Grateful

Thailand: Making a Difference – one small action at a time

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I should first open up and say….wow, it has been a long time since I have blogged. June of 2021! That may be the longest break that I have ever taken. Needless to say, it has been an eventful 17 months but more on that later.

I wanted to write again this week for a special reason. I have the honor of hosting with my work friend, Julie, our CHG Healthcare Difference Makers on a Medical Mission trip with International Medical Relief (IMR) to Chiang Mai Thailand this week. Not only that, I got to bring my mom with me! For both of us, a trip of a lifetime. We are about half way through the trip and I though I would share my perspective on our time here.

Me and Mom on the way to clinic

First things first, let me tell you about our CHG Difference Makers. For 6 years , we have recognized at CHG people who live our core value of Putting People First by serving each other and in their local communities. Four winners are chosen each year, and the award is going on a company-paid humanitarian trip. COVID put a stall in our trip plans, but we are excited this year to be back at it traveling again this year in Thailand. Congrats to Amanda, Nick, Mariska and Randy for bring a CHG difference maker this year, and thank you so much for the impact all of you make in your lives for others!

Our partner IMR helps us by leading these trips. They bring together our Difference Makers, a few of us hosts and clinicians from around the world to help local communities. Our team here in Chiang Mai is about 20 people on mission and a local support team of dozens helping. We are all working on bring our talents together as a team to help make a sustaining difference for the people of Thailand – one small thing at a time. Karla and PJ are amazing! Their knowledge, giving spirit and willingness to help all of us and the people who need it in the world is an inspiring example for all of us

It has been an amazing start to the trip. We started on Saturday night with meeting the team, and organized and trained Sunday and just completed our first two days in clinic. For me, the best part of the trip so far has been meeting the Thai people. In our clinics the last two days, we have seen over 250 people. The first day we were about an hour southwest of Chiang Mai, helped by the Thai ministry of health and yesterday we were 2 hours away from the city, in the hills northwest of Chiang Mai serving the Karen people.

Day 1 in Clinic: Eva our fantastic NP helping at the clinic outside of Chiang Mai with Primary Care. Translators in action again.
Amanda (one of our CHG Difference Makers) with Craig her fiancé and Maddie another volunteer (and 16 years old!) working the pharmacy as pill counters
Mom and I after we wrapped up Clinic Day 1 outside of Chiang Mai. 150+ patients served in partnership with the Thai Ministry of Health
Day 2 in Clinic: Eyeglasses for the first time for a woman from the hills outside of Chiang Mai from the Karen tribe. Two translators in action. English to Thai, Thai to tribal language

There are so many lessons to learn from these days, but the one that sticks out to me the most after these 3 days, and one that is embodied by our Difference Makers, is how much of a difference you can make with the little things you do. We did stretching classes, sang songs, taught oral hygiene, taught hand washing and of course provided medical care. But most of all we were here, helping and working with as a team.

Thank you CHG and IMR for leading the way, and bringing our mission back to Thailand – a beautiful country with beautiful people.

To All The Mothers on Mother’s Day

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Thank you to all the mothers out there (especially mine!). Your tireless and constant commitment to caring for, loving, praising, teaching and supporting your kids is what makes this world a better place.  I only hope that I can give to my kids what I see so many of you giving.

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I was lucky enough today to spend the day with my mom (and of course my lovely kiddos and Jon),  I consider myself the fortunate beneficiary of her love over all of these years.  Thanks Mom!

 

Back to the Blog – The 5 Things That I Love About Blogging

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Summer is officially over.  Kids are back at school finishing the end of their 3rd week. Time to get back writing the blog.  I have missed it, but with the busy schedules of the summer it was a nice break.  One of my goals this summer was to be outside as much as possible, and taking a break from the chains of my laptop was a big help in making that happen.

I am refreshed after three months.  I have overcome my lack of ideas which was plaguing me in June.  I have created a mental list of “breakthrough” content and I can’t wait to pour it onto the screen.  Oh wait, when I open the WordPress template this morning, and try to figure out where to start, nothing.  Nothing at all.  How can this be?  Where did all of those late night ideas go, or the ones I had while on the mountain bike trail this summer.  Lost in the land of writers block.  Nothing.

So, the only place for me to start is by reminding myself why I do this.  Here are my top five reasons why I blog.  Let’s hope that this helps me remember that I do love it.

  1. It makes me grateful for what I have in my life.  When writing, I often step back and think about all of the good things around me.  When I am going at 100mph daily, it is so easy to overlook the all of the good around me.
  2. It allows me a vehicle for creative expression.  I have an amazing team at work, and because they are so great, I don’t get to play in the work as much.  Good problem to have, but the blog becomes necessary.
  3. It is something that I do for me.  Given my job, my kids, my husband my family and my friends filling up the time in my life, I rarely do things just for me.  I am realizing this may be a little ironic assuming that someone out there is probably reading this.
  4. It allows me to think further out than just about today.  Often in reflecting about what to write, I take a longer view of life than normal.  When writing, I am not worried about today or tomorrows schedule but instead focusing on something in the future.
  5. It helps me to open up.  I was reading an article today about 5 Habits That Are Destroying Your Ability To Lead.  The first one of these is about “Isolating Yourself.”  Isolation as a leader can take many forms – from physical to mental to emotional.  I never intend to isolate myself from my team, but sometimes schedule makes it happen.  I find that when I write, it helps me become ready to be open with my team and takes some of my personal walls down.

So, it is worth it.  It is worth the writers block and the frustration associated with ideas not flowing.  It is worth directing my small amount of personal time this direction.  At least, that is my conclusion for now.  Stay tuned as I am sure that over the next few weeks as I get back in the swing of things, you may find me writing a blog titled the “5 things I Hate About Blogging”.  But, for now, my commitment is to stick with it!