A Unit Clerk Leaves

Kevin, one of the nighttime unit clerks, recently left his job here at the Kent General ER. He had to move back to NYC. He was at our ER for about six years and was one of the more efficient ones. It actually seemed like he had more free time than others in his position because he could get twice the work done in half the time. He made his often difficult job look effortless. The only times I heard him complain was when he'd say "you can't save them all, doc" which meant I was giving him too many orders too quickly. We developed a pretty good work rapport. If I had a complicated request, I only had to partly describe it and finish with a "you know what I mean," and he knew exactly what I wanted done.

He was approachable, befriending most of the night shift staff. He had a broad range of interests. Mainly, I bonded with him because we both liked to geek out over technology and hip hop music, but the real reason why he was such a good friend to all of us was simply because he was fun and easy to talk to. Despite the morbid and overwhelming nature of ER work, he always kept the atmosphere there positive and cheerful. His last night in the ER ended with tearful goodbyes from some of the nurses. It was that reaction from them that inspired me to write this blog entry.

Kevin was the first to tell me "You like classic hip hop? You like Tribe Called Quest? Then you're going to like Kanye West."

mp3: "We Don't Care" by Kanye West

Also, without hesitation, he declared The Low End Theory as the greatest hip hop album of all time.

mp3 "Buggin' Out" by A Tribe Called Quest