HPV Vaccine Rates Will Go Up: Middle Management as Performance Art
October 22, 2020
by drplasticpicker
Two unicorn-like things happened yesterday. I made Huckleberry/Blackberry Pie Bars from scratch, and I convinced fellow middle and upper managers to provide flu and HPV vaccines at our “flu tables.”
When I was in 8th grade in Junior High, we took US History and for some reason I was assigned the project of making a colonial-era dish with huckleberries. My partner for this project was also a fellow student from a immigrant-nonEuropean background. We had no idea what huckleberries were. This was well before the internet. We used blueberries. The dish did not turn out quite what we expected. I always had this nagging question, what were huckleberries? I stored it in the back of my subconscious for the next three decades. I honestly thought the recipe probably didn’t work out because huckleberries were likely more like a cranberries, or maybe they were more of “nutty” or a savory berry.
And then one of my close highschool friends now lives in Montana, and placed on facebook a picture of his huckleberry bush and I was amazed! There was the unicorn ingredient that I had always wondered about. There was the mythical food that separated me from being truly American, and understanding colonial history. My friend dropped off a tupperware with about 1 1/2 cups of huckleberries and sent a recipe via Facebook of a suggested recipe. His wife is a nutritionist, so I take his food recipe suggestions seriously.
A few days passed, and I kept on thinking about the huckleberries. Presentations. Work emails. COVID-19 Pandeimc. There are things that get in the way of the things we want to do it life. But yesterday morning I had a pressing presentation on HPV vaccination efforts in our HMO, and needed to convince power-brokers outside of pediatrics to lend me some resources. I had slept on the presentation a few nights and visualized all sorts of storylines for my presentation. Sleeping I thought about it. Plogging I thought about it. I talked about it with Mr. Plastic Picker a few times. RN Plastic Picker had already done her part of the presentation, and I had about 7 minutes to fill. I had the right audience that was virtually captive, and I needed to make it worth their while.
