From the mailbag: What happened to The Journal of Nursing Jocularity?

RE: What happened to The Journal of Nursing Jocularity?

Thanks for asking. I was Vice-President of the JNJ during its eight year stint and best friends with publisher, Doug Fletcher. Doug had a great vision when he created the JNJ and left a tremendous legacy. His untimely death, and the deaths of our friends and colleagues Bob Diskin (Too Live Nurse), Georgia Moss, and Diane Rumsey, left a huge void in the world of healthcare humor. In Doug’s honor, AATH has named its Lifetime Achievement Award after Doug (see www.aath.org)

 Below is an announcement I created when we ceased publication of the JNJ. Barely a day goes by that I don’t think of Doug and smile. 

The Journal of Nursing Jocularity was a quarterly publication for nurses and health professionals that was written, edited, illustrated and published by nurses and health professionals. The first issue was Spring, 1991; the last issue was the Spring, 1998. Filled with satire, true stories, cartoons, and all around funny stuff related to nursing and health care – it established its place in nursing history as the only humor magazine for nurses. 

With the death of Doug Fletcher, Diane Rumsey, Georgia Moss, Bob Diskin, and Debra Woodbury on May 1, 1998 the Journal of Nursing Jocularity ultimately ceased publication.

Below is the news report from the Albany Times: 

  

Tragic Accident Results in End of an Era

ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, MARK McGUIRE, and JOE PICCHI Staff writer

A fiery head-on collision between a tractor-trailer and a sport-utility vehicle left five people dead and three injured Friday morning on Route 20.  The dead were registered nurses scheduled to perform in a comedy show Friday night at the Theater Barn in New Lebanon. The show — “Who’s Got the Keys?” — was supposed to run three nights. A representative of the theater said Friday afternoon that the show had been canceled.All the victims, three women and two men, were in a 1994 Ford Explorer. One woman was thrown from the vehicle onto the road. The others remained in the Explorer, which caught fire after the tractor-trailer rolled over it, police said. A third car, a 1987 Chevrolet sedan, also was involved in the 10:24 a.m. accident.  The Explorer was registered to one of the victims, a Columbia County resident. The others were from Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona, State Police Capt. John Byrne said.The names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of their families, Byrne said. They were pronounced dead at the scene by Columbia County Coroner Angelo Nero.State Police Sgt. G.E. McGreevy said the Explorer pulled out of Jefferson Hill Road onto Route 20 and into the path of an eastbound tractor-trailer laden with about 1,300 used tires. The vehicles collided head-on.  The crash also involved a third vehicle that was heading west on Route 20 toward Nassau, which police surmise might have collided with the tractor-trailer before it rammed into the Explorer.  The condition of the wreckage and the death toll made it difficult for State Police to immediately determine the accident’s cause, Byrne said.

Three people were pulled alive from the crash scene and taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital, one of them by helicopter. The accident closed Route 20, a two- to four-lane road that twists through Rensselaer County en route to Massachusetts.

Truck driver Byron Chacon, 30, of West Haven, Conn., is in fair condition, authorities said. He underwent surgery for injuries to his right arm and suffered multiple abrasions, according to hospital officials.  His co-worker, Jose Ardon, 38, also of West Haven, was in fair condition with a head injury, facial cuts and burns to his hands, officials said. He was taken to the hospital by helicopter.  Donna Brightman, 36, 921 Saratoga Ave., Ballston Spa, the driver of the third vehicle, was released from the hospital after being treated for a head cut and a knee injury.

Police said the tractor-trailer began its trip from the West Haven offices of Inter-East Tires, which collects used tires and brings them back to Connecticut. The truck had made several stops in Albany and Troy, and was en route to Pittsfield when the accident occurred.  “I feel terrible,” said Inter-East Vice President Steve Briley. “This fellow (Chacon) has been an excellent employee. We’ve never had a problem.”

Brightman’s westbound sedan, which was damaged on the driver’s side, careered off the road into the woods about 100 yards from Jefferson Hill Road. Broken glass and parts of her car were strewn along the road, uphill from the crash site.

