Quit your complaining

There will be a lot less complaining going on in Havre Wednesday if Northern Montana Health Care has its way.

The group that runs Northern Montana Hospital and its affiliates is asking its staffers to see if they can get through the day without whining.

They have approached other businesses about joining in the effort to make the day complaint-free.

Montana State University-Northern’s athletic department told the hospital that it was interested in joining in the effort.

Other businesses have been invited but haven’t responded yet, said Julianne LaSmith, the NMHC spokeswoman.

They are asking the community as a whole to give it a try.

Christen Obresley, executive director of Northern Montana Health Care Foundation, found a website advocating the no-complaining day and shared it with her staff. They thought it would be a great project for the health care system to initiate locally.

Joe Kirin of Chicago came up with the idea. His mother's birthday was Aug. 12. She underwent a series of operations while she had a terminal disease. Throughout the entire process, she was in pain and facing death but rarely or never complained.

If she can remain happy during such a crisis, the rest of the world ought to be able to do the same for one day — her birthday — every year, Kirin said.

The idea caught on, and people started signing up.

LaSmith is confident that the employees will give it a try.

“I think a lot of the time, people don’t even realize they are complaining,” she said.

She is hoping that this will encourage people to see things from a more optimistic viewpoint.

“Like when people say ‘My feet hunt,’ they will add ‘but at least I can walk,’” LaSmith said.

“When you go into the break room, you hear people complaining. Hopefully this will give them a chance to see that maybe things aren’t so bad,” she said.

But, LaSmith says, the program is designed for employees.

“Patients can still complain if something is wrong,” she said.