THUMB AWARD PSYCH WARD REFUGEE EARNS HIS STRIPES

Thumbs Up to the psychiatric patient at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth who helped direct emergency operations during an electrical power failure caused by a flood in the hospital’s basement. The patient, identified by hospital officials only as “Michael,” donned a scrub suit and acted in what amounted to a supervisory capacity as he organized the efforts of employees and volunteers during the critical hours of the power outage before officials determined who he actually was. “He had everyone thinking he was in charge and he did a great job,” said a spokesman at JPS hospital relations. “He told a lot of people where supplies were throughout the hospital and arranged for a shipment of ice and performed in a superb fashion overall.” Michael’s heroics serve to underscore the fact that if mental patients and top hospital officials could trade jobs from time to time, overall health care in this country might improve considerably.