, the worst part of the wrong note was that always had an audience&it was in public, unintended, invaded the aethetic experience, and haunted me long after the piece was over.

At this point in my life, having entered the glorious world of jazz and actively sought my own skill in improvisation, I no longer fear the wrong note. Rather, I experience each note as stepping stone to the next, hold dearly the adventure of musical navigation.

That is how I see life these days. Like a composition unfolding itself and the test of my skill being in how I deal with the unexpected note rather than the right note or wrong note.

I learned alot last year and my life skills were tested.

II learned about Medicaid because my father entered a nursing home. I learned that the government workers who handle medicaid paper work have never had an elder go into a nursing home. That is the only conclusion I can come to given how they treated us.

I learned thet working in a nursing home is very, very hard work. It is not always appreciated and the risks are high. AFter all, residents are not in control of their lives and can only express themselves in limited ways. I then learned that I should not assume I will handle my own decline any differently. One can wish to be graceful…but it should not be assumed.

I learned that doctors struggle with the elderly. They love them and suffer because the end of all lives comes no matter what. No one has been able to change this fact. Ever.

I learned that kindness goes a long way. It goes a long way in any language and in any culture. As well, a smile is more universal than a song.

I learned that wealth is not about money, but rather about opportunity.

I learned that wealth cannot be bought but can only be experienced. I also learned that you can have it and if you don’t know it..celebrate it…you don’t have it.

I learned that the internet extends my ability to be connected to my family across time zones, oceans, and cultures.

I learned that music does what I have always believed and practiced: It improves the human condition and offers respite when there may be no other.

Katrina happened and it was a bunch of wrong notes; it was chaos, dissonance, had little rhythm and a melody of suffering. However, it is as over as any wrong note it. It was then; now is now. The question is what to do today and how to hone the skills of humane-ness.

There is something about the war in Iraq: wrong notes denied. Dissonance redefining itself.

There is something about our healthcare system: it continues to promise access while so many are excluded.

There is something about the world that is begging for connectedness as it continues to be mired in conflict.

This blog is not supposed to be mine only. It is place to express and respond to thoughts and events meaningful in the persuit of healing, health, and care. While our work is about healing environments, the very term continues to reinvent itself, a patient, caregiver, and situation at a time.

I am most interested in what you learned last year; how you deal with the unexpected notes of your work and your life. How do patients and families navigate the cecaphony of illness and shift it into a new, harmonious symphony of human potential.