Byrne said it was too early to determine what happened, but police have developed a working theory: that the tractor-trailer was heading down a moderately steep hill on Route 20 while the Chevrolet was headed uphill toward the village of Nassau. The Ford Explorer was on Jefferson Hill Road, which is about in the middle of the hill. Police think the blue car might have hit the tractor-trailer first, causing the truck to plow into the Explorer as it pulled out of Jefferson Hill Road heading toward Nassau.

The Ford Explorer was reduced to a twisted, blackened hunk of metal. The vehicle appeared to be squashed, as though the tractor-trailer had driven directly over it — which Byrne called “one possible scenario.”

The impact of the trailer hitting the Explorer was so great that the vehicle’s license plate was found deep in the woods. The Explorer caught fire and was fully engulfed when the members of seven volunteer fire departments arrived.

The tractor-trailer plowed over the north side guardrail on Route 20 and flipped, scattering the used tires onto the road and into the woods. The trailer stretched halfway across Route 20, blocking the road.  Two hours after the accident, fire and police were still extracting the dead from the Explorer.  “You get pretty messed up when you see people burning and can’t do anything about it,” said Tsatsawassa Fire Chief Jay Kreutziger, who arrived at the scene moments after the crash and saw the Explorer engulfed in flames.

Kreutziger said a nearby resident, who was unidentified and could not be found, hurried to the road with a fire extinguisher in an unsuccessful effort to douse the flames.  Both truckers were able to get out of the vehicle on their own despite the fact that the truck’s cab was upside-down.  Traffic was diverted to side roads off Route 20, which remained closed as of 11 p.m. Friday but was expected to reopen by midnight.

At a news conference Friday night at Troop G headquarters in Loudonville, Byrne said he confirmed that several of the victims were nurses who were supposed to perform the night of the accident in a production called “Who’s Got the Keys?”  The show was part of a Nurses Week celebration, following a demonstration at the state Capitol by a grass-roots nurses organization called the Florence Project that publicizes problems related to health care.

Bright yellow fliers advertising the show were strewn about the accident scene at the intersection of Jefferson Hill Road and Route 20.  The fliers described “Who’s Got the Keys?” as a musical comedy put on by a cast of 20 singing and dancing health care professionals. The show was to be about an exhausted nurse who “discovers the real meaning of being a nurse” by battling an evil, four-headed HMO monster with help from a wacky cast of characters.

Katherine Smeland Pebler, the New York state coordinator of the Florence Project, said the five nurses who died in Friday’s accident had just rehearsed “Who’s Got the Keys?” at the Theater Barn and were heading to Albany to attend the rally at the Capitol steps.  A nurse who had been at the rehearsal but declined to join the group heading to the rally and instead went home to her 4-year-old son assisted the police in identifying the victims, Smeland Pebler said.

“Our profession has experienced a great loss,” said Smeland Pebler, reached by phone at her home Friday night.”The fact that these RNs, who have been working so hard on this play to bring to light the demise of health care in our nation, died, is tragic. Further, it disturbs us with the Florence Project that they were on their way to our rally.” Oster
contributed to this report.

First published on Saturday, May 2, 1998
Copyright 1998, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.

Viva Las Vegas! Humor at Work

 Standing in line—I HATE standing in line. Customer service lines, grocery store lines, lines at the Post Office, and my all-time-least favorite—Security Check Point Lines—until today. Viva Las Vegas! 

The Las Vegas Airport has taken a lesson from theme parks such as Disney Land and Six Flags, and now as you shuffle through security to get to your gate, you can be distracted—even entertained—albeit briefly, on monitors strategically placed along your path. 

Imagine (subtle) instructions on how to go through the security check point via The Blue Man Group (with their electric message boards flashing: “You must be a ticketed passenger”), Monty Python (Absolutely no weapons, and that includes swords!), and a cast of characters from various shows on The Strip, all conveying messages on how to get through the security line quickly and efficiently. 

LAS gets it. Whether it sales, customer service, business services, healthcare—humor works! You can inform people, and at the same time decrease their frustration, distract them from the fact that they’re being herded like cattle to the stockyards, relieve some anxiety, and even entertain them! And if this can be accomplished in a security check point line—think what you could accomplish in your line of work. 

