A Nightmare in Nursing: circa 2017

I was talking to some of the Supervisors at some of the places I work (I do temp work as an LVN for an Agency). They are having a great deal of trouble finding Nurses and CNAs (Nurse's Aides) here in San Antonio -- and it's a pretty widespread problem.

One look at the Newspaper told me why:
Any Nurse's Aide ($9.00/hr) can make more money washing dishes at a local hotel ($12.00/hr) --
An assistant manager at McDonald's (22.00/hr) makes more than an LVN ($18.00/hr) --
A McDonald's Manager ($33.00/hr) makes more than an RN ($28.00/hr).

And The Essential Worker Immigration Coalition wants to bring in foreign workers to pay them LESS than that??? Surprise -- IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING! The local teaching hospital has wholesale recruitment programs to bring in student nurses from Nigeria and the Philippines, who work as CNAs until they graduate, then have a 4-year commitment to work as RNs after graduation.

See anything wrong with this picture? No?

Want to hazard a guess at the quality of care you get from Nurses and Aides who can barely speak English -- and really don't care if they answer your call light because they don't have the American work ethic?

And everything I've written here is from personal observation and experience, by the way. I've complained about these Aides playing cards and ignoring call lights in the middle of the night shift, and been told in return "Yeah, but they work cheap, and we need the help badly."

Imagine what this will be like in 10 years when the baby-boomers get to retirement age and start getting sicker. Can you say "Nightmare"?

The Good News (if you can call it that) is that I'll have a job until the day I die and beyond.

~~JD~~

Friday's Feast

This looks like an interesting thing, so I think I'll try it and see how it goes.





Friday's Feast is a weekly meme brought to us by Susie at http://www.fridaysfeast.com. People sign up for her email alerts and every Friday AM we go to her site to get the week’s questions.


Appetizer: How many pieces of jewelry do you wear most days?

Wedding ring -- that's about it. I don't even wear a watch -- I hate that pale mark on the wrist it gives you.


Soup: What is your favorite instrumental song?

"Lazy Susan" by Dan Fogleberg & Tim Weisberg, from the album "Twin Sons of Different Mothers". I saw Dan perform this solo in St. Louis by singing the flute song himself. Classically I'd have to say Beethoven's "Fur Elise" (the saddest song in the world, really -- from a deaf father to the daughter whose voice he cannot hear) or his "Moonlight Sonata" is just massively impressive -- especially when you're out in the backyard watching a full moon in a cloud-scudded sky sail through the clouds to this tune.


Salad: Who has a last name that you like?

Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Rupert Pupkin. Catherine Braithewaite. Pedro Guerrero. Ross Bagdasarian. Anything with an onomatopoeic sound to it. Me, I've got four letters in both my names -- and 9 letters if you throw in the middle initial; not a lot to work with.


Main Course: Name a popular movie you’ve never seen.

Shrek III. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Knocked Up (and I don't PLAN to EVER see it, either.) Almost everything Will Ferrell has ever made. And anything involving the new wave of "Torture Porn" movies like Hostel or 1408 -- that stuff is just sick.


Dessert: Fill in the blank: Nothing makes me ___________ like ____________.

Hmmm . . . so many choices, so little time. Let's see . . .

Nothing makes me shiver like Chicago in the winter.

Nothing makes me giggle like Laurel & Hardy shorts.

Nothing makes me sadder like remembering the family members I've lost.

Nothing makes me smile like the love Jesus has for us.

Nothing makes me wiggle like worms in my underwear. (It's a reference to a Boy Scout Song . . . )

~~JD~~

Now at an Abandoned Amusement Park Near YOU . . . .

Something of a hoary old cliche in Batman comics is the "abandoned amusement park" concept. Every few years the Joker will break out of Arkham Asylum and hide out in an "abandoned amusement park."

















Like "Abandoned Amusement Parks" pepper the landscape offering reluctant refuge to scurrilous psychopaths. (Note to Jonathan Gertsmeier: there's your alliteration fix for the month. Enjoy.)


Eventually, Batman finds the Joker -- I would guess because (a) Abandoned Amusement Parks are pretty rare commodities, and (b) Batman knows where they are -- and head for the nearest one to Arkham Asylum as soon as he hears the Joker has broken out . . . again.

