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(An
exact replica of an article we submitted to Advance for possible
publication)
How Our Department Celebrates Christmas
By David A. Howard RRT and Gregory
A. Wray RRT
The Christmas season is a time of
celebration for many people. Our department has spent the last several
years acknowledging the holiday in two different ways
<OUR MEDICAL CENTER IN OUR TOWN,
MICHIGAN> has an Adopt A Family Program each year. Any department may
choose to sponsor a family that is having financial difficulties. The
department receives a wish list, makes purchases from the list, and
gift-wraps them. The gifts are then presented to the family through the
Employee Assistance Program. What makes this so special is that these
families are include employees of our Healthcare system. Recipient’s
anonymity is maintained but there is great satisfaction in knowing you are
helping a fellow employee.
Our department has developed an
internal fund raising system, thanks primarily to the efforts of Fred
Corrion RRT. The profits from this project are earmarked to the Christmas
fund. We’ve been able to assist students, single parents, and others at
this time of year. It is always an emotional experience for both the
deliverers of the gifts and the recipient. It is truly more blessed to
give than to receive.
The second portion of our Christmas
celebration is a little different. Four years ago our new manager, Rich
Weiler RRT, mentioned that one of the institutions he worked at challenged
the staff to substitute the words to popular Christmas songs to reflect a
respiratory-related message, and play or sing them at the December
Christmas meeting. We decided to try it and came up with three songs.
Another staff member, Gene Maloziec RRT also presented a song. We have
written and recorded an average of three songs every year since, and we
would like to share with you the Christmas song that received the greatest
reaction from the staff. It is sung to the tune of “The Christmas Song”
written by Mel Torme and Robert Wells. We hope you enjoy it and we wish
you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Sputum Song
Sputum thicker than a rubber tire/Green snot dripping
from a nose
These
are things that we’ve come to admire/In the profession that we chose
Everybody knows a nurse will quickly turn and go/When a goober’s in
mid-flight
They
will say that they just do not know/How we can do it day and night
It
always seems to be that way/Other departments wonder how we spend our day
They
always look at us with great big eyes
And say that sputum’s the one thing they despise
And so
by now we’re sure you’re wondering/What all of this is leading to
The
point of it is we believe as a group
Better
Sputum Than Poop!
(An
exact replica of the article as it was published)
Therapists Offer Gifts During Holiday Season
The winter holiday season is a time for celebration. Our department has
spent the past several years acknowledging the holidays in two different
ways.
<OUR
MEDICAL CENTER IN OUR TOWN, MICHIGAN> has for several years run an Adopt a
Family Program. Any department may choose to sponsor a family which is
having financial difficulties. The department receives a wish list from
that family, makes purchases from the list and gift wraps the presents.
The gifts are presented to the family through our Employee Assistance
Program.
What makes this so special is that all the
families include people who are medical center employees. The recipients’
anonymity is maintained and there is great satisfaction in knowing we are
helping a fellow employee.
Our department has also developed an
internal fund-raising system, thanks primarily to the efforts of Fred
Corrian, RRT. Profits from this project are earmarked for the Christmas
fund. Through the fund, we have been able to assist students, single
parents and others at this time of the year. It is always an emotional
experience for both the gift givers and the recipients. It is truly more
blessed to give than to receive.
Finally, our manager Rich Weiler, RRT,
several years ago challenged the staff to write lyrics, substituting the
words to popular Christmas tunes to reflect a respiratory-related message.
The project challenges RTs to be creative, and the lyricists sing their
tunes at a staff meeting to liven up the spirit of the season.
(E-mail sent to Advance following publication of the article)
To the editors of Advance for Respiratory
Care Practitioners:
How quickly can one go from
elation to exasperation? In our case it took about ninety seconds. That is
the length of time it took us to discover that the article we had worked
so diligently on had been indeed published, only to find that the most
important part of the piece had been eliminated!
We submitted an article for
consideration to Advance titled “How Our Department Celebrates Christmas”
in early November, hoping that it might get printed in the Christmas
issue. The article described how the department and the people in it share
their good fortune with others that may be having a hard time around the
holidays. We also told of how we have flexed our creative muscles by
substituting the words to popular Christmas songs to reflect a
respiratory-related message. And finally, we included the words to our
most popular Christmas song, which we call “The Sputum Song.” We indicated
in the article that the song was sung to the tune of “The Christmas Song”
and gave credit to the composers of the original song (Mel Torme and
Robert Wells).
When we saw the article in
print, we were extremely shocked to discover that not only had the title
of the article been changed, but the words to the song were missing! Also
missing was the name of another staff member that had contributed a song
in the past.
Truth be known, the main
motivation for writing the article was to get the words to the song
printed. We think that it is a humorous, but harmless sentiment that many
in our profession share. We are not up on all the legalities of
publishing, but we have no doubt that the editorial staff acted completely
within their legal parameters. However, we firmly believe that when the
publishers plan to extensively alter or edit a piece that has been
submitted for publication, they have a MORAL obligation to contact the
author(s) prior to running the piece. We do not believe that this would
have been a problem, since we included both our E-mail addresses on the
original submission, as well as the RC de-partment fax number on a follow
up communication. Had we known that the words to the song were going to be
eliminated, we would have requested that the article not be run. This
experience has left a bad taste in our mouth(s), worse than Atrovent and
Mucomyst combined. Dave, who does not currently have a subscription to the
Advance, sees no reason to obtain one. Greg does not plan to renew his
subscription when it expires.
