As I write this, I'm about 30 thousand feet above the earth flying towards my home in Danbury, CT. I've just spent the last two days in Mississippi saying goodbye to a dear friend of many RTs around the country. Heck, Jerry Bridgers was a dear friend to all he met. You've all heard the saying that we really don't know the lives we've touched until we're gone. Fortunately for Jerry, he knew how many lives he touched. I met so many people in Mississippi this week and the stories were plentiful.
You never know a person until you hear about them from others. I met one gentleman who told me his story that was much like Jerry's. He was addicted to alcohol and was at rock bottom. He went into a rehab facility and as per the rules went to an AA meeting and the guest speaker was a Jerry B. Well, you guessed it; Jerry Bridgers was the guest speaker. The funny thing though was this gentleman had met Jerry before in his role as bio-med at the hospital. After the meeting, Jerry and this gentleman met and 27 years later I was told Jerry changed his life and has been the only sponsor he had during that time.
Doug McIntyre and I had the privilege of giving eulogies for Jerry. Of course that was at Jerry's request, and as you know, when Jerry requests something of you, you can't say no. It was one of the toughest things both of us had to do. Doug has known Jerry for 50 years and I knew him for a much too short 15 years. We decided to split up the duties and I took the most recent period and spoke of Jerry's love of people as well as his profession. But we decided to leave the bulk of the professional information to Doug. For the first time since high school, I actually wrote out a speech. I decided to do this because I wasn't sure how emotional I would get. Doug did the same by writing bullet points on his paper. Sheri Tooley who sent along an awesome eulogy of her own assisted us. We actually intended to read her whole eulogy but then when we saw the time constraints, Doug put some of her eulogy in his because the stuff she wrote fit really well into his.
I was the first to go after Brother Mark; Jerry's pastor welcomed us. He mentioned that although the sorrow was expected, he thought it was time to celebrate Jerry with some uplifting talks. Whew, good thing he said that, I was opening with sort of a joke. So Brother Mark descends from the pulpit and it is my time to go. I get up there and the church is packed. In front of me is the flag drapped casket of my friend. In the front row is Clarice (Jerry's Wife), Karl (his son) and his wife Kim, and children Kristie and Matthew. Behind them is Jerry's brother Larry. I begin with:
"I'm Frank from Connecticut and I stand here not only as a friend of Jerry's...well as I kidded him many times...a brother from another mother, but I am also here representing 50,000 RT, MD, Vendor, and Student members of the AARC and the over 40 staff members of the AARC Executive Office who would have shut the place down and been here if they could". I continued with, "I know you can see I'm a pretty big man, but really, all 50,040+ are standing right behind me". There came the laughter I needed and I looked down and saw Clarice and Karl, laughing as well. It made the whole rest of the eulogy easier.
After one of the best renditions of Amazing Grace i've ever heard sung was done, it was Doug's turn. He was amazing. I could tell how emotional he was and you know his heart was hurting standing over Jerry at the pulpit, but he characterized Jerry perfectly. Doug also found a few good points to lift up the crowd with a few zingers of his own. The best is when he characterized how Jerry would sit at the Mississippi table in the House of Delegates and listen to the conversation. Then you would see that Mississippi placard go up and there would go Jerry to the microphone. Doug spoke on how Jerry would sum up the conversation and then just about the time you saw his face turn all red he'd come up with a solution. Funny thing is, the crowd knew that look too! They began to laugh. Doug ended by using some of Sheri's points from her eulogy and then took his seat by me. We looked at each other and without words we knew that Jerry was sitting up on high not only laughing at the stuff we said, but proud of us for doing it.
So now we move on. I know there will be pushes in Mississippi to do things for Jerry and Clarice, especially surrounding the Tri-State meeting and specifically the shrimp boil. Nationally, I've already heard from some who want to do something in Jerry's name. All are good actions, but we need to remember Jerry's teachings. It was never about him....he would want us to do a few very poignant tasks. First he wanted to see this profession continue to grow by increasing membership and finding ways to get the students to continue their membership after graduation. Second, we need to get HR 2619 passed, and if it doesn't get passed in this Congress, then it has to be done in the next one.
In closing, we must promote the profession as one that is integral and relevant toward ensuring the positive outcomes of our patients. We need to advance the profession by going to the next level related to entry into and licensure of the profession. We need to advocate for our patients both within the realm of where we do our work and on the state and federal level legislatively. The day will come for us to recognize our fallen soldier, and soldier he was. He loved this profession and those who are in it. Now we need to move forward, not to forget, but to ensure all that Jerry wanted for us comes true.
I have a renewed vigor for all of this and I hope you will join me.