Imagine my surprise to find one less than a quarter mile from my home!






"The Roaring Twenties" was an amusement park (now abandoned) here in San Antonio popular in the late 1930's to 1950's timeframe. Originally built almost 12 miles north of San Antonio proper, it now sits surrounded by the suburbs of north San Antonio. Situated by a dry river (that floods like hell every time it rains), it was difficult to reach during rainy season and appears to have suffered several instances of flood damage. (Fortunately, it doesn't rain that often here.)






As you can see here the grounds are pretty extensive. I'm unable to locate any on-line references to "The Roaring Twenties", but in talking to a couple of residents at a Nursing Home I recently worked at, apparently it was an amusement park of some kind during the day with a Dance Hall building (the only part that still remains) at night.




It's an odd feeling watching History crumble before your eyes.

~~JD~~

WORST - Dog - Haircut - EVER!!!!

We are NEVER going back to that particular PetsMart (281 & Bitters, San Antonio) ever Again! The groomer was behind schedule, he was rude to the customers, and instead of the "bath/#2 grooming/nail clip" requested, we got a "flea dip/#3 grooming/no nail trim" doggie.

Really, I don't think Samantha's ever been so embarrassed by a tail Pom-pom before in my life. (And for those noting that a lot of my pictures of Samantha seem to involve her in . . . "elimination poses", it's because that's the only time she stays still long enough to take a picture.)



Otis is terrified we'll take him to that same groomer, and hides in terror. (He's not a very bright cat, and doesn't realize we can see through windows.)

~~JD~~

More Great Moment (s) in Male Nursing

I used to be a feminist. Really!

When i saw a sophomore at Indiana University in the fall of 1977, I went to a Student Activities fair in the I.U. Fieldhouse, which was full of various student organizations, official and unofficial, vying for the time and donations of new students at IU. The N.O.W. (National Organization of Women -- remember when they were relevant?) booth had a very pretty brunette girl named Kelly (I think) who was both very charming and very good at signing up people left and right. For about $20.00 a year (I paid cash out of my pocket) you became a member of the N.O.W., complete with a monthly magazine and membership card.

Certainly seemed like a worthy cause at the time. I was (at the time, and still am today) in favor of equal pay for equal work, whether it's religious, racial, or gender differences.

So when I find women in Nursing who seem to have problems with a man in "their field," it always gives me pause.

A sudden, sharp, bug-eyed pause. Think a Bugs Bunny reaction shot type pause.

That's the look I usually give a (female) nurse when they say something to me like "You have no place here." (That particular one's been said to me three different times.) When my ex-boss asked me if I was having a sex change operation garnered a similar look.

One of the places I worked recently was very happy to see 6-foot, 200 pound little old me come a-walkin' in the door. The comment "Oh Good -- another strong back" is something I hear frequently, and I heard it that night.

Why? My size? I'm not a damned crane -- I'm a nurse. I asked about that once -- she answered, "well, men are better lifters than women."

Lift your own damned patients, lady. Until they stamp 'Caterpillar" on my butt, I'm a nurse.

The same place was also glad to see me because they had fired one of their Respiratory Techs 10 years ago for siphoning pain medications out of the patient's IV bags. he had retaliated by driving by the facility later that night and spraying the building with gunfire.

Nice guy, really.

He had just been released that month from doing 10 years in prison for the drive-by, and the staff was worried he might come back again. "You'll be good to have around in case of a 'Code White'," they noted.

A "Code White" is code for a Violence Situation. So, what, I'm the bouncer now?

One of the first places I worked in San Antonio (which has since changed management and been sold -- imagine that!) promised me a $2000.00 bonus after the first 90 days. This sounded pretty good to me, since we had no savings to speak of when we moved here. The bankruptcy followed by the move had pretty much cleaned us out.

They were also chronically short-handed and anticipating an inspection from JCAHO and the state of Texas imminently. I took this as my cue to impress, and worked long extra hours to make much-needed overtime and show the boss I wasn't afraid to work hard and get my hands dirty. My supervisor was grateful for the help and my industry, and told me not to worry about the overtime -- she would "square things with the Administrator."

Ninety days later (and the day after the inspectors left) the Administrator told me that I wouldn't be paid the Bonus as promised because I "had racked up too much overtime." When i questioned her on this, her response was, "Well, isn't this just like a man!"

