A Day in the Life of Local Healthcare Heroes

Emily Kriney, Student Writer

Lisa Kriney takes the 20-minute drive from her residence to Doylestown Hospital. It’s freezing outside. She arrives at one of the designated staff entrances just before her 7 a.m. start time. She dons a mask and makes her way through tunnels and hallways to her department, where she discovers stacks of files and begins yet another nine-hour shift at the hospital.

Kriney is no stranger to hard work. She has spent her entire career helping patients and returning them to their everyday lives. She says her main motivating factor that drives her to go to work every day is knowing that she will give her kids a good life. “I like my job and love helping people, but I also know that I am helping my family.” December 9, just like every other day, is another day of hard work for her. Lisa Kriney starts her day reviewing patients. She then consults with doctors to go over the plans for the day and how they will be approaching each patient. Shortly after consulting with other staff, Kriney picks up two charts and immediately begins seeing patients. 

 The first patient was a fairly young woman who was experiencing drowsiness and weakness in her daily activities. The second patient was a middle-aged woman with pancreatic cancer. She was experiencing pain all over her body and was unhappy. Both of these types of patients have been dealt with before and were diagnosable. Kriney then heads back to a computer to report her findings and put in the necessary orders. She documents everything that she had quickly written down when examining the patients.

After checking in on patients, it is time to see what is going on in the GI procedure rooms. One of the recent patients who was experiencing pains all over their body was undergoing a procedure to see where the pancreatic cancer was located and what the doctors should do to treat her. In another room, a feeding tube was being put into an older man who was having trouble swallowing. These procedures were simple for the doctors after going through years of medical school. 

Finally, it is time for lunch. Kriney catches up on work during her lunch break while eating a quick snack. The break doesn’t last long before returning to work. She continues the same pattern of seeing patients and consulting with doctors throughout the day until it is time for her to leave. 

Lisa is one of many healthcare heroes working at Doylestown Hospital located in Bucks County, PA. Another type of healthcare hero is a doctor. Doctors have the job of examining patients and coming up with a diagnosis. Doctor Cyrus J. Morgan of Doylestown Hospital does not have an easy job when it comes to helping people. He is one of the general surgeons who has a lot of pressure on him. The job of a general surgeon is to perform operations to treat or prevent diseases, repair damage caused by injuries, correct deformities, and improve functions of the human body. The job is easier said than done. Dr. Morgan offers the advice “Go into surgery if you can’t find anything else you could possibly do, do something you could see yourself doing the rest of your life; the job isn’t easy.” Surgeons have the job of removing gallbladders and appendixes. Lots of preparation and time go into preparing for a surgery and having the job of becoming a surgeon takes even longer. However, day after day these local heroes put their life at risk to help others. 

Working in a hospital takes a certain level of commitment and doctors and nurses are presented with the challenge every day of saving others’ lives. They put their own life at risk to help others. Health workers at Doylestown Hospital do not do their jobs for a compliment or a bonus. They do it because they genuinely care about their patients and want to make a positive difference in their lives. They make every attempt to locate the appropriate resources and provide the assistance that patients require. Health workers assist patients in overcoming obstacles in their lives, and as you can see they don’t have it easy.