off topic
Like most of you; I’m tired of staying at home, I’m bored, and I’m frustrated. I’m on reduced hours, my pay is about 2/3 of what it was. I reckon I’m lucky to be working. I worry about the “economy”. “Economy” is in quotes because for me “economy” means people having jobs, food on the table, a roof over their head, a future. I don’t care about your stocks or how much less a millionaire is making. I’m tired of the bickering between the 2 political parties and their minions. I don’t want to hear it. I’m tired of everything revolving around this damn disease. I’m tired of the division it has created in this country. Why is that every issue in this country creates division? This should have brought us together. This is a war. A different kind of war but a war none the less. And then I think about the soldiers in this new war…
They aren’t wearing BDU’s, they’re wearing scrubs and PPE. They won’t earn a combat patch. Like the vets of Iraq and Afghanistan, they will find this won’t end quickly. And, just like many of the veterans, this will never leave them.
This is National Nurses Week. National Nurses Day was yesterday.
I would like to dedicate this to one particular corps of soldiers in this fight, the nurses. If I could I would buy you a beer and shake your hand but I’ve nothing to offer but my thanks.
So, virtually, “Here’s to you”
‘This job is breaking me,’ Virginia nurse says amid COVID-19 pandemic
“As my team and I take our phones out to provide one last goodbye with families through FaceTime, we all cry heavily in silence, underneath our PPE…We all leave feeling the same way: devastated, exhausted, dehydrated, hopeless, and as a failure,”
I’m a nurse in a Covid-19 unit. My hospital’s leaders frighten me more than the virus
“It is not uncommon for nurses to go all day without drinking water or eating because that would mean removing our protective gear…Leadership is failing us, even as we stand firm in not failing our patients. We care for your loved ones, Covid-19 or not, monitor their vital signs, give them medications, rub lotion on their backs, help them to the bathroom, and brush their hair. We FaceTime their families from our personal phones so they can see their loved ones fighting to live. This is important care that nurses are proud to provide.
The narrative is simple. Nursing, and nurses, are not valued. It’s a shame, and maybe even a deadly shame, that hospital leaders don’t care about nurses like we care for our patients.“
Amen to that! Hope there will be more appreciation for HealthCare professionals. Then some good has come out of all of this.
Thanks for these kind words Eric. I’m a retired registered nurse who worked at a hospital during the AIDs epidemic. At the time, we had no medication for the patients, only blood transfusions, no cures and still don’t, & also at the beginning, didn’t know how the contagion spread. I remember being frightened every day. But at least we were prepared. The hospital had time to supply us with plenty of masks, gowns & gloves because we knew that something very bad was coming. Watching now what these nurses are going through crushes me to the core. It’s all just extremely sickening and sad. I guess it is true. You never learn from the past. You just repeat it.