My community experience is related to when I worked in communications as a
dispatcher at a hospital. This job was intense and training for this position involved three
months of instruction on all shifts. One of our biggest responsibilities was dispatching
medical teams to emergencies thatwere either calledin through our emergency lines or
through emergency boxes. It was imperative to be quick and precise, especially on shifts
where you worked alone. Emergencies are obviously sporadic, so you never know when
you are going to get that call. For the most part, though, the job could seem repetitive, but
one had many hats they needed to wear.
The department needed some per diems and three new people were hired. One of
the persons had visual disability, an inability to read small print or see color. The team
immediately thought this person would not be able to perform the job. For our
emergencies, we rely heavily on color to differentiate on-call teams, there are materials
categorized by color, and all literature is in standard print. In our implicit bias we felt this
person would not be able to do the job. Despite our concerns, we knew immediately that
we needed to work as a team to design the literature anddiagrams for this person to work
with.We labeled everything that was color-coded so they could read what the colorswere
and designednew charts that they could see. We did everything we could to improve the
workspace so that this person could acclimate to the work environment. Along with the
rest of the team, this person provided direction as to what else we could do to help them
out. The new hirewas not intimidated; or at least, they did not show signs of intimidation.
This person exuded confidence and was able to adapt to the stressors of the job despite
their disability. Out of the three hires, this person was the only one who successfully
completed their training. This person was physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually
well balanced; they were impressive. As a team, we made changes in the office, and we
had a shift in bias. We learned through a compassionate work ethic and collaboration; we
were able to provide a supportive work community conducive to success.
Looking back at this event, and after listening to Dr. Tony Evans message today, I
realized that it is in fact true that wellbeing is a choice. It is up to a person to choose
wellbeing or adversity. He states, "Wellbeing is prosperity or you can choose adversity...
the negative things that happen in our lives is because we chose it... you get to choose the
rule here and the rule can be wellbeing, or it can be adversity." Dr. Evans shares that
freedom exists, so we have the right to choose but there are consequences to the choices
we make (Tony Evans the Urban Alternative, 2022). Granted, there are circumstances that
we cannot control, that we do not have a choice over. However, in the presence of choice,
we make the choice toward wellbeing.
Reference
Tony Evans the Urban Alternative. (2022, July 7). Dr. Tony Evans [Audio podcast].
Choosing Blessings or Curses. Retrieved from:
https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/the-alternative/
