Touching the wound with words and hands 

By David Kopacz, MD, University of Washington 

Touching the wound with words and hands

It is easy to see

as a physician

How broken and injured

people can be.

And, it is easy to see

as a human being

How broken and wounded

Our world has become.

Is it strength that we need

and isolation – threatening and sequestering others?

Or is it healing

and togetherness this time requires?

Brokenness without

Brokeness within

How do we keep

going and going

and going?

Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, Traumatization,

Vicarious Traumatization –

All words to describe our brokenness.

Some people try to take

Away the words of other people

In medicine we are always coming up with new words to describe

Brokenness.

With broken eyes

And broken hearts

the world fragments,

we fragment.

One person touches another,

with hands or words

seeks to bridge the edges of the wound

seeks to span the distance between self & other

Is it enough?

Rilke might say so

Virchow, too,

Galen, Hippocrates, Asklepios,

Victoria Sweet, Rana Awdish,

Healers all, might say

“Use your hands to touch the wound, whatever it may be.

Use your words to mend what is broken.

For people and societies made of people,

Kindness and Caring

Is what the world needs

Now.”

I wrote this poem as I am leaving the VA after 11.5 years, saying goodbye to patients and colleagues, and reflecting on the suffering and worries of both staff and veterans.  

As healthcare professionals, we already have high rates of burnout and those that are also federal employees face political interference with our work. A lot of healing is in our hands and how we touch wounds, but our words can also heal or hurt. 

To counter moral injury and demoralization, we must have hope and remember the healing tradition in medicine, honoring our ancestors as well as those who uphold the timeless values of caring and healing.  

Read more about the author on his website.

This piece expresses the views solely of the author. It does not represent the views of any organization, including Johns Hopkins Medicine.