Angel Medical Center President's Column for December 2023

 This Time of Year is Often Bittersweet, But Acknowledging This Helps Us Heal

Unbelievably, the year is almost over, and many of us are anticipating Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s. This might surprise you though — I consider these to be both the happiest and hardest holidays we observe. No matter how you celebrate or which ones you identify with most, seeing people gather and families celebrating together creates an emotional response. You might associate these holidays with children’s excitement, wonderful meals shared with family and friends, gift exchanges, and toasting to the upcoming year — or you might find that you struggle with loneliness, depression, or anxiety about creating and enjoying a holiday that’s fit for a magazine spread. Know this, you are far from alone. 

You may recall that last month I wrote about the possibility of finding peace and happiness from within, and how it supports our physical and mental healing. I am going to take a moment to expand on this thought of healing the heart. This is because the message of Christmas is about the arrival of a very special baby with a mother whose experience wasn’t like other mothers’, and how this event also birthed hope and the knowledge of eternal peace. Whether you follow the Christian doctrine or not, we all have something to learn from the story of Christmas. The more we focus on bringing hope, peace, and joy into our lives, the better we feel mentally, and the more welcoming the world is.

When we feel as if others are enjoying things that we cannot or we contemplate the losses in our lives, we can experience depression, which is a true medical diagnosis that has physical as well as emotional effects. This is when seeing a mental health professional can be beneficial, because they can help you deal with loss, identify emotional triggers, and the critical step of processing your grief.

Becoming involved in our community is another way to heal, from volunteering our time to an organization whose mission is meaningful to us, to helping a neighbor in need. These activities and gestures can also serve as an emotional balm as we grapple with the pressure that we can sometimes feel about having a “perfect holiday.” Honestly, is there such a thing? Most of life, after all, is wonderfully imperfect. 

Simply acknowledging your grief and moving through its stages — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance — serves as the path to healing. Some good news around grief is recognizing that everyone travels through these stages differently, in their own ways. Some get stalled in a stage and need help processing through it so they can move on to the next one. The most important thing to remember, in my opinion, is that acceptance and celebration will come. 

Much like the story of Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, and we also accept and celebrate the sacrifice made to allow believers to live with a less heavy heart, and the peace His birth and death brings. I think fondly of my grandmother at Christmas and what she meant to me and my life, but I do not dwell on her passing. I dwell on her laugh, smile, love, heart, and how everyone loved her so much that she was “Grannie” to everyone that met her. I miss her of course, but I can now celebrate her life, treasure the legacy she left in me, and joyfully live my life so that it reflects her example, which is priceless.

Before closing, I want to note that Angel Medical Center would like to welcome a new addition to Asheville Cardiology Associates Franklin. Michelle Williamson, ACNP-BC is a board certified Adult Nurse Practitioner who gained her education at Florida Gulf Coast University. She has been working her way to her new forever home in Franklin, NC. Michelle has vast experience in Cardiology, primary care, and hospitalist medicine. She has been providing care at Highlands-Cashiers Hospital and a local pain management practice. Michelle has started seeing patients and will be working closely with Dr. Lim and Dr. Hansen, who will continue to rotate through the Franklin office to ensure that Cardiology care continues in Franklin. Angel Medical Center also offers a comprehensive diagnostic testing program for cardiac conditions, such as EKGs, Echocardiograms, Stress Tests, Nuclear Medicine Tests, and our newest Calcium Scoring CT’s.

 

Angel Medical Center wishes everyone a happy holiday season, and we want you to rest assured that if you need care, we are here for you. Here, community members are caring for fellow community members, and that is special. The holidays are about neighbors reaching out to each other, and it is a gift that we can be part of that here at the hospital, in people’s greatest moments of need. No matter what holidays you celebrate this winter, I hope they are wonderful for you. 

Clint Kendall, FACHE, MBA, MSN, BSN, RN, is Chief Executive Officer/Chief Nursing Officer of Angel Medical Center. He started his career as a nurse, and that perspective still informs his work and passion for the patient experience. Clint holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Nursing, and Health Care Management from the University of Phoenix, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Western Carolina University. Clint has also earned the Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) certification, and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), and the American Nurses Association (ANA).