"The Duty of Care "

Staff at hospital need our support. It is that dependence all human beings share together in community life which is my duty to acknowledge now. One man is no man. In other words, human beings need human beings. That is the beautiful and salubrious reality all human beings are called to admit in gratitude to hospitals especially. To deny our staff in hospital that natural right to work in peace would be to neglect the duty of care each one of us have to support nurses and doctors and porters.

Addiction is one threat to peace even the most well-funded hospital would find difficult to ameliorate without the support of its broader community. That unified action is necessary once people fall into addiction is the vital principle of any wise community effort. Unity is goodness working through and in people today. Knowledge and experience of it could come through supporting our hospital staff. It could come through supporting our police in their duty too. For most people it would work slowly through learning to put trust in human beings and it is that leap of faith which need not be a humiliating experience. For faith in human beings is the first step toward cultivating that healthy habit called dependence on each other. This is freedom.

Addiction, of course, is contraiwise to this natural principle of community life and is nothing more than licence. For my part my experience in hospitals is always chaotic. I am always anxious all will not go well. I worry and then lose sight of the fact I am not alone. I work out long-term recovery plans long before I have been diagnosed by the doctor with any sickness unto death. Panic sets in and I wonder if all really is well. Once I wake up from my bed I can see staff at the hospital about their work. Faith in them is restored and I am fit to walk myself soon after the coffee and biscuits come around. So you could say I am the grateful patient who is always worrying all is not well and who is always trying to climb the mountain alone when those who have gone before us have already worked out the safe way. Gratitude to Boston House... the number one provider of most excellent care and support in Wigan.