Respectfully yours, Dave Howard and Greg Wray
(Response to the above E-mail)
David and Greg:
So sorry to hear of your
displeasure your lyrics did not get into print. From our standpoint, the
most important part of your article we wanted to share with our readers
was the motivational side of getting staff together to do something
creative for the holiday season. And your department is to be commended
for that. Individual staff members’ contributions make the department work
flow more smoothly, an important feature at this time of the year when
people are trying to spend time with their family and friends and still
have to attend to the important caregiver aspects of their jobs. We are
assembling a file of therapist poetry/lyrics etc. which will be posted on
the web site in the near future. We’re hopeful of getting this on line
prior to Christmas because there are lots of therapists who will be on
duty and probably blue because they’re at work and not out having fun.
It is too bad you have a bad
taste in your mouth because your lyrics did not get into print. That is
something all writers have to live with. I don’t know too many people who
have gotten all their submissions in print. There are lots of prospective
writers who have never gotten anything in print.
We try on our end to provide
our readers with a broad range of information. We can’t, unfortunately, be
all things to all people. We have a sizeable segment of our readers who
are non-Christian to start with and don’t want their pages filled with
Christmas articles of any type, much less lyrics for songs they don’t like
to start with. If you don’t like what we offer, that’s your choice. We
want you to pick up ADVANCE because you like it and feel it has something
to offer you. If we don’t fulfill that mission, cancel your subscription.
One nice thing about living in the U.S. is you have the freedom to submit
your lyrics to thousands of publications.
Name withheld, Editorial person at Advance
for Respiratory Care Practitioners
(Reply sent to advance after
receiving above E-mail)
Greetings once
again. For the record, while all previous correspondence has been a joint
effort, this chapter is written by Greg only. I do appreciate the fact
that you responded to our letter of discontent, but I still feel that you
have somewhat missed the point. The main reason for our displeasure is the
fact that we had no idea that the most significant portion of the article
we worked so hard on (2 of our own re-writes plus approval and “minor”
corrections at 3 different corporate levels) would be hacked out until we
saw it in print. I am well aware of the fact that a person can go a
lifetime without having anything of his/hers published in a national
publication. I am also aware of the fact that an editor has to often
undangle a participle or correct some grammatical error prior to
publication. However, neither one of us is desperate enough to see our
names in print that we would compromise the integrity of our work just to
see it happen. I still feel that we should have been contacted and asked
if we were OK with the deletions that were made. While it is, of course,
your magazine, it was our names that appeared as authors. I feel that this
entitles us to some consideration about the content of the piece. I am
also afraid that your reasoning about not wanting to offend non-Christians
doesn’t hold much water. Christmas is a NATIONAL holiday, and has been for
many decades. People of all faiths get Christmas Day off (or make premium
wages if they work). Believing that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son
of God is not a requirement, any more than it is necessary to have served
in the armed forces to celebrate Memorial Day. The song that we parodied
is not a Christian type of Christmas song. We have specifically avoided
religious songs so as to NOT offend people’s faith. Again, I thank you for
your time, and I do wish our contact could have been more positive in
nature.
Happy Holidays, Greg
(Reply to above E-mail)
Greg:
Just a quick note as
to why you were not contacted about changes. Normally with our feature
stories, clinical articles, etc., we do ship off the final version for
approval because the materials contain clinical information that could be
altered by a misprint. In your instance, the materials were not clinical
in nature and were pretty straightforward in terms of the goals for the
department. Also, the work was not scheduled to appear in print in that
edition and it could be worked into the publication only because of a
brief window of opportunity that existed on deadline, which did not allow
us time to contact you.
I still think you have a good
concept for building team spirit. I’m certain there is little I can say
that will placate you at this point. We try to make this publication as
user friendly as possible and as people friendly as we can do. The last
thing we want is ill will from any side, especially from our contributors.
We try to cultivate a good relationship with our writers who represent all
the segments of our profession. One of our main missions is to encourage
therapists to contribute their thoughts and ideas in a sharing atmosphere.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Name withheld, Advance for R.C.P.
(Response to above
E-mail)
Hi <Editorial person
from Advance>. It’s me, Greg, for the final time. Once again, I appreciate
you taking the time to communicate with me. The explanation you have given
as to why the article was cut short makes perfect sense. Owing to the fact
that it is a reasonable and believable explanation, I am puzzled as to why
this wasn’t the first response to our question, instead of the rather flip
narrative we received. Anyway, it is all water under the bridge. You
mentioned that you were hoping to set up a web site dedicated to poems and
similar things. Dave and I also hope to establish a web site early next
year that showcases some of our better efforts. It is our hope that if and
when this occurs, you will be willing to give us a small plug to let
people know where we may be found.
Merry Christmas,
Greg
Please be aware that
the <Editorial person from Advance> did indeed sign his/her name to all
correspondence, but we have chosen not to reveal his/her name. We did not
tell him/her that this exchange would wind up on the web, and we feel it
would be unfair to publish his/her name without permission, although we
have published his/her exact words with absolutely no changes, edits, or
deletions whatsoever. |
