As I said before, we planned to stay in Waco for at least 20 years. It wasn't until Scott's contract wasn't renewed at Hillcrest that our security of staying here was shattered (You can read more about that here). I will admit that many times before that happened, a still, small, voice in my head kept saying "don't get too comfortable." I didn't know what that meant exactly--would we be called to overseas missions? Last year I started reading blogs of people who lived places with the 4 seasons, and my heart was longing for the weather and lifestyle we had in Germany. Last Spring I realized we had asked God for one more year in Waco, and I started to panic--we were approaching that one year, and should we stay or go? I settled down, knowing that God would reveal it whenever I needed to know. Scott's job was long hours and lots of phone time, but we had hopes it would get better. Previously at Christmas, phrases like "we've got big plans for peds" were being told to us, so we thought this would turn into a more permanent position. Little by little things were getting more difficult, and I was seeing jobs come across our desk for 8-5:00pm jobs with no call as this is trend more of the larger cities are going to--hospitalists to do the inpatient hospital care. Scott does not mind being on call for his own patients, but there were additional responsibilities that were not equally shared with other clinics. I longed for a life where we had our weekends and evenings back instead of feeling we were back in residency. Suddenly, Scott's sister moved to Northwest Arkansas, and some of the blogs I had been following were from that area. We were on our way to visit them in June, and we started wondering if maybe we should look at whether or not we would want to live there, too. Scott had some pediatric connections, and we tried to envision ourselves living up there, but we weren't as excited about it as we thought we would be.
It was on our way to NWA that we received a crucial phone call that really hit us like a ton of bricks. The hospital made a decision that was not in favor of pediatrics, and frankly, was a negative decision for the Waco and Central Texas area. We felt very insecure about what was about to happen in our lives. We were heartbroken, because the pediatric clinic was going so well, but the situation now seemed impossible. Consistently when the pediatricians brought up their concerns about the call volume or inpatient demands they were downplayed, and we felt more and more turmoil. The crucial decision made it clear that the job Scott had was not going to change. As I said, we were heartbroken. How could something going so well (their clinic) not be valued enough to try to help them? The hospital had such an opportunity with the other hospital sending most of its pediatric cases to Temple.
We still had a little bit of hope, because Scott thought that maybe if the administration and other doctors realized the impact of their decision (so many of his patients come from within a 45 mile radius of Waco), they would see the value of improving the pediatric floor. Having a center for pediatric care in Waco would not only help the hospital (if parents or grandparents see their children/grandchildren are well cared for, they will 100% fall behind that hospital), and people would come here to eat at our restaurants, shop, when they were coming for their appointments. Our 120,000+ population (Waco alone) would not have to drive to Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, or Temple to receive pediatric inpatient care. Having a floor that nurses wanted to work on would retain good nurses and provide them jobs. Our children are the most vulnerable of society. Why not provide them the best care in a location where parents don't have to drive 1.5 hours to get good inpatient care?
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