I was reading a Facebook post that listed a number of
special days in September. It seemed excessive so I googled "special days in September".
I selected a nice sounding page to visit: verywell.com.
Oh my…nearly every day in September has a special day attached to it. Here is the list:
Month-long Observances
National Photo Month
National Mental Health Month
National Military Appreciation Month
National Inventors Month
Young Achievers of Tomorrow Month
National Family Month
Week-Long Observances
National Family Reading Week - May 1 - 7 (first week)
Children's Mental Health Week - May
1 - 7 (first full week)
Teacher Appreciation Week - May 2 - 6 (first full week, M-F)
Children's Book Week - May 2 - 8
Screen Free Week - May 2 - May 8
Wildflower Week - May 2 - 8
Astronomy Week - May 9 - 15
Reading is Fun Week - May 8 - 14 (second full week)
National Backyard Games Week - May 23 - 30 (week before
Memorial Day)
Special Days and Holidays
First Four Days
May 1 May Day
May 1 Mother Goose
Day
May 1 Law Day
May 1 Make a Book
Day
May 1 World Laughter Day (first Sunday)
May 2 Sibling Appreciation Day
May 2 Teacher Appreciation Day (Tuesday of first
full week)
May 3 Sun Day
May 3 Kite Day
May 4 Intergalactic Star Wars Day
May 4 National
Weather Observers Day
Next Eight Days
May 5 Museum Lovers Day
May 5 Cartoonist Day
May 5 National Day of Reason (first Thursday)
May 6 No Homework Day
May 6 International Space Day (first Friday)
May 6 Tuba Day (first Friday)
May 7 Space Day (first Saturday)
May 8 Mother's Day
May 8 V E Day
May 9 National Children's Mental Health Awareness
Day
May 9 Peter Pan Day
May 10 Windmill Day
May 11 Eat What You
Want Day
May 12 Limrick Day
May 12 International
Migratory Bird Day
Next Six Days
May 13 Frog Jumping
Day
May 13 Tulip Day
May 13 Blame Someone
Else Day (first Friday 13th of the year)
May 14 Star Wars Day
May 14 Stars and
Stripes Forever Day
May 15 International
Day of Families
May 15 Over the
Rainbow Day
May 16 Biographer's
Day
May 17 World
Telecommunications Day
May 18 International
Museum Day
Last Week
May 20 Endangered
Species Day (third Friday)
May 21 Armed Forces
Day (third Saturday)
May 22 National
Maritime Day
May 23 World Turtle
Day
May 24 Scavenger Hunt
Day
May 25 Nerd or Geek
Pride Day
May 30 Memorial Day
(last Monday)
I grew weary just reading the list. What about you? It is almost silly to attach such titles to
nearly each day of the month. We might
say that someone has September’s priorities a bit messed up.
Chaplains have to be masters at prioritizing. There are new patient’s that have to be
seen/contacted in their first 5 days of admission. Ongoing patients have to be seen every 30
days. Crises must be addressed each day.
IDT meetings must be attended. Chaplain meetings must be attended. Documentation
must be up to date. The unexpected requests must be addressed. How does the Chaplain get a grip?
Here are three basic guidelines that will help the Chaplain:
- Place all known meetings (IDT, Chaplain meeting, and any other known meeting) on your Scheduler first.
- Place your compliance visits on your Scheduler so you have direction, then fill in on a day to day basis with new patient visits.
- Learn to say, “No” to requests that someone else can fill. For instance, if you are gifted in speaking you may be asked to present at a meeting of some sort, but this meeting conflicts with compliance or new patient visits. You must say, “No” and put the blame on your manager. I always understand when a Chaplain contacts me about this added stress and they need a way out. I contact the organizer and either do the meeting myself or recommend someone to do the presentation other than that Chaplain.
We are human and have so many hours in a day. The expectations are always high; therefore,
we need to be certain our priorities are in the right place…not like the
calendar I referenced above.
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