It's for a good cuss
Posted 7/9/2009
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An unassuming, pastel-colored ceramic jar sits on a desk outside the operating rooms on BIDMC's west campus. A closer look reveals that this jar is a piggy bank, used for taking bad words and turning them into good deeds.
"I'm the swear patrol. I call them N.G. words for no good," said Heidee Albano, RN, who originally used a small cup to make cussing co-workers pay per profanity. "Every swear is accepted."
The OR nurse, originally from the Philippines, has been serving as the "swear patrol" since coming to the medical center in 1987. She began collecting a quarter per swear in 2007, promising staff a pizza party with the proceeds.
In November 2008, she read an article in the Boston Globe about a little Haitian boy whose family had sold their sole source of income - two cows - in order to pay for his vital brain surgery. The story inspired Albano to instead dedicate the proceeds of the "swear jar" to purchasing a new cow for the family.
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