Los Angeles, D.C., Chicago—take note! Tally-ho!

From the mailbag: when people aren’t ready to laugh–how to make the connection

RE: At a circumstance when people are not ready to laugh, could you tell me how to make the connection to humour? 

Great question! One of the key factors to the effectiveness of humor is “timing” (the other two being bond and environment—see blog at my website for more on those). There are many factors involved in why a person may not be ready to laugh. One of the primary ones is “emotional attachment.”In other words—many times humor comes from pain and the pain becomes funny when people are no longer feeling a personal emotional stake in the situation.

If the person isn’t ready to laugh because they are sad, sometimes they need to work through the sadness before they can laugh. Allow them more time to cry, to get over it. You can gently start introducing humor by using self-effacing humor, or by reminiscing about funnier, happier times. 

Rather than try to “give” humor to the other person, try “receiving” the humor. In other words, ask them to share a funny story with you. Something like: “Has your little girl/daughter/granddaughter said anything funny lately?” Or “Crazy stuff happens where I work all the time” (share something), then ask, “Does anything like that ever happen where you work?”  

If the person is receptive to ideas, ask them to start a list of fun things they like to do. They need to list no less than 10, and half of the ideas should be minimal to no cost (sometimes we’re unhappy because we have little money). Then encourage them, when they’re feeling unhappy, tired, irritable, etc. to make a commitment to do one thing on their list. 

If the person is just a negative person, then you’re probably not going to change them. You have to accept the fact that they don’t appreciate humor and not let it squelch your own humor enjoyment. 

I hope this answers your question. Let me know if I can further clarify. And like I said, if you cruise through the blog at www.humorx.com there is more commentary and there are also some articles that might be helpful. 

Yours in laughter!

Karyn

Mind if I Laugh? Humor When Tragedy Strikes

While watching the tragedy unfold around the coal miners in Utah, I was reminded of an article I’d written post 9/11. I think that the material is worth revisiting: (excerpts from Mind If I Laugh)

Following the events of September 11, 2001 and the terrorism that ensued, I’ve continued traveling around the country, addressing groups about the healing power of humor and laughter.  I heard a variety of comments:“I really want to laugh, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.”“I can’t bear to watch another news report—it’s sucking the life right out of me.”“I feel like laughing, but I’m afraid other people will think I’m being inappropriate. 

Is it really okay to laugh yet?” Abraham Lincoln may have said it best: “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.” 

Now more than ever, we, as individuals and as a country, need the healing power of humor and laughter to deal with the tragedies we experience.  Accompanying the levels of higher anxiety and stress are people suffering from a myriad of stress related illnesses and conditions: Headaches, stomachaches, general malaise, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, muscle aches, difficulty concentrating, depression, and the list goes on. 

Humor relieves anxiety and tension, serves as outlet for hostility and anger, and provides a healthy escape from reality.  It lightens heaviness related to critical illness, trauma, disfigurement, and death.  It comes as no surprise that many people are utilizing humor to deal with the trying times.  But is the humor timely?  Is it appropriate? 

“When tragedy and death cloud our lives, they darken our humor as well.”  (Karyn Buxman, This Won’t Hurt A Bit) 

The truth is that we all experience tragedy on a variety of levels.  For some of us, it may be on a personal level.  At times, it may be on a community level.  And periodically we experience tragedy on a national or even global level. None of us will escape experiencing personal tragedy: Illness, accident, loss of job, divorce, or death in the family.  These painful ordeals can sometimes evoke humor that allows us to ventilate our frustrations about such unfair events in life.

Communities experience tragedies such as floods, earthquakes, fire, natural disasters, man made disasters (the coal mining tragedy in Utah), loss of industry or politicians caught in compromising situations.   

Unfortunately we will witness events that have national ramifications, such as the Shuttle Challenger explosion, and even global ramifications, such as the loss of the World Trade Center in New York. With the technological advances in mass media, events that might once have been a local tragedies now impact people near and far:  At times, the humor demonstrated after the larger catastrophic  events was a ‘hoping humor’, a “let’s hang in there together and we’ll get through this together” kind of humor.  The focus of the humor was more situational and unrelated to the tragedy; the humor was used as a relief mechanism from feelings of sadness and feeling overwhelmed.  One survivor of the Oklahoma City Bombing commented, “I laugh because I’m cried out.” 

