So what do you do for a living?

That's a great question. It amazes me how we can all be "friends" but still not have a clear understanding about our jobs. Mine is not easy to explain, for two reasons, because of the nature of my position and the other because of where I work. I’m an Office Manager for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. That statement alone raises two questions. “Oh, so what does and Office Manger do?”, and “What is Pulmonary Hypertension?” Neither of them is easy to answer so here you go.

As an Office Manager I do anything and everything that I can to help the staff of PHA do their job. If there is a dead mouse, I take care of it. If there is no coffee, I take care of it. If the office is freezing cold, I take care of it. If a staffer wants to move their desk, I help them. If the alarm goes off at 1am, I handle it. If someone wants 1,000 wristbands sent to them, I handle it. That’s not all, when we have over 1,100 patients, care givers, doctors and others affected by PH meet once every two years, and I’m there with everyone from PHA. If we are hosting a lunch on Capitol Hill and doing Lobby visits, I’m there guiding a group of patients to their delegates office. Those are the days that I love coming to work. When you are a witness to all the amazing things the PH community is doing.

I’ve been at PHA for a little over a year now it is has been easy. You see Pulmonary Hypertension is a rare often misdiagnosed disease that can affect anyone. The symptoms of PH, shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, dizzy spells and fainting are so common that doctors often misdiagnose it. PH is so much more than those symptoms, our patients have high blood pressure in their lungs, which means their hearts have to work extra hard to pump blood into their lungs. This causes a tremendous strain on the body and can lead to death. There is currently no cure of PH, but with the tremendous strides the PH community is making there will be one, one day.

On most days I love my job, but when you are speaking with a person who just lost a loved one it can make it hard. My job is very rewarding, yes even the dead mice, cause I know that killing it makes everyone in my office happy and it is easier for them to do their job. This in essence is my job, to make everyone else’s job a little easier.

If you want to learn more about Pulmonary Hypertension visit PHA’s website: http://www.phassociation.org/

(And sometimes I get to work on creating and designing cool little things like this!)