"I owe my life to a clerical assistant"

[user1472419718]

I keep seeing Unison adverts on the internet recently, highlighting the work that people in the public services sector do.

They have titles such as "I owe my life to a clerical assistant" and go on to detail the individual contributions of different public sector workers. But whilst I agree that every role is essential, ultimately the clerical assistant who created the ambulance rota did not save this man's life, and I feel this undermines the actions of the paramedics, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.

Another example has the title "A cleaner helped teach my Chloe her times table". Again, whilst the cleaner is an essential public services worker at the school, this statement undermines the teacher and teaching assistant.

AIBU or am I just missing the point?

[bungmean]

I'm a doctor. My patients owe their lives to clerical assistants, among others.

I couldn't function at work without them.

[SomethingPhishy]

I work for a Council as an Admin assistant in Taxation & Benefits. It's the lowest pay grade job in the department. If we get behind on our work/make mistakes, it affects processing times & ultimately delay housing benefit payments, worse case scenario is eviction proceedings. Admin & clerical staff are often the 'heartbeat' of a big organisation & underestimated in their importance. I think these adverts are excellent.

[user1471502932]

@SomethingPhishy

Thank you.

I am also in an admin postion within a local health board and it feels good to be able to give back what the system gave us for the care they have given my relatives and me personally. A lowly position indeed, but we are made to feel valued.

[hostinthemaking]

The anachronism of the janitor at NASA who is helping to put a man on the moon appears in a book of business strategy I am reading just now. Whether it's true or not the same sentiment stands in that people see the bigger picture. The other story is of a bricklayer who is asked what he is doing and he replies building a cathedral when others just said laying bricks.

[Electrolens]

I think it's a good advert. Having spent some time in hospitals for various reasons I hugely value the surgeons and clinical staff I've met, but I also value the receptionists who have been welcoming and fought to get the appointments I want, the cleaners who are friendly and have made my days a little brighter and more human. They are all part of the team that saves lives and I think that is the point these adverts are making. If they didn't exist there would be no appointments and hospital wards for clinicians to treat people in. I think you're looking at it the wrong way - it's not devaluing clinicians who are already valued, it's valuing other members of the team as well

[EastMidsGPs]

The adverts are from Unison - they are highlighting the occupations of their members and their importance/value to the wheels/cogs of the wider workforce.

You are missing the point.

[caroldecker]

But surely the car manufacturers who get everyone to work, the companies that make medical and teaching supplies, the company making the cleaning equipment etc are all just as important.
They are therefore saying, everyone who has a job saves lives and educates children.

[Polarbearflavour]

I used to work on an NHS admin bank whilst I was a student. I did audio typing and data entry and I got the impression that the staff thought I was a bit dim, until they found out I was training towards a healthcare degree at university, then they became a lot friendlier! Hmmm!

Anyway, I currently work as a PA in the City. Pretty good salary and benefits but there is still that slight "oh you're just a glorified secretary" vibe and the assistants are looked down on a bit. Most of have degrees. But I've been told several times that I should move roles within the company to be a project coordinator and do PRINCE II. When I'm happy "just" being a PA.

[lougle]

When a patient urgently needed a bed in intensive care last night, it was not the doctor who got them that bed: The doctor can only say that a space is needed. It was not the nurses: We can only say that we can create a space. It was the porter, because when I phoned him to say that I needed to urgently transfer a patient to a ward from ICU, to enable the admission of a sick patient, he immediately answered 'I'll be right up!'

That porter helped me to transfer my patient, navigating the corridors, knowing exactly which bed space the patient was going to, having also collected the bed from the ward for me. He patiently waited while we got ready to leave, and he made it seem like he had all the time in the world for my patient, despite the fact that I knew we were just one of a number of calls he'd had.

These adverts are brilliant.

[caroldecker]

lougle Surely the workers who made the trolley are equally as important?

[OlennasWimple]

It's like the (apocryphal?) conversation JFK had with a janitor at NASA, who responded to a question from the President about his role with "I'm putting a man on the moon"