What is the importance of the hospital in the novel, All-Night Pharmacy?

Shortly after the narrator and Franklin's relationship ends, Franklin's friend Jeff helps the narrator get a job at the hospital. She is hired as an emergency room secretary. Although she initially plans to use to the job to enable her drug addiction, the narrator finds herself growing attached to her work. Being at the hospital not only introduces her to a range of different people, but affords the narrator a sense of responsibility, order, and purpose. Over time, the setting also helps the narrator to better understand her own past and trauma.