"Do you believe in Miracles? YES!!!!"

excerpt from my daily message to the team...

"You can't be common, the common man goes nowhere; you have to be uncommon" - Herb Brooks, 1980 US Olympic Hockey Coach  

Team if you haven't seen the movie Miracle, add it to your list of must watch movies over the coming holidays. The film is about Herb Brooks, the 1980 US Olympic hockey coach and his group of ragtag college players that overcame all odds and upset the heavily favored Soviet Union. The team transforms through the course of the movie and finally becomes a cohesive unit focused on team and winning.  

One of my favorite scenes is when they are skating sprint drills. This is where you skate as fast as you can from one side of the rink to the other. Players were getting sick and throwing up, they were totally exhausted in this scene. Kurt Russel playing Herb Brooks, blows his whistle and yells, "Again". They continue to skate their sprints, "Again".  After what seems like hours, the rink custodian turns off the lights, the players look relieved, yet another whistle and another "Again". Russel asks the players who do you play for? One of the players yells his name and says "and I play for the United States of America". It was that moment in the movie where the team came together.  

All the hard work, the burning legs, the sweat, tears, and conditioning pays off. The team is now among those memorialized in our sports history, what they did was bigger than any one of them alone. They achieved greatness as a team. The iconic and now famous line yelled by Al Michaels who was the broadcast announcer in the closing seconds of the 1980 US - Soviet match "Do you believe in Miracles? YES!!" as the US team wins the game is one that will always be associated by this special team of college students. What an amazing moment to be remembered by throughout history.

Miracle is an exceptional movie team, and one you should watch. You will thank yourself for watching it :-) 

We are a team of people that have been brought together to achieve something special as well. Our mission is to help thousands of people and our technology will ripple through generations ahead of us, but it will require conditioning, sweat and sometimes tears. It can be daunting at times if you stop to think about changing the status quo. It is not easy to change guidelines and medicine, but with the right team and mindset nothing is impossible.

Team, we have to be uncommon. Our expectations of ourselves have to be uncommon. Patients, Nurses, and Doctors are counting on us to be uncommon, and we will be uncommon! We are living the American Dream - pushing ourselves to achieve the impossible and overcome all challenges.

Rebecca Lin is with Bryan Shadduck, she was supposed to come back home this weekend, but there were 4 kidney transplants scheduled over the weekend, the first two Friday night and two on Saturday. Bryan and Rebecca split the cases and covered them for the surgeon. This is the level of dedication to the patient and clinician that is required to move medicine forward.

See this link: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joe-urban_nurses-surgeons-anesthesia-activity-6741177460869734400-CT8g

The surgeons have scheduled four more cases for today.....it will take perseverance and grit to make this the new Standard of Care...don't stop, never quit, ALWAYS FORWARD mentality. Go the extra mile for our clinicians and focus on the patient in the bed as if it were your own family member!

Phillip and Matt are installing 47 Accuryn systems this week & training the staff on our technology this week. Team, they traveled most of their Sunday to support this installation and these 2 warm weather guys were greeted with mid teen weather and at least a foot of snow - pictures at this Friday's meeting.  

There will be times where we will work through the weekend, work for that patient in the bed, for that doctor concentrating to help that patient, and that nurse that is caring for them and helping them toward recovery.   

We will go anywhere and do anything to make this a success!   

We are making a difference in the world and soon there will be technology in every ICU and OR protecting kidneys and saving lives....and someday it may even help one of our loved ones. 

Have a wonderful day and week team!

Joe

This is a series of articles based on the daily letters that I write to my company (slightly modified - company specifics removed). My hope is to share some positive thoughts that gently push the world toward positive thinking and encourage many to achieve their fullest God-given potential