Soup for the Soul

Hi.  My name is Bree Reza, and I’m one of the physician assistants.  I work at the Care Clinic and in the school based health centers.  I’m very happy to tell you about the work I do, because what we are doing in the clinics is so powerful and so unique.

I’ve only been with the clinic for a year.  The first thing I learned is that the clinic is a family.  While I was looking for housing, they put a roof over my head so that I could accept this position.  When someone is sick, they check on each other.  People are kind to each other.  

The second thing I learned--and my favorite thing-- is that our patients are our neighbors.  I’m buying my groceries or new clothes from a patient. The guy who pulled me out when my car got stuck in the snow is a patient.  The woman whose dog is playing with mine?  Her family comes to the clinic.  You see with such clarity how we are all connected.

The third thing I learned is how much the clinic impacts the people around us.  Over and over again I have had people tell me how much the clinic means to them-- how they had pneumonia and no insurance and didn’t know what to do, and we made them better.  How their aunt got a mammogram that saved her life.  The satellite clinics in the schools help keep our kids well while their  parents are working. People tell me about how we fixed the tooth pain that had made them miserable for a year.  And the smiles when a patient leaves the office tell me that we gave them hope.  It’s humbling to see how much we are needed.  

I’m really lucky because as a provider, people tell me thank you to my face. What they don’t see is that I can only do my job because there are dozens of people behind me.  We have an amazing system that connects therapists, dental staff, health educators and providers so that the entire person gets care.  There are people who work completely behind the scenes to piece together financial assistance so that patients can get their biopsy, and manage the treatment that comes after that.  And there are the community leaders and donors that support all of us.  None of these people get the thanks they deserve, so I would just like to stop now, and say, Thank You.  You are amazing.  We need you.  And I’m so grateful to be in a place where people are friends to each other, even on a powder day.  (Speech given to a room of locals in a ski community, where the axiom is “No friends on a powder day.”)

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This speech was written for a fundraiser gala benefiting Summit Community Care Clinic, 2016, and is shared with permission.