Over at my annarbor. com story about Beyer Hospital's onetime newspaper, a former hospital worker stopped by to add a charming and touching comment, which I am reprinting here in the interests of adding to our collective understanding of the onetime culture of our hospital:"Beyer Hospital was a wonderful place to work, I am still in contact with co-workers that I had while I worked at Beyer. It was not like going to a job, it was like being with a second family working at Beyer hospital. When I reached the age of 30 while working at Beyer, co-workers and Administration gave me a surprise birthday party at a Roller skate rink in Ypsilanti and then every one came to my home for cake. The small hospitals are gone and now you have the big hospitals that are a corporation and no one even knows when your birthday and if they do nothing is said to you and the same for any holiday. At Beyer, a weekly news letter come out and told all the news about the workers from who got married and who died and their Birthday."
Part of my reply, over at annarbor.com, to this comment was:
ReplyDelete"Thank you, michigan48103, for your touching recollection. Your description of Beyer matches the impression I got of the hospital from its wonderful newspaper. Everyone, from surgeon to janitor, was given equal mention in the paper, and one got the impression that this carried through to real life. Not the hierarchical structure of today's big corporate hospitals. For example, one local hospital puts out a "Community News" booklet which is nothing more than a price list of classes they offer interspersed with bland and patronizing "health tips." That booklet does not bother to note the marriage of Joe E. in Maintenance or the birthday of Ella C. in Purchasing. It has none of the endearing intimacy of the Beyer Banner."