The challenge: What is stress relieving for some is stress producing for others.  While some find gallows humor to be a positive means of dealing with their stress, others find these expressions of humor to be salt rubbed into an already irritated wound.  What’s appropriate?  What’s not?  There is no clear-cut answer.  Gallows humor can be a positive means of coping with anxiety, but it helps if certain guidelines are followed: 

Establish a bond: Gallows humor is less offensive when there is a bond between the initiator and receiver of the humor.  Often this is a type of ‘inside humor’ that is utilized within certain the boundaries of a certain group of people. There is an almost unspoken agreement: “I’ll not be offended by your sick humor if you agree not to be offended by mine.”   

Be aware of the environment: The trick is to keep the humor within the confines of said group.  Once the dark humor escapes the confines of the group, it then may become hurtful.  Anyone who hears, sees or experiences the humor is part of the audience, whether you intended them to be or not.  Think twice before hitting the ‘forward’ key on an e-mail or blurting out a joke you just heard.  Will it be hurtful if unintended audience members intercept? 

Be sensitive to the timing:  H. G. Wells once said, “The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.”  Generally it takes time for people to see any humor derived from pain or discomfort.  Some people never will. 

Every person’s situation is unique and determined by their own set of circumstances and life experiences. Despite its multiple benefits, humor is always risky business. Try as you may to be politically correct, there will almost always be someone waiting in the wings to be offended.  The humor or laughter provides an excuse for him to ventilate about an unspoken and deeper issue.  That being said, if you choose to use humor to cope with difficult times and are mindful of the feelings of others then, more than likely, most folks won’t mind if you laugh.  Indeed, they may welcome the respite. 

He Said What?!?!

What was he thinking?! Obviously, he wasn’t. Thinking, that is. Michael Richards, better known to the world as Kramer, took his funny and light-hearted image he’d established over his successful career with Seinfeld, and flushed it down the tubes. I can just picture him skidding into Jerry’s apartment, shaking like an electrically charged, over-caffeinated baffoon, uttering “Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooooooo!”

 

“Oh no” is right. Whether you’re dealing with hecklers, irritable coworkers or cranky customers—insulting them is a bad idea. Comediennes anticipate that these things will happen, and they have comebacks that are so practiced that they can appear to be spontaneous—but few professional comics will leave those situations to chance.

 

There’s something you can learn from Michael Richards’ common sense infarct. We all have times when have to deal with hostility from others. A lot of times, if we’d thought about it, we could have anticipated these episodes.

 

And when those situations do arise, we have choices. In his book, The Light Touch, Malcolm Kushner suggests:

We can respond seriously to the complaint.

We can refuse to respond.

We can pretend to respond (picture the doctor that overwhelms the other person with medicalese or the lawyer that responds with legalese).

We can respond with humor.

 

All of these choices, mind you, are appropriate choices at one time or other. But not every one of them will fit every occasion every time. You have to use good judgment (which apparently some people lack).

 

When responding with humor, the idea is not to derail the other person so you can totally avoid the conflict. You want to unbalance the other person, even momentarily, so that you give yourself a moment to think, regroup, and then respond in the best possible manner to the situation at hand.

 

Take for instance the waiter who has forgotten your request for water. Twice. When you ask him a third time, an appropriate response for the waiter might be, “I’m sorry. My memory is really very good. It’s just very short.” (pause). “I’ll be right back with your drink.”

 

The waiter addressed the concern; used a quick one-liner (doesn’t have to be fall-down-funny) that he has thought about ahead of time, and then responded to the need.

 

In one of my workshops, a manager said that an irritable customer once demanded: “How long have you worked here?”

His humorous response: He looked at his wristwatch, smiling, and asked, “Well, let’s see… What time is it???”

The customer looked surprised and then smiled. From there, they were both able to move forward in a more positive frame of mind.

 

Anticipate and prepare. Comics do it. Politicians do it. And so should you.

