While we're on the subject of witches
 She's one of my favorites. The Wicked Stepmother Queen in the Disney version of Snow White. She hated not being the "fairest in the land" and wanted Snow White dead because a mirror (a mocking piece of shiny glass) said Snow White was the fairest. My other self has much in common with that feeling - so, dear, maligned wicked queen, I totally understand you. You're my dark half that I try to conceal - sometimes not so well. image: www.123posters.com
The Responsibilities of an RN
I go into a discussion with a coworker - not a nurse - the other day. She became very exasperated with me. She couldn't understand when I said that if I was an RN on a shift in a nursing home and the next shift's RN called off and there were no other RNs to cover that shift (the facilities own or an agency), I would have to stay and be the nurse on duty, giving meds, doing treatments and giving resident care.... Even if I was management? Yes Even if I had a doctor's excuse stating that I could not physically do bedside nursing? Yes Even, even, even.... The needs of the vulnerable residents on the unit supersedes all else. Think Katrina - and the residents in the facility that wasn't evacuated and the staff that stayed (and didn't go home to help their own families). Or the hospital in the middle of New Orleans and the staff that stayed with some still hauled up on charges of alleged mercy killings. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. This is why we're burning out the nurses that do work for a facility and this is why agencies have grown so rapidly. Some people say there's not a shortage of nurses, just a shortage of nurses who want to work in a hospital or nursing home. Is it because of the previous scenarios? Why work for a facility and have those overwhelming responsibilities when you can work for an agency, no facility-responsibility and more money - and be able to have your own life? So: to my psychologist and my psychiatrist (and yes, I have both now): It would be damn hard, with this RN, after my name, to find another job that would not take advantage of those two little letters - even with a doctor's excuse.
What would YOU do?
Someone I know told me that had recently been told, "Your job will kill you" by their doctor. What would You do?
Next week HAS got to be better
I must start thinking positively - but, boy!, this week it's been hard: 1. Bronchitis still hanging in there 2.Another visit with yet another doctor and another bottle of pills 3.Meetings, meetings, meetings 4. The RN I wanted as DON at a building stated an interested but then stopped returning calls (Please "just say no") 5.Above building still in a nursing crisis - along with several others 6. Recruitment and retention committee has yet to get off the ground 7.I'm a 2 months behind in starting my presurveys 8. The worse thing that happened this week: Dina, one of my regional nurses, resigned -see #4, #5,#6,and #7 9. My short story was rejected by Woman's World 10. I wanted to enter Elizabeth Peacock and the Body on Abbey Road in the Malice/St. Martin's contest - wrong! Rules state traditional mystery. I guess aliens, invisible people, possible zombies are not really traditional - but who said a Siamese cat with 60 whiskers and precognitive abilities was traditional. Would love to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head. But...getting a shower and starting my day, with a doctor's appointment. The best part of the week: I talked to Heather last night.
Rant for the Week
 Been a long time since I ranted - feeling better, so I thought, "What the heck!" Why is everything in heavy plastic, sealed packages. You know the kind - hard plastic, sealed so tight that you need a frigging drill to get it open. Here's my story: I was a good Gore Girl, doing my ecological duty and trading my old, energy inefficient light bulbs for one of these.... But my sweet bulb was packaged in that heavy clam shell, finger cutting plastic that I had to cut with scissors made to cut through chicken bones (and my digits). As I hacked away, trying to free my twisted tubular firend, it hit me! The energy I will be saving by using this bulb has been wasted by packaging it in a huge plastic and cardboard case. Can't these light bulbs be sold in those nice little biodegradable, slightly corrigated paper boxes that hold the old-time energy guzzlers?? Just saying......
I gotta feel better soon.
 Coughing, sneezing, blowing my nose for the last few days. I tried work today and lasted until 11. Will try again tomorrow. I HATE being sick. That's something coming from a woman who, as a kid, faked being sick to get out of school. Now I fake well... in many ways.
Wish this was MY job.....
National Civil War Museum
 "Moment of Mercy"Terry Jones National Civil War Museum
This wonderful museum is in Harrisburg, PA, high above the city in a beautiful park. This is not the museum for Civil War scholars. It's a museum for families with children and for people who want to learn about the bloodiest time in our nation's history. There are interactives and films on wide screens - you can follow several families, north, south, slave through the turmoil. There are some marvelous artifacts that teach about how citizens and soldiers lived.
If you're beginning to learn about the Civil War and/or give your children an easy history lesson, find your way to the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg.
And it's more fun if you go with a kid. Mine was Joey - a great young man of 10 "almost 11".
Busy Week
The busy week was mostly at work - meetings, policy changes, rantings, new manuals - and it's still not finished. I guess when you work in health care, nothing is "finished" - you're never done. So, I left things undone and came home - late.
Messy Offices
No - this is NOT my office - my office is MUCH neater than this one. I've been following Jenny Crusie's crusade for a cleaner office on her blog: www.arghink.com. I just wanted all to know that there are messier offices out there.
Milestones
 Phyllis Whitney's 104th Birthday  Madeline L'engle's death Both these great ladies influenced many readers and writers - including this one.
As one of my facilities gets questioned on why no one writes each time a restraint is released (every 2 hours) instead of marking it down by shift, the Air Force makes a mistake involving nuclear warheads. Ohhhh-kay!
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