Brooke Beck All-stars

If you're a good reader, you'll recall that Brooke Beck was responsible for taking my phone and forcing me to sleep when I was burned out. For that alone, my body, brain, and mom are grateful. But Brooke has done so much more. She’s an ER nurse from Oregon who came to HAH in February. She started out just doing patient care. But as time went on and people left she started to do so much more. She has oriented volunteers, coordinated shifts, helped keep the situation with the Haitian volunteer staff from getting TOO messy, dealt with Haitian administration, acquired phone minutes, worked to get people fed, cleaned the kitchen, break room, sleeping areas, organized transportation, and became the default go-to person for everyone and everything. She is admired by all for her seemingly endless energy, boldness for riding moto’s around the city, undying care for the Haitian people, and all-around awesomeness. In her free time (what free time?!) she enjoys sleeping, traveling around the island (both Haitian and Dominican sides), eating lobster, not getting yelled at, and playing with NICU babies.
In her honor I’ve decided to start the “Brooke Beck All-Stars”. The recipients of this honor are non-surgeons [cuz let’s face it, surgeons get all the glory for re-attaching hands (good work Hasan) and cool stuff like that] people of my choosing who work harder than they should; demonstrate excellence in patient care, organization, interpersonal skills, and/or other intangibles. It’s very prestigious. The reward is pre-paid trip home.
Every week I’ve been observing how different people and teams work and I’ve been mentally keeping track of “Player(s) of the Week” (yes, the NBA still has a grip on my brain).
Week one: Dr. Jack Hoehn (I didn’t observe/interact with too many people. I was too busy trying to get oriented)
Week two: Alexandros Coutsoumpos & Jessica Claridge (They’re graduating from LLU School of Medicine on May 30. Congratulations to you guys, Dallas, Jen, Joseph, Rebecca, and the rest of the class of 2010)
Week three: Sylvia Kohler & the French duo: Scott & Ester
Week four: Jordan Owens & Sabine Strong
Week five: (in progress)
All of these people (and many others) are worthy of laudation, but just like LeBron James was the overwhelming pick for NBA MVP none of them come close to touching Brooke Beck. She’s currently stateside taking a WELL-DESERVED break from the grind; she’ll be back in two weeks. I miss her already.