 

Here’s your homework assignment:

Make a list of the hostile questions you might deal with at work.

Now come up with a list of humorous responses.

Force yourself to come up with at least 10.

The rationale? Because the first ones you come up with are going to be absolutely hysterical—and they’re probably going to get you in trouble! Flippant is funny—but in this case, you need to stretch further to find something that is funny but not offensive. It takes a little more work, but it’s worth it.

 

Use humor in your workplace proactively and you’re going to find that you have a lot more fun AND a lot more profit!

 

For more reading on this topic, check out the  following links,

 

Handling the hostile: Preparation smartest way to be ready for …
Jackson Clarion Ledger -
Jackson,MS,USA
… 17. “My conjecture is that there was another, totally unrelated issue that was distracting or distressing him,” says Karyn Buxman, who conducts humor and …Bond, environment, timing all make for a sure ‘BET’
Jackson Clarion Ledger - Jackson,MS,USA
… “There’s always someone who can be offended. A lot of times they bring their agendas with them,” says Karyn Buxman, president of HUMORx. …

Check out the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH)

Check out the upcoming annual convention for the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. It’s coming up February 16-18^th 2007 in Panama City Beach, FL. It’s the 20^th Anniversary for the organization and you don’t want to miss this one. 

Want to find what you’re looking for on the Internet AND donate to a good cause? Next time you’re about to Google, go instead to www.goodsearch.com There is a place on the page to note where you would like your contribution to go. Simply insert “AATH” or “humor” and each time you search, 1 cent will go to the organization, and it costs you nothing! It might not sound like much, but after time it does add up—and your efforts will contribute to future research and scholarships in the field of therapeutic humor—NO JOKE!!

When Humor is Part of The Corporate Culture

I had the chance to sit around the table with the most fun bunch of people yesterday. They weren’t humorists or comediennes—but they were funny as all get out—kind of like Seinfeld meets healthcare. And they love their work.

 

Moe Green, founder of Classic Care Pharmacy started his business 10 years ago with a handful of people. Today he has over 120 employees and services 125 long term care facilities. The corporate culture is fun, and his staff and his customers are raving fans.

 

While having lunch with two of the team (Judy and Girish) they told me they hate to miss even a day of work. “There’s something going on everyday, and most of the time it’s fun!” they said. Apparently the rest of the staff agrees with them. The camaraderie and team spirit is palpable when you walk in the office.

 

As far as retention goes, people who come on board tend to stay on board. “We don’t brag too loudly to others about how good we have it here,” teased a couple of gals following my after-dinner entertainment. “We don’t want a bunch of other people vying for our jobs!”

 

From chatting with Moe, two keys to Classic Care’s success became obvious. First, he’s a firm believer in empowering his people. “When issues come up, I let them make decisions. There’s rarely an issue that is life or death.” Engaging his employees in company matters helps them to feel ownership. Once a month he holds a “State of The Union” address where he collects all 125 people and gives them updates on what’s going on and gets their feedback. And all of the executive team have an open door policy.

 

Second, fun is part of the corporate culture and it begins with the interview process. Moe is looking to hire for attitude and if the interviewee isn’t comfortable with the joking and teasing that goes on with the interview committee, then it’s made clear that this is part of the culture. If he or she feels uncomfortable, then perhaps they would be better off working elsewhere—the company isn’t going to change its culture just because someone doesn’t want to play along. Throughout the year, employees spend time together at potlucks, bar-b-ques, sports and just hanging out. They are an extended family.

 

The weekly executive meetings usually include gales of laughter. “Sometimes staff will come over and close our door because we’re laughing so loud,” Moe admitted.

 

What’s the result of all this? It comes as no surprise that Classic Care Pharmacy Ottawa was just named one of The Top 10 Employers in the National Capital Region (based on engagement, leadership and over-all employee satisfaction). This award was not just for healthcare but for businesses across the province. And Classic Care continues to grow at an astounding rate: 30% in the last 10 months! 

 

When humor is part of the corporate culture, businesses can enjoy tremendous financial success—but that’s not all. George Burns once said, “Do something you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” It seems that Classic Care employees will never have to “work” again—and with clients as fun as Classic Care, neither will I!

