Hunter

When Aubrey originally started this blog (which she has done a FABULOUS job on) she said that when either her or I posted a blog we would label our posts with either "Hunter" or "Aubrey", depending on the person that posted it. Well, considering this IS the first time I have posted on Aubreyandhunter.blogspot.com I will label my first post as "Hunter".

I know I am not a frequent poster here and I certainly am not as talented a writer as my beautiful wife is but I wanted to share an experience I had while I was in Phoenix this past week for work. As you know, I work with geriatrics and mobility related handicapped people. I was in Phoenix this past week working with a couple rookie reps that we have recently hired. They both are good reps that will have success. I went the second day with Cathy, a 57 year old woman that has been in the industry for awhile and is one of the most entertaining, crazy ladies I have EVER met. Anyways, she had a patient she got a referral for named Jose. Jose was an elderly man that only spoke spanish, and broken spanish at that because he had a stroke a couple years ago. Get this, everytime Cathy called Jose he would say he didn't speak english and hang up on her. Me, being a spanish translator in my day, called Jose. It just so happened that the Jose we continued to get was a DIFFERENT Jose than the one we were trying to reach. We had the wrong phone number. We had to talk to this guy before I left town because no one else speaks spanish in the Phx office. So we decided to just drive to the guys address in hopes of finding him.

Cathy and I managed to find the correct apartment for Jose. We talked to one of his neighbors who showed us where JOse lived. We knocked on the door and waited for 3-4 minutes for Jose to answer as we spoke to one of his friends Miguel in spanish. Cathy this entire time could not understand what we were saying. When Jose finally answered the door I started talking to him about what we were looking for him for, helping him get a new motorized chair. He said that his old one was not working and had hopes that he could get a new one and had been trying for a very long time. I started speaking my spanish with him, (which was the second time in months that I had done so, the first being the day before with another patient of the other rep). He told us how he was having such a hard time getting around his TINY apartment as he pushed his manual wheelchair to get to and from his bedroom to the living room we were in. The manual he was pushing must've been 10 years old and was something you would find at DI. When I told him that we could get him a new power chair he could use in his home and get around. He mumbled some broken spanish to me as he walked to his room to get me a phone number of a friend of his. As we continued to talk a little bit I told him that we would work through his dr to get him a power chair coverd competly through his insurance. This was when it really hit him, as he began to cry and cover his face with his hand. He was SO happy that we could get him a new manner of get around his home that he began to cry! As we said our goodbyes I realized how great of a job I really have. Not only do I have a stable, flexible job in this struggling economy but I have the opportunity to REALLY make a difference in people's lives. Hard to believe this comparison, but I felt that I was on a mission again and was leaving after a great discussion because of the way Jose reacted to what we had to say. I hope this isnt' taken the wrong way but it really hit me how lucky I am to have this great job and how lucky I am to have the many blessings that I have in my life. Jose was a 65 year old man who worked hard through his life and now lived in an apartment the size of my bedroom. He could hardly get from his bedroom to the front door and pushed his manual wheelchair as a walker to do so. An influential experience for me to see how the majority of America lives. Not only was it a good experience but it made me feel good that we could have an influence on the life of Jose. Que Bueno!