Patch Blog: Windstorm Was More Than a Breath of Fresh Air

So I’ve practiced dentistry in Temple City since Disco and in spite of some major efforts by local politicians I‘ve never seen the whole place shut down…until last week.

And it’s funny where you find inspiration if you just keep your eyes and ears open and stay outa the way of falling trees.

We just finished remodeling the interior of our office and after last Thursday morning, I’m really thankful the outside didn’t get rearranged too.

Back at home Wednesday night, I coulda done the wind play-by-play. I was awake for all but about an hour of the all-nighter Santa Ana-on-steroids blowhard session so why not?

Don’t know about you guys but there wasn’t enough melatonin in the world to keep my eyes closed. I was too busy sniffin’ for smoke or gas and wondering why when small trees are uprooted it sounds more like one Chevy being dropped on another. Oh yeah, I was also busy wondering why I don’t have a FREAKIN’ CELLAR!!!

Anyway, everything at home was operational and but for a few amputated trees all seemed mostly copacetic in hometown Monterey Park. In Temple City and Arcadia though, it looked like Godzilla had gone for a late night/early morning stroll.

My team arrived early and the darkened new business area soon looked like some kind of spiritual bookie joint powered by cell phones and candle light. After a flurry of activity, our day was done.

One of our attending team members was Twin Tower of Hygiene Jennifer. Jennifer is a meticulous clinician who wouldn’t miss a detail if she was blindfolded and threatened with Brussels sprouts. Jen used to teach at USC, uses the laser with the best of ‘em, and receives feedback the way you’d greet an old friend; patients love her on “Hello.”

And one more thing; Jennifer drives to Temple City from Manhattan Beach and she’s been a major part of our practice for almost ten years.

Jen made it into Temple City Thursday morning just in time to see a telephone pole collapse about a half a block away (her cell phone number was locked up in our powerless computer network and I’m mostly powerless about storing numbers in my cell phone.)

So Marie Callender’s was open in Monterey Park and located sorta on the way back to Manhattan Beach; seemed the least I could do was offer to buy Jen some breakfast. Of course, by the time we both managed negotiating the disaster zone and the Highway 10 parking lot, Ms. Callender was serving lunch.

Jen proceeded to tell me a story over my chicken sandwich and her beef stroganoff that helped make things right on a day where property was destroyed and schedules were tossed aside like so many Arcadia trees…but where no lives were lost.

Our practice advisor is always reminding us successful businesses think in terms of returning more than the fee for a service; they visualize enhancing other lives. I guess for some folks, stuff like that is second nature.

We’d always known one of our young college-age patients as a bright positive powerhouse ever since she was a little girl. But it seemed somewhere during her journey through high school she’d basically been bullied into becoming an insecure, unsure outsider.

Jen looked beyond the teeth and gums and saw a bright young life slipping away even though the most contact she’d had with her patient was just four times a year.

Turns out Jennifer took it upon herself to speak with the caring concerned parents and daughter to offer some Manhattan Beach mentorship/support and interaction with Jen’s circle of confident, successful, and independent women friends. Today, Jen’s patient is back on track, back in school, and finding her old groove.

Could be a desperate young life on the verge of dropping out has a chance because dental hygienist Jen wasn’t treating periodontal disease; she was enhancing a life. And but for some fairly tenacious Santa Ana winds, I probably would never have known the difference.

Every morning I faithfully do “The Secret” thing on the way to work. Right after being grateful out loud for my family and childhood come the words “…and I’m grateful for the chance to work with people I love.”

Nothing like a San Gabriel valley hurricane to remind you how lucky you are.