Develop Humorous Stories

I just had the opportunity to listen to a real master in the speaking industry, Lou Heckler (http://www.louheckler.com). Addressing other professional speakers on the topic of humor, he gave 3 important tips on developing a humorous story:

1)      Reflection: What things have you seen or overheard that struck you as funny? Spend more time sitting and thinking about moments that have amused you.

2)      Misdirection: How can you take your listeners down the path with you to that moment of the unexpected and then let them experience the derailment?

3)      Connection: How will your audience relate to the experience? It will only be funny to them if they can personally identify with it.

Whether you’re a professional speaker, a CEO, a nurse, a volunteer—anyone can benefit from the ability to tell a funny story. It builds rapport, good will and a sense of camaraderie. (And of course, a sense of humor is one of the top qualities sought in a mate!)

Just yesterday my husband and I went to see a theatre production: Man 1, Bank 0, a one man show by Patrick Combs (http://www.man1bank0.com). His incredibly funny story draws audiences from coast to coast because it’s something almost all of us can relate to: wanting to see the underdog win in a battle with Corporate America (especially when it’s our bank!). His ability to take the obvious, misdirect the audience and then connect with them on a what-is-most-personal-is-most-universal level is what makes his story such a hysterical success.

Take Lou’s advice: reflect, misdirect and connect. And then drop me a line and tell me your story!  (Thanks, Lou!)

POETS Club

Carolyn is a VP of Quality & Resource Management at corporate headquarters in TN—and she’s brilliant! She recently shared with me one of her tactics to help her staff de-stress. On Fridays, before the end of the workday, the office holds a POETS Club meeting. This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with poetry. It stands for “Piss On Everything, Tomorrow’s Saturday.” She explained that she didn’t want her staff to take the stress of their work back to their families. She wants them to enjoy their weekends and come back to work refreshed and productive on Monday; so at the meeting the group does whatever they need to do to distress: laugh, cry, complain, vent, let-their-hair-down—whatever it takes. The meeting lasts for about an hour and folks head for home leaving their work stress behind.

This is not to be confused with a Pity Party. If someone announces that they want a Pity Party, it must be held within the next 24 hours. Usually it is in the evening after work and may involce alcohol. The initiator of the Pity Party starts off by sharing his or her pitiful story and gathering as much sympathy as possible. Then, that person must listen while everyone else attending also shares a pitiful story. Carolyn assures me that in this context, it’s almost impossible to feel pitiful for long. Everyone can’t help but laugh at the absurdities and everybody leaves feeling better.

 

It’s great meeting someone who is thinking pro-actively about de-stressing her staff—and  with humor!. I’d love to hear what others are doing that is fun and unique. Anyone out there got anything to share?

Kudos to UCSF

In my quest to look for extraordinary service to both internal and external customers, a piece about a unique employee program caught my eye.

Staff at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF often feel stressed and emotionally drained. No surprise. Dealing with those who are chronically and terminally ill can be rewarding, and at the same time, exhausting.

Cynthia Perlis, director of UCSF Art for Recovery Program brought an idea to Gerrie Shields, administrative director of the Cancer Center. Her goal was to do something for the frontline people who are bombarded with loss on a daily basis.

The result: The Employee Well-Being Project where staff could feel cared for in a community that would also provide workshops to sustain them throughout the year. The program has not only improved morale, it has provided them with additional tools to cope with the stress they encounter daily.

Four different themed workshops are held quarterly, with each one hour workshop repeated six times on different days of the week to accommodate everybody’s schedule. Past themes have included creating journals, yoga that can be practiced at work, breathing techniques, Hawaiian songs and chants, and the favorite expressed by many: finding humor on the job.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Attendees have commented on the benefits of this brief respite in terms of decreased stress, the opportunity to bond with others and the ability to express themselves.

“They not only derived benefits from the workshops themselves, but also succeeded in building a greater sense of teamwork as a consequence of their interaction,” says Cynthia Perlis.

When staff members can return to their work stations feeling relaxed and heard, everybody wins—the employee, the patients and their family members, AND the hospital. Kudos to UCSF for putting people first.