No Patient is just a number, or a statistic, or a chart
Behind each one is a story and maybe a broken heart
Have you really ever tried to walk in someone else's shoes
Have you ever known true Chronic pain or ever been abused
Have you ever cried yourself to sleep at night
Mentally or physically bruised
No Patient is just a Patient
Just another face that passes by
And even if they try to fake a smile
You might never hear them cry
How many times do we walk by our neighbor
And never say hello
How many times do we judge another
Someone we don't even know
Do we ever even bother
To let our feelings show
Have you ever been through hell and back
Somehow you manage to strive
Trying to find an answer
While you barely feel alive
Have you embraced another human being lately
Have you allowed yourself to see beyond the norm
Have you given freely without expecting reward
In the purest most loving form.

No patient is just an item
An object on a shelf
A file tagged and categorized
But sometimes I feel like this myself.

Am I just a number?
Am I just a chart?
Am I nothing but a fleeting moment
Without feelings or a heart

I am a human being
Not an alien from outer space
So I would like to be treated like a person
Ya know one of the human race.

There are many out there just like me
You might meet one of us today
Searching for some meaning
Just eeking out our way.

So if you see one of us in an office
Or in an ER or hospital floor
Please take the time to remember these things
Before walking out the door.

For when you are the Patient
And when you are not just a chart
And when you want to be seen and heard
Or you have a broken Heart.

Remember how hard it is to be on the other side
Of the window looking in
Remember what it feels like
So you can let humanity in.

I know that you may be bedraggled
And your workload is way too much
But remember your humanity
So you don't fall out of touch.

So you can be the best
That you possibly can be
And so your smile may comfort another
And set your stoicism free.

And no patient will ever be just a patient
Or a number, or a chart
And no Doctor will be just a Doctor
But a Physician With a Heart.