How Can I Help? Asking the Most Important Question

In times of crisis, it can be one of the most important questions you can ask: How can I help?

This is a phrase physicians are familiar with. It is the question that is ever-present at the back of our minds with each patient we meet. People come to us because they are in pain. They are suffering. Some people come to us because they’re lonely or frightened. There are several reasons someone might walk through the doors of the Emergency Department. It could be a small ailment that brings them to us. It could be the worst day of their lives. It could be that they feel they have nowhere else to go.

In every case, we ask, How can I help?

And in each case, we offer what we can. We help without hesitation. Healthcare professionals have carried a heavy load for the past year. Burn-out was already a severe problem among physicians before the virus arrived.

As we are able to come up for breath in the coming year, I encourage each of you to turn the question on yourself. Ask your body, ask your mind, ask your spirit—What do you need? How can I help? Make that first appointment with the therapist. Offer yourself nourishing food. Give yourself a break from the news. Take a whole day in bed with nothing but Netflix. Call an old friend.

Ask yourself what you need, and then offer yourself whatever help you can. You are deserving of the same care that you so readily offer to others.