T WAS MY SECOND DAY working as a security officer at CHRISTUS St. Mary Hospital in Port Arthur. I had been working three months as a housekeeper and had just transferred to Security. I received a call from the psychiatric unit. A patient had removed his restraint jacket and had pulled the phone out of the wall. In those days, the rooms had a little window that could be opened. My supervisor asked me to stay outside the room and start a conversation with the patient. “Talk to him about anything,” he said. “You may speak English or Spanish, but just keep talking to him.” So, I did, but I stayed some distance from the door, because earlier, one of the sisters had approached the door and the patient tried to push her.

My supervisor arrived with the patient’s nurse and the two policemen. They told me we had to go in. I was afraid, but I prayed and told the Lord that I was abandoning myself in his hands. I went in and sat by the patient’s bed. By this time, we were friends in a way. The others came in and the nurse gave the patient a shot. He calmed down and we kept talking. Finally, he was feeling so comfortable with me that he said he was going to come to the hospital some day and visit. He never did.

At the end of my second day on the job, the thought came to mind that I should go back to Housekeeping. After all, one of my supervisors had said earlier that I might not be the right person for the job. This patient proved to me that we are all stronger than we think. Eighteen years later, I am still serving as a security officer at CHRISTUS St. Mary. Thanks be to God.

Frank Gonzalez
security
CHRISTUS St. Mary Hospital
Port Arthur, Texas