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February 3, 2014

 
   
Before many Atlanta commuters had even navigated their way home through the treacherous ice and snow last week, I began receiving glowing messages about colleagues going well beyond the call of duty.

On little to no sleep and sacrificing time away from home with your own families, many of you worked through the night, pitching in where help was needed—from performing emergency surgery to staffing the Incident Command Center to pulling 20-plus-hour shifts.

These tasks were performed with the same attention to detail and quality of patient care as always as well as an extra measure of patience and good humor, which goes a long way toward calming fears and anxieties during times of uncertainty.

To share just one example of the accounts I received, pulmonary attending Jenny Elizabeth Han, who has two-year-old triplets at home, decided to stay on the job at Grady's Medical ICU Tuesday night. Her colleagues thought it was worth noting, but she downplayed her contribution. "It really is just part of the privilege of being a health care provider. There are many, many great stories of the staff here that stayed overnight to take care of our patients, as well as the wonderful residents who braved the weather to come in on Tuesday evening to work their usual shift. We all have great stories to share. I just happen to be extremely blessed with wonderful family support."

Please continue to share these stories with me and with each other via the School of Medicine Facebook page (facebook.com/EmoryMedicine) and our Twitter account @EmoryMedicine.

As SOM student Michael Appeadu posted, along with a photo of the snow: "Took this #winterweather photo of @EmoryMedicine on an ATL #SnowDay **RARE**"

Winter-weather crises are, indeed, rare in our neck of the woods—and let's hope they remain so.

But the sense of camaraderie and can-do attitudes that were exhibited across the board over the past several days will serve us well, no matter the specific challenges we are called on to face.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you,

Chris

     
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