I could go from one end of the Detroit Medical Center, starting at MacLaughlin Hall, walking through the Old Civil War Harper Hospital, all the way to the the front door of the old Grace Hospital in a matter of minutes. I was becoming very familiar with all of the medical centers ancillary clinics and laboratories. I especially enjoyed locating the often undisclosed laboratories of the researchers in the houses that encircled Wayne State University. The medical centers marquee would be located on the address which assured me I had located the laboratory. I enjoyed going to these laboratories because they were often located in the Victorian styled homes that bordered the college campus, and the researchers always seemed to be very happy to see me.
… Even though I was bringing them work, they seemed very eager, and couldn’t wait to see what I was bringing. I would first, hand them the paper work which often explained what they needed to test the specimen for, how the specimen was prepared, and then the specimen. The specimen was kept in a separate container that looked like a lunch box. I let them open the box and remove the specimen. I made sure to wash my hands while they placed the specimen under a hood vent behind a glassed in area. They would inform me when to come back for the written report. They would also contact the requesting Physician and the Chief of Pathology of their findings before the report was written. They seemed so organized and I never had to worry about their paperwork. It was obvious they knew what they were doing, and enjoyed doing it.
…The extra trips that I made to these laboratories took a wear on my shoes. The other messengers had told me early on that I could go to” Hudson’s Bargain Basement” and by all kinds of Nike tennis shoes for under $10.00 a pair. They said they were replacing their shoes about once a month, and they weren’t kidding. I used a pedometer to gauge how many steps/miles I was completing in a day and it easily equated to 10 to 15 miles. That was not counting the trips made to the labs on the Wayne State University campus. So one afternoon on my lunch hour I decided to make the trip to J.L. Hudson downtown. I caught the Woodward bus for twenty five cents. At 11:30 am the bus was loaded and sometimes I would have to stand until seats were vacated. It never seemed very long before we would arrive at the J.L. Hudson department store. It looked like half of the bus patrons exited here as well….. MY LIFE’S JOURNEY TO BE CONTINUED…. Romans 15:5-7
MJ-Way 