Tuesday Evening

We lost a friend and colleague.

There has been a sad undertone at work with this week with the passing of one of our colleagues. Back in September Patricia underwent minor surgery to remove several lumps from her breast. Approximately a week after surgery she went to the emergency room because she was feeling so poorly and her surgeon felt that it was not related to the procedure she'd had. More tests were run and the result was cancer in the liver which usually shows up secondary to cancer elsewhere in the body. The prognosis was terminal in 5-11 months with chemotherapy only to ease the symptoms of the cancer.

In 2005 Patricia received her Master's Degree at the age of 63. It had been a longtime goal of hers to come work at the agency where I work and when she inquired about work with only a Bachelor's Degree and was told she'd need a Master's, she went back to school. She was hired by the crisis intervention program on a per diem basis in January 2006 and moved up to full time in January 2007. Since crisis work is 24/7, crisis clinicians are expected to work their share of evenings, overnights, weekends and holidays. Patricia did all this without ever a complaint.

She was a kind and caring lady with a pleasant demeanor. Her work week started with a 3pm-11pm shift on Monday and every week when she arrived for her shift she always took time to stop and say hello to me and inquire how things were going. She was an adventurer and often told stories of her hikes on and around her property in G'ville. Her sense of humor was appreciated by all and she had a way of delivering a well time story to make her colleagues laugh.

Patricia is already greatly missed. Her strength, courage and kind ways will be carried on by all she touched. Farewell Patricia. Thanks for making our world a better place.