Respiratory Care Week Task: Thank the Vendors
It's almost that time of year again, and everyone is planning how they will celebrate Respiratory Care Week. In Massachusetts, legislation was passed to forbid vendors from supplying the usual pens, coffee mugs, and food that we have all come to expect.
This knee-jerk reaction by our government to do good is a result of those who have abused the system; and it has caused me to rethink our thoughts of our vendors.
On any given day, I can open a journal or magazine, find an advertisement, and call the company and ask for some product information. Within a few days, I can have a vendor in my office with the product for me to hold and someone who is more than willing to answer all the questions I may have.
These vendors are road warriors who give up countless weeks of seeing their families and loved ones and drive or fly for miles just to see me! They fight the parking lot traffic in hopes of finding a spot, navigate through the corridors of unfamiliar hospital territory to my office, and pray I have not forgotten our appointment or that something more "important" has not come up.
Then they show their wares time and time again, going from place to place, conference to conference, in hopes to make the sale or keep the sales going.
I cannot think of a product any of us use that at some time or another was not introduced to us by a vendor. For that reason alone, I feel that for Respiratory Care Week, instead of us holding our hands out for food and pens, we should be thanking them! It is their week too; invite them to your function!
I say to all vendors of all kinds: thank you for bringing the tools of our trade to our field of respiratory care. You are one of us! Thank you!