In this guest post, Heidi reflects on how her experience with healthcare professionals shapes the way she views their ubiquitous uniforms

I am a cancer patient. I will always be a cancer patient. At this time in history, there is nothing that can make that statement change. 

Many changes have occurred in my life because of that diagnosis, but one of the good bits is that I try really hard to notice and appreciate little details. For example, I often reflect on the many layers of healthcare professionals who are now woven into the tapestry that is my abbreviated life: my brilliant oncologist, my wonderful surgeon, the astonishing nurses at every avenue of this journey, the aides in the clinics and hospitals, and those who make sure my paperwork is completed and the exam rooms are tidy. When I see them, they all have two things in common: me as their patient and the fact that they wear scrubs. 

These scrubs are more than just utilitarian garments, in my opinion. The first oncology nurse I ever had (her name is Vivian, and we are still connected and send each other flower seeds) wore what can best be described as the Mary Poppins of scrubs. She always had anything anyone ever needed in her scrub pockets. 

I’ve seen scrubs become de facto tissues when a nurse needs to wipe her eyes (they care deeply about us patients, you know). They are literally part of the hug that happens when a caring healthcare worker comforts someone who’s just received hard news. They are the soft cradle in the arms of an OB/GYN nurse who holds her patient’s baby for the first time. 

I’m so grateful to the healthcare community for their compassion and oft-unrecognized work. I’m also thankful for their uniforms, which to so many of us are a physical representation of their compassionate hearts.

Scrubs are what we patients see when someone reaches over us to adjust a device, the last thing we see before we slide into the MRI, the first thing we see when we wake up from surgery. When it’s dark in our hospital room, the quiet swish of pants is a signal that someone who cares is coming in to make sure we are still ok. I love it when the team wears bright, crazy colors or irreverent prints on their scrubs — that momentary distraction allows us to smile for just a moment and talk about something other than cancer. 

I’m so grateful to the healthcare community for their compassion and oft-unrecognized work. I’m also thankful for their uniforms, which to so many of us are a physical representation of their compassionate hearts.

Help us invest in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer by purchasing limited edition Wild Pink scrubs from Skechers by Barco. A portion of all proceeds will go to Susan G. Komen®. See website for more details.