Fourth Edition | Marquis Who’s Who Insight 9 What helps is my ability to step back and try to look at things semi-objectively, knowing that all of this is affecting me, too. I think that I am a compassionate person. What are two key behaviors/personality traits that allow you to be effective in your role? I think my years of experience dealing with posttraumatic stress. The mixed messages we get from the medical community and the media – one day this, one day that – are confusing and anxiety-provoking; people don’t know what to believe about masks, about social distancing and vaccinations. You see the suicide rate has gone up, DUI has gone up, and the spousal abuse and the ER admissions for bodily violence toward spouses or partners has gone up. It’s like society has its head in a vice and a lot of people are trapped on their own out here. I think there is anger, just like anything else, it falls more heavily on disadvantaged people, people of color, people with low incomes, people without access to medical health care, and also, believe it or not, seniors, who are not computer literate. They have trouble signing up for the vaccine because they can’t navigate the computer. What helps is my ability to step back and try to look at things semi-objectively, knowing that all of this is affecting me, too. I think that I am a compassionate person. When I hear somebody in pain I can’t just sit there and do nothing and say “well, it’s imperative that you call the hotline.” I tend to take it on myself because it’s upsetting for me to see people like that. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved? I think it has gotten much more pecuniary; people are thinking much more now about money and they are fighting more now with the insurance companies. Everybody is fighting and clawing, particularly out here for business, so I think that a lot of folks in the business now are people who have forgotten why they might have gone into it in the first place. They are just thinking about meeting their financial responsibilities. The bottom line has become the new goal for many. What excites you the most about your industry? I think there are some people who are more realistic. Younger people are having an easier time dealing with our times than older ones. Older people are used to doing things a certain way — some still can’t input their data into a computer to bill the insurance company. They have to get their kid to do it, or they have to hire a young person to do it. A lot of what we’re dealing with now has to do with computer literacy among experienced practitioners of a certain age. Learning a new way of doing things can provide opportunities for professional and personal growth among such professionals.
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