A bridge between worlds
creating helpful connections between you and healthcare
It’s restorative spending time with yourself and being in your own world. No need to explain yourself as you carry on pottering and adventuring out. There comes times when your world needs to be understood by people by those that want to help you. Loved ones and health carers are those that are keen to help. How can your world be an easy place to meet, exchange needs, expectations and vulnerability? How can this bridge be made? What resources are available and I can learn to make this happen? This place of meeting and moving well between worlds interests me as there is much to improve and benefit from. It’s an area as a clinician and patient I can stand on this bridge looking to both shores and seeing the possible connections.
Currently there is a new bridge being built between Fremantle and North Western Suburbs. It is one that many people use, including my community. When there is construction hold up I tap my feet to music, pay more attention to my podcast and take deep breathes knowing that I will be late for my appointment. I love a bridge and so I also am interested in the construction phases and the sheer feat of engineering required. I appreciate the effort required to start a new bridge, but once it’s up, they are a human spectacle of form and function created to connect places not easy to cross. This too represents to me how important it is to spend time to building connections and the mutual benefits that happen. Alternatives to cross the divide have entertatained a dingy ( metal boat ) to Uber business shuttling people over. Wouldn’t a bike barge be fantastic! For now, I can enjoy the change of scenery and pace with catching the train and walking.
This area of forging better connections is ideally finding practitioners who understand you. However there are misunderstandings, expectations and differences that need to be addressed. Being on the same page is about conveying your concerns and having all your questions big or small answered. If there is ever a time where you feel the Dr is too busy or it’s a silly question and something is not said, it’s the best time to be reminding yourself to say what you would like to. If you feel it’s not being understood, try a different way of explaining yourself. Booking a longer appointment helps the Dr not feel rushed which is very important. Follow up with an email if there is anything you forgot or is better in writing such as previous results and healthcare team contact details.
I have previously written about the great need for good bedside manners. This is part of a broader topic of being able to self advocate. What this looks like is understanding what a blood/scan test is for, postponing a scan if you are not feeling physically and mentally able to deal with the results, speaking to the ward manager if there has been negligent care in your hospital ward and having your care wishes written down in a letter that you can give if you are not able to speak coherently.
I encourage you to explore how you can better express your needs and concerns to the doctors, physiotherapists, midwives, psychologists, naturopaths, chiropractors and the like. This is an area that I am writing more about with further ways to build strong connections in my upcoming book which I look forward to sharing with you in the not too distant future.
What’s the difference between people who see and seek gaps and those that see and seek bridges? The first stops and stays on the side. The second, crosses and reaches new worlds.
As soon as your mind identifies the bridge, the gap is gone...but the bridge was always there...you just had to see it.
There are holes in the ground, yet a bridge (which is there, but may take time to see) filled it. That’s where asking better questions comes in. Where is the bridge so I can cross? There is one.
Believing there is a bridge from where you are to where you want to go is 99% of the battle. The other 1% is to cross it.
But do I have to build the bridge? Maybe. But everything is first created in the mind and then in the world. The bridge is there. See it. Cross it.”
― Richie Norton