What in the world my gender had to do with their defrauding an employee -- I've never made that connection, really. That's the only place I've ever worked where I didn't give two weeks notice and just walked out. Felt very satisfying, really.

Maybe I'm just getting cranky in my old age, I dunno. The kicker happened to me last weekend at another of the facilities I work at. The supervisor was chastising me for something I didn't do -- which no one had bothered to tell me about; but I digress. The supervisor looked me square in the eye and said, "Dumbass Agency Nurse."

When I didn't react, she asked if I had heard her -- then repeated it for effect.

The nurse I was working with grinned and said, "No -- Dumbass Male agency Nurse!" She and the Supervisor thought this was uproariously funny, and laughed their heads off at the alleged joke.

I'm beginning to see a common thread in all these facilities I work at -- they treat their employees like crap. This explains why they're chronically short of staff.

I may be a Dumbass, but that facility is now short another nurse, aren't they?

~~JD~~

HEY! That's my Niece!

Grandchild carries on Valpo parks legacy

June 20, 2007
By James D. Wolf Jr. Post-Tribune correspondent

VALPARAISO -- Kaitlyn Cook's preparation for her summer job with the Department of Parks and Recreation began early.



Her grandparents were Marilyn and Ordell Gertsmeier, a driving force for the parks from the 1980s on.

"I have memories of going to the park boards' meetings early in the morning," before grandma took her to school, she said.

When Foundation Meadows Park began, "I remember her coming home and talking about 'What should we name it?' " Cook said. And her first-grade handprints are still part of Valplayso.

"It was definitely natural to come back to the parks (department) and work for it and be part of it," said Cook, who is majoring in nursing at Cedarville University in Ohio.

Cook's major follows a family sense of service, like her grandparents, who worked for the Boys & Girls Clubs before the parks.



Former Parks Director John Seibert met Cook's grandparents in 1980 before he became director in 1985. Ordell became a charter member of the park foundation in 1989, and Marilyn took his place when he died.

"Anything that happened between 1990 and 2001, she was in the middle of," Seibert said.

When the community-built Valplayso Park went up, Gertsmeier gathered many of the volunteers and came every day.

She also worked for Fairgrounds Park, Lakewood Links and Creekside Golf course, he said.

The parks recognized the Gertsmeiers' contributions by naming the footbridge in Rogers-Lakewood Park after Ordell in 1996 and adding Marilyn in 2005.

Beyond her drive, Seibert recalls Gertsmeier's graciousness, writing notes of thanks, encouragement or advice.

"Things that lot of people would like to say we do, she did," Seibert said.

Parks Director Steve Doniger recalls Gertsmeier as honest and a good sounding board for ideas.

"If Marilyn said you need to do something for the parks, you did it. She was so passionate and dedicated," Parks Marketing Coordinator Kelly Deal said.



Deal saw that in Cook before she knew who she was.

"From the second I met her, I thought she would be good for the job," Deal said.

Cook, who's finished freshman year, probably won't stay with the parks, especially with ROTC obligations after graduation.

But for summers, she's working by what grandma built.

(You can click on the title of this post for the link to the original Post-Tribune article.)

~~JD~~

Reclaiming the Past in Pictures

It's been ten days since I posted last, but I've been pretty busy.

Ariane & I were going through the storage shed last weekend looking for paperwork she needed for her acceptance appointment to Nursing school (She had the appointment today; we'll know more later.) In the process of digging through every- single- box- in- the- place, we found pictures.



LOTS of pictures. I'm something of a shutterbug and have been since I discovered my mom's first Brownie camera back in the 70's, so I've got a LOT of accumulated photos. I had a pretty nice Nikon camera while I was in the Army, which I still miss -- and have a nifty little digital built into my Palm Pilot right now which is pretty useful, too.



Ariane's concern is that a lot of these older photos are starting to degrade, and wondered aloud how we could preserve them. And, of course, here I was with the scanner she gave me for Christmas two years ago and a very nice laptop with 50 gigs of memory. (I think she baited me into a trap, actually.)






