Happy Halloween!

I feel old tonight. Seems every day I am reminded that my children are growing up way too fast. The three older children no longer trick-or-treat. One is working, one is on a double date, and the other one is hanging out with friends. That only leaves our youngest daughter, who is enjoying her last year of trick-or-treating.

In the past, I would always accompany the children as they made their way through the neighborhood, and this year started out the same. However, about 20 minutes into the door-to-door festivities, our daughter hooked up with a group of other friends, and they no longer needed my supervision. I actually wasn’t minding it because of the awesome weather and warm temperatures (it was 65 degrees when we left at 6:10 tonight).  As a result, I returned home to help pass out candy (and watch the Utah Jazz game, darn it).

I haven’t been able to blog much lately because I have been so busy with my two jobs, but I believe things are returning to normal now. With my day job at Ogden Regional Medical Center, I am not only the Director of Rehab, but I am also the Service Line Coordinator for the Total Joint Center. Over the last two months, I have been spearheading the effort for our program to get certified by the Joint Commission. This past week, I submitted final paperwork, and then we received word last Tuesday that it had been accepted and we were approved. The Joint Commission certification for Total Hips and Total Knees is awarded to programs that demonstrate a high commitment to quality, safety, and innovation. It took a lot of work, and a lot of collaboration with other departments in the hospital (it is certainly a team effort), but in the end, it makes for a much better program and experience for our patients. We are only the second hospital in the state of Utah (after Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George) to achieve this distinction. We may not be as big as other programs yet, but as our slogan says, we aren’t necessarily bigger, just better. Now we have proof. At any rate, I am hoping to have a little more time to return to my writing again.

The last thing I wanted to mention is that today is the one-year anniversary of the release of my book, Called To Serve Again. It has been a wonderful year, with response to the book far exceeding my expectations, especially when the marketing has essentially been only through word-of-mouth. The best part has got to be the many readers who tell me about how much they liked the story or how much it touched them. This happened most recently at my grandmother’s funeral, and a couple of weks ago I had another reader who said she was referencing some of the quotes in the book to a family member who had just lost a loved one. Hearing comments like those remind me of why I wrote the book in the first place. Nearly every one of them also asks when the sequel will be finished (probably the end of next year — it’s coming, I promise!).  I would just like to say “thank you” to everyone who read the book and for all your kind words and support.

© Copyright 2012 Jeff, All rights Reserved. Written For: Jeffrey Olsen