The Companions of the Garden will call out to the Companions of the Fire: ‘We have indeed found the promises of our Lord to us true: Have you also found Your Lord´s promises true?’ They shall say, ‘Yes’; but a crier shall proclaim between them: ‘The curse of Allah is on the wrong-doers; – ‘Those who would hinder men from the path of Allah and would seek in it something crooked: they were those who denied the Hereafter.’ Between them shall be a veil, and on the heights will be men who would know everyone by his marks: they will call out to the Companions of the Garden, ‘peace on you’: they will not have entered, but they will have an assurance thereof. When their eyes shall be turned towards the Companions of the Fire, they will say: ‘Our Lord! send us not to the company of the wrong-doers.’ – Quran – Surah Al Araf (The Heights) Chapter 7 Ayat 44 to 47 (Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali
It is the end of July 2022 and the weather is cooler than it has been all month. Indeed the month of July 2022 is likely to be remembered for the heat. We often talk here in England of a blazing June but July has been more of an inferno. What August and the Lammastide will bring us, we can only speculate. The British weather is as we all know, notoriously predictable in its unusual unpredictability.
I worked the two shifts now looked upon as being rather uncomfortable. They were both without doubt ‘sticky’ and unpleasant. The first shift (Monday 18th July 2022) although busy, hot and with little respite for air, went well enough. That second shift (Tuesday 19th July 2022) is generally believed to be the hottest day on record here in England, with a high of 39/40 degrees centigrade (102/104 Fahrenheit). How people cope in the more tropical climes of the world, is something we in the United Kingdom can only ponder. For us it was as hot as Hell itself.
The Trust (my employer) and various businesses, attempted to alleviate our suffering during the week long heat-wave. This in a similar way as during the COVID emergency. Drinks and ice-creams were provided free of charge. I like many other nurses did not participate. We are far too busy to wander off the ward to fetch such treats, we have work to do. Not of course that such things matter, we got a round of applause during the emergency and for that we should apparently be grateful.
People often talk of how when a group of people face a challenge or some shared difficulty, they will often coalesce. In the armed forces this ‘esprit de corps’ is deliberately nurtured during training. It is based upon heritage, history and tradition. We in nursing now have that shared experience, as we have all faced the challenge of COVID.
Working through the heat-wave has reminded me of this. We are the companions of the fire, in the sense that we have experienced a living Hell. That mental Hell being COVID and then most recently, the physical Hell of a heat-wave. We are like that band of brothers from Shakespeare, those that stood with His Majesty King Henry V at Agincourt. Hospitals can be a war-zone and every shift a battle.
These things of which I now write, in my usual over wordy and convoluted manner; are not obvious to those outside of healthcare. I am frequently reminded of this ignorance and failure to comprehend the difficulties. I was having this same conversation with a doctor colleague and I recounted a recent conversation with a non-nurse friend. I was asked how I was and; ‘Did you have a good shift?’ I replied perhaps too bluntly; ‘No, my patient died.’ The conversation ended there with; ‘Perhaps it would be better if I telephoned tomorrow.’ I shall write about that particular experience another time and in another blog. I am not ready to document that last lost battle yet but links to other posts are below.
The truth is and this is an unpleasant truth, unless you work in a hospital, whether as a nurse, a doctor or some other professional. It is unlikely that you will have any comprehension, of what we on the inside do or of what our shared experience really is. We on the inside understand that those on the outside, may want to understand and that they may even want to show their appreciation. Yet the gulf is too great. We see people at extremes of happiness and sadness, we take it home with us, we don’t sleep and we feel the pain. It is far from being a rose-garden and empty gestures, vacuous platitudes and a failure to support us when we need it, loses our companionship. We do our best and we do our job. It would be enough for many of us, if people understood that.
‘Allah will not call you to account for thoughtlessness in your oaths, but for the intention in your hearts; and He is Oft-forgiving, Most Forbearing.’ – Quran – Surah Al Baqarah (The Cow) Ch.2 Ayat 225. Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali
Daniel Bran Griffith - The Chattering Magpie 
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