Urgent Care

Urgent Care plays an important role in the life of an Augustson. It allows us to be spontaneous in addressing our health care needs, and provides convenient after-hours access. I'm guessing these attributes aren't part of the mission of Urgent Care, but it's the reality for these working parents. In fact, we frequent urgent care so often that Annika refers to the entire medical building as Urgent Care, and when she noticed that the Columbia logo on her jacket resembled the Park Nicollet logo, she began referring to it as her Urgent Care jacket assuming that was where I had bought it.

The week that we lost our home, something remarkable happened during our visit to Urgent Care. Marit had a terrible cold and pain in both ears. With tears welling up in my eyes, I began to explain to our nurse why we had too much stress in our lives for her to suffer in this way. Before I could finish my sentence, the nurse lunged forward to grab my knee, and exclaimed, "We were meant to meet today! You saved my life!!"

My mouth dropped open as we stared at each other and I waited for her to explain. "What do you mean by that, exactly?"

Michele went on to explain that the night before, she had smelled gas in her house and realized that her water heater wasn't working. She immediately thought of our family and ran out of her house, grabbing only her dog and her slippers. A short time later, CenterPoint arrived to discover dangerous levels of gas in her home and a furnace and water heater that would need to be replaced. With a husband deployed in Afghanistan, the expense was painful, but minor in comparison to how tragic it could have been.

Michele's feeling of connection to me was sincere. To say that I had saved her life was much too generous, but I was overwhelmed at that moment with the chance of our meeting, with the possibility that there was a silver lining to our cloud, and with the true compassion and appreciation this woman was offering me. She had all of the right words, and counseled me like she was my guardian angel. I am usually a very private person when it comes to my faith, but I felt God's presense and assurance in that moment like never before.

Michele later e-mailed me the journal entry she had written the night of her gas leak. She wrote with gratitude and relief and a confirmation of her faith. In her e-mail, she said, "I know that this whole ordeal will draw your family together and you will experience a special love and support from your community, complete strangers, and family and friends, that most people will not have the opportunity to experience."

I will always remember that moment and Michele's words, and look forward to seeing her often in Urgent Care.