I almost missed the Children's Specialized Hospital Employee Recognition Dinner tonight because I was too fast with the "delete" key when running through my e-mails a few weeks back. I certainly am glad that I was reminded of it yesterday.
I've been an official employee of the Children's (my fellowship was technically offered through UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School) for a whopping four months now. Tonight, I realized how many people have dedicated much of their lives to helping improve the days and nights of children with disabilities. There were dozens and dozens of individuals being recognized for their five years of service. Five years seems like a huge amount of time...that's more than the amount of time between Presidential elections and Olympiads.
This is a quick snapshot of Ellen who was being honored for her thirty years of service. She is a nurse who now takes care of some of our most severely affected children. I've only known her for a fraction of those thirty years but there have been certainly hundreds of children over the years who have been lucky enough to have had that honor. She is flanked here by Gerry and Michele, two colleagues who have been at it for far less than thirty years but have both obviously read the same book on "dedication" as Ellen.