September 2, 2021:
Credit where credit's due: it was my ex who taught me the need to take charge.
She works for this hospital system and is also their patient, so that she began with more real-world experience with both sides of their bureaucracy. This was before I'd begun to seriously engage with organizational dynamics, meaning her head start was genuinely useful. She deserves thanks for this. Her insights into the system served me well over two decades.
Later my work experience led me to systematize. The different individuals with their different relationships to the system. The way the organization creates the individuals who staff it. How to interact with and ultimately manipulate the human and organizational components.
Right now I'm plugged into an ICU gurney-bed with its surrounding cockpit of sensors and alarms. But I'm making the decisions, while the experts largely provide consent.