My first hugely impactful experience on LinkedIn

In May 2020 a close family member of mine was brought into a NYC hospital with heart issues. At this point of the pandemic NYC hospitals were beyond chaotic. There were so many calls coming in that the hospitals that they had to have an answering service take messages. Unfortunately this meant that you were unable to get updates or speak to anyone at the hospital with information on the patient.

With all the horror stories surrounding NYC hospitals at the time our family was beyond frightened and anxious to know that this family member was getting the attention and care they needed. After many many stressful hours of trying to get in touch with someone who was dealing with the patient I was able to find out the doctors name, after spending many many hours trying to get in touch with her I decided to try to message her on LinkedIn. I messaged the doctor at 11:00 PM (without expectations of getting a response) saying that I was a close family member of this patient and that me and my family were incredibly anxious to get an update, and I provided my cell number asking her to reach out…..

45 minutes later I received a response from the doctor saying that she would call me first thing in the morning, which she did and we were able to discuss the course of treatment, just as importantly we were able to establish a direct line of communication for the duration of this family members stay at the hospital (thank God was only 2 more days)

I couldn’t possibly describe the level of relief we had once we got a response back from the doctor, I am so grateful that LinkedIn provided an outlet to directly reach out to the doctor.

I personally learnt from this 2 valuable lessons 1) the power of trying and succeeding to get what you need 2) the power of a tool like LinkedIn to allow you to get what you need.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and much success in 2021!