Oscar Saavedra - All in Vein

 

 

Woo, can anybody make some noise? [audience cheers and applause] 

 

Ah, yeah, we in D.C. All right. So, coming up, as a young adult, I did not know what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't know what career I wanted to pursue. 18 years old, don't know what to do. I hear somebody talking about phlebotomy. So, I look into it. I tell my mom. Nobody really knew what it was. [audience laughter] So, for those of you who don't know, a phlebotomist is the person that draws blood. So, I take the course, I pass, I land my first job. I'm excited. And I bombed. I was terrible. I could not draw blood to save my life. [audience laughter]

 

So, I'm going through it. It got to the point where my coworkers, they would just sit me at the front and be like, “Just say hi to the patients [audience laughter] and then say bye to the patients.” [audience laughter] I felt like a Walmart greeter. [audience laughter] So, I'm like, “No, I'm never going to get good sitting here.” So, they let me stick somebody. I go in the room, I prep and I felt so confident. Great veins. I'm like, “All right, I'm going to get it.” I missed. Completely missed. But this guy, he got so upset. He was really nasty. He was rude. He gets up and he tells me-- He looks me in the eyes and he says, “You clearly don't know how to do your job.” [audience laughter] I'm looking, I'm thinking, like, maybe he's just saying this in a joking way. [audience laughter] 

 

But he was really upset. He's like, “Get someone who knows what they're doing.” He says, “You're not good at this.” But he was really mean, really nasty. I'm not going to lie, it hurt. So, I was broken. I'm like, “How can somebody just tell me this?” It got to the point though, all seriousness, I thought about quitting. [audience laughter] I said, “I'm not going to make it.” So, I call my mom. I tell her, “Hey, look, this happened.” She's like, “Don't worry about it. I don't know why you're going through all that. Your dad could get you a job, but in the construction site.” I'm like, “Everybody does that. All Mexicans work construction.” [audience laughter] I said, “No.” 

 

So, I took matters into my own hands. I asked the senior phlebotomist, “Can you please show me everything you know? Take me under your wing, please give me some tips, some pointers.” And she did and I got good. But I was always uncertain, “Am I ever really going to be good at this?” So, fast forward, six years later, after all this training, all this experience, I'm working at this hospital in Baltimore. I feel like I'm one of the best phlebotomists there. I get a call. They say, “Hey, we need you to go up to the ICU unit. There's a patient in distress.” I'm sitting here like, “We don't go to those units, those are prohibited.” They're like, “No, the doctor can't get the blood. The nurse can't get the blood. This patient really needs it. We need you.” So, I'm like, “All right. No pressure.” I go up there. I've never been on this unit. I'm lost, but I find the room. 

 

I go in, and it was just like a scene out of a movie. It's like, all these respiratory therapists, these doctors, all these nurses. This patient is really losing it. So, I got nervous. I felt invisible. I felt like I didn't belong here. Every time I would miss somebody, I would think about that guy who looked me in the eyes and told me like, “You're not good at your job.” And I'm just sitting there thinking like, what if I miss? Everything just goes silent. I don't know how many of you work in a healthcare profession, but it gets real. Everything just silence. All I could hear was my heartbeat, just boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom. And it's like when a roller coaster reaches its peak and it's about to drop, and then all of a sudden, boom. Adrenaline kicks in. 

 

I said, “Hey, I'm the phlebotomist. I'm here to get some blood work. I need access to the patient's arm.” And they look at me like, “Who are you?” And I'm like, “I just told you. I'm the phlebotomist. I'm here to get some blood work. [audience laughter] I need access to the patient's arm.” They're like, “Oh, yeah, yeah.” So, I go in. I tie the tourniquet. I'm looking up here, I'm looking down here, the back of the hand. I can't find anything. I stuck this patient in the most unorthodox place. I'm not going to tell y'all where, because I know some of y'all scared of needles, [audience laughter] but I got it. So, I stick the patient, and I start getting a nice blood flow. Boom, one tube. Boom two tubes. Boom three tubes. Done. In less than 60 seconds, I did what nobody in that room could do, got this patient's blood work. [audience cheers and applause]

 

Thank you. However, once I'm done, they're thanking me. They're cheering me on like, “Yeah, you know?” [audience laughter] But I realized I didn't even see who I just drew blood from. I went straight to the arm. I didn't even make eye contact or nothing. They're wheeling this person away, and I look at the patient and he looked familiar. And I'm like, “Why does he look so familiar?” I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, I'm like, “This is the guy, the same guy from six years ago who told me I wasn't good at my job.” [audience laughter] I couldn't believe it. The next day I go to work. They called me. I'm guessing, well, obviously, the surgery went well, because they asked for me specifically to come back and draw a little bit more blood work. 

 

I go up there, and I remember that when he told me that I wasn't any good, I told him like, “Sir, I'm new.” And he's like, “I know.” [audience laughter] I was like, “Well, I'm sorry.” But this time with more experience, six years later, he's the patient that's in the room. I go in there. We chat a little bit. He didn't recognize me, but I recognized him. So, I get his blood work and then as I'm getting ready to leave, I didn't say anything. He says, “Hey, thank you.” And he says, “We need more people like you who are good at their job.” [audience laughter] And I look at him, and I turn around, and I look him in the eyes and I said, “I know.” Thank you.