Small vs. Big

As a small business lender at a community bank, I find myself empathetic to the anti-big business or anti-big bank sentiments that I used to tune out. No, corporations are not really people, they are corporations. By definition a corporation is a business entity created by individuals and is governed by law and the tax code. They have powers separate from the originating individuals and corporate liabilities or obligations are isolated from the founders and shareholders.

But corporations are essentially composed of people. Forget complicated structures like off-shore shell corporations that don't have a location or legitimate purpose and think of GE, GM, and P & G. Thousands of jobs, hundreds of products or services, and global reach.

And the success or failure of corporations directly impact a lot of people in very tangible ways.

But corporations are not created equal: there are big ones, small ones, and some as big as your head. Big companies don't descend from space overnight, they are grown slowly over decades (ignore Google please) and usually start as a small operation. Somewhere along the way, they sometimes lose touch with reality and the real people they serve.

This happens a lot in the banking world; for a humorous example, watch this commercial:



In the Washington Post today (yes I occasionally venture across the aisle read the Post) there was a whiny article about Capital One's impending merger with ING. If you've never heard of either, don't worry they're just big banks. But there was one good point in the article:

"What does concern me, however, is that even more of the nation’s bank deposits will be channeled to small businesses through corporate credit cards rather than through loans made by flesh-and-blood bankers. Why is that important? Simply put, because only bankers with deep understanding of industries, communities and customers can be relied on not to push cheap and easy loans during credit booms and then abruptly cut off credit lines or raise rates at the first sign of economic trouble."

I'm not sure what my point is...maybe that flesh-and-blood bankers are better than zombie bankers? Later in the article the point is made that there is such a thing as too many corporate (well, bank) consolidations and at some point it needs to stop. My thought is that the market will sort it out and that is by far preferable then an less than appealing congressman pretending he knows better.

At least bankers with blood hug their customers. Well, I really don't get hugs from bakery owners (or any business owner really...).

Kids do say the darndest things:

The Americans say:  "This is our country, okay!"
"Stand back, you fools." and
"Don't cross the line."
The Outsiders say: "Darn."
"No fair.", and "Meanies."

We receive boxes of cards from kids back in the US, classes full of little patriots who want to encourage us in our work.  This is a prime example of the joy we receive.  I thank God every day for the encouragement he gives, whether it be through my husbands many love letters and surprises, my sisters' weekly or monthly letters and cookies, my amazing care group and friends at church, through the news of so many babies being brought into this world, or through the incredible cards these sweet children write.

Thank you again, all of you, for your support, love, care, and humor.  God bless you in this time.

Exercise! Exercise!

Exercise, exercise: Mass Casualty.  I say again - exercise, exercise: Mass Casualty.

 

Dr. Menzies directing in the ER

"Mass Casualty:  Any large number of casualties produced in a relatively short period of time, usually as the result of a single incident such as a military aircraft accident, hurricane, flood, earthquake, or armed attack that exceeds local logistical support capabilities."

At our hospital, we consider this to be 5 patients at once with severe or traumatic injuries.  Since all of the nurses tend to eat dinner together (5-7 total), we like to come back from the chow hall into Casualty Receiving (ER), lay on the ER gurneys, and yell out "Mass Casualty" because there are so many of us!  Of course, its for our own amusement and that of the nurse, corpsman, and doctor working in the CasRec that night.

But we do have "real" mass casualty exercises, base-wide, in the case that all heck breaks loose and we're triaging at the door, a scene similar to the lipstick-marking of LT Evelyn Johnson (ie. Kate Beckinsdale) in Pearl Harbor.  Red = immediate (OR or ER care), yellow = delayed (inpatient), green = walking wounded (clinic patients), and black.  You can guess black; chaplains and mental health oversee the "black" category.

Included are a few pictures from my perspective as a nurse in the Casualty Receiving area.  We have a great team here, a huge range of skills and wonderful (truly) personalities. 

 

HM1 Mowry (radiology tech) with LTJG Rogers



Dr. Menzies teaching in the Trauma Bay

The girls!  (LT Maura Adams, LTJG Rachel White, me, and LTJG Sarah Rogers)





Deployment

Deploy (as per dictionary.com): 1. Military . to spread out (troops) so as to form an extended front or line. 2. to arrange in a position of readiness, or to move strategically or appropriately: to deploy a battery of new missiles.

I realize this many times each week while I work here that I have it pretty good, all things considered.  When I say "all things considered," this is what I have in mind, what I am thankful for considering those I take care of and work with:

- This is my first deployment, and probably my only deployment while on active duty in the United States Navy.  There are Army folks here who have been deployed 3-4 times...and they've only been in the Army for 4-6 years and are sometimes less than 25 years old.
- I am deployed to Kuwait, appropriately called "Camp Cupcake" in comparison to the hospitals and destinations closer to the front lines.  I am safe and the threats here are almost all "potential" and not actual, ear-deafening, duck-and-cover threats.
- While leaving a husband and puppy behind (of which I am always sad about), I am not leaving children behind and, as yet, have an extremely intact family back home which I don't have to worry about...except for those carrying pregnancies and giving birth while I'm out here!
- While cafeteria food isn't for the gourmet chef's palate, it beats MRE's by far.

What I am trying to say, essentially, is that I am thankful and in awe.  While it is always difficult to be away from my husband, away from home, and somewhat alone here in the dessert, I am surrounded by folks who have much more strife, many more worries, and much less time back home.  Please pray for our soldiers, sailors, and marines as they deploy around the world.  Pray for their well-being, for their health, for their wives, husbands, and children (and parents too, of course).  They sacrifice all of that, whether with courage and patriotism or not, for the defense of our country and the Constitution.  And sometimes they grow weary of it, just like everyone else experiences "burnout" in their regular jobs.  Pray for strength for them (and us) to carry out their missions well, and to look to the Lord for perseverance.