(So my revenge is to post pictures of Ariane in her underpants. Serves her right.) I suggested scanning them into digital versions as a method of sending them to family overseas, but it was clear pretty quickly that we had grossly underestimated the amount of photos we've got squirreled away. I've been on this nonstop for pretty much ten days and I'm just finishing the second Banker's box full of photos tonight.

Two down, 12 to go.



One of the great ideas I had to motivate me to finish the scanning was that we would be able to share these photos with the rest of the family. Originally I envisioned putting the pictures on a couple of CDs and giving them as Christmas gifts. As the size of the project became apparent, I started thinking about Flash drives. however, it's becoming apparent portable hard drives may be the answer -- just for me to store all these photos. As of yesterday afternoon my own 50 gig Hard Drive is now 87% full. (When I started 10 days ago, it was 23% full.)



Anybody know where I can get a deal on portable hard drives?



This picture of my cousin Jon is a perfect example. I doubt I'll be able to find the original negative (even assuming it's undamaged); but the print suffered water damage during the flood at our house in Missouri in 1993. While it's still viewable, I'd never be able to get a usable print for reproduction purposes; and as soon as I scanned this and tried to clean up the photo for a second scan, it disintegrated in my hands. (Still, I'm glad we were able to preserve the picture.)



So, if my posting is a little spotty, I'm not trapped behind the East German border; I'm probably bent over the scanner trying to sort my way through a couple of thousand family photos. I'll post a few of the more interesting ones from time to time. You can save your own copies by right clicking on the photos here and selecting "Save Picture As". (I recommend saving them to either "My Pictures" or your Desktop so you can find them again.)



Enjoy.

~~JD~~

Paradigm Change vs. Releasing Your Inner Grouch

Another change to my paradigm; how I think about myself and my life.

When I found out Julian was (possibly) going to China, I started picking up some temp work from a local Nursing Temp agency. The Nursing market in San Antonio is huge and rapidly expanding, so there is always a need for part-time help. Plus the gross incompetence that traditionally passes for "Management" in Nursing exacerbates this problem, of course. Physicians fighting the Business Managers, demanding royalty treatment from Nursing personnel, whilst Nursing Managers promote Political Correctness with a heapin' helping of pseudo-feminist diatribe politics for good measure.

Just my opinion there, of course.

So when the Temp Agency offered me $3.00 an hour more per hour (which is still $5.00-6.00/hour more than I usually make) -- plus a bonus incentive of an additional $4.00/hour for last-minute calls, I was pretty much hooked. Pulling a couple of extra shifts got me the $700.00 I needed for Julian's trip very quickly.

So when the place i was working for started giving me static about having a second job (as they usually do), it wasn't a hard choice to make. When you can work three days a week and make what you used to make working five days it's really no contest. Plus the versatility of picking and choosing your work schedule makes it ideal for when i start Nursing Practicals for my RN school later this year.

Of course there are certain drawbacks to working for an Agency as well. Sometimes the work is not the "desirable" work of Day Shift, 9 to 5 stuff. It's frequently Evenings or Night Shifts, which is okay by me as long as it pays this well. You may not be able to work 7 days a week if you want -- most places need help on weekends. So you have to "strike while the iron is hot" and pick up what you can when you can -- which is why I just worked 8 days in a row.

I thought to myself yesterday in the office as I was waiting for them to cut my paycheck, "When did I become this flexible? When did I stop being such a damned Grouch? I kind of miss my inner Grouch, really. No excuses to hide behind anymore, are there?

The capper, of course, is that I get the chance to work in many different environments and see lots of different facilities and How-they-do-it-Here. It allows me to practice skills that have atrophied or are almost forgotten from years of atrophy.

Damned if I'm not on the path to becoming Super-Nurse. That's a good thing.

~~JD~~

It's OFF!!!; Part II

Seems to be a theme here lately . . .

Apparently got a detail incorrect when I reported this a few days ago. Julian was not, in fact, the First Runner Up for the China Trip. He was, in fact, one of the Top Three, which is still pretty impressive in and of itself.

So when one of the kids for the China trip dropped out, they notified the Top Three Runners-up to see if any of them wanted to go -- and, of course, one of the kids above Julian jumped at the chance, just like we did.

So, Julian is not going to China . . . this year. It does put him in prime position to go next year, of course -- just not right now.

Durn it.

~~JD~~