Note from the CCDS Coordinator: Happy Valentine’s Day

By Penny Richards

When it’s my turn to write a “note from,” I usually write about the CCDS recertification process. I can see you all rolling your cyber eyes, “Yes Penny, we know… it’s our responsibility to know our due dates, recertify on time to avoid the late fee, give a copy of the recert confirmation letter to our bosses and HR departments, blah-blah-blah. Tell us something new and interesting for a change!”

Okay, you asked for it, so here it goes.

I admire you all. No, really, I do. Your commitment to patient care, your passion for your work. All y’all are very special to me.

I was a recent guest at a community hospital because my appendix suddenly decided it was time to come out. I was hospitalized for three days, during which time I met the most wonderful people, from the ED staff to the surgical team, nurses and technicians, housekeeping, and the folks who moved me from here to there and back again (the man who took me to my 2 a.m. CT scan joked he was my Uber driver).

Now I’m home, in the care of daily visits from visiting nurses to deal with some wound healing complications. It’s not fun, but it could be a lot worse and I’ll be fine in time. I’m a lucky girl (and truth be told, I am celebrating the fact that I can’t lift anything heavier than 10 pounds or push a vacuum).

There’s extra gratefulness for my lead caretaker, husband Dave, and the ACDIS team at the office who are willing to do whatever I need them to. It’s taking the whole village to resurrect the CCDS Chick.

So, Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you. I figure you don’t hear, “Thank you for being wonderful and for taking such good care of me/us” often enough, so I’m saying it. Thank you.

And while I have your attention, are you up to date on your recertification?

Sorry, it’s in my DNA.

Editor’s note: Richards is the certification coordinator for ACDIS. Contact her at prichards@acdis.org.