By: Debbie Moore-Black, RN 🩺
Maybe we need to educate upper management, multi-million dollar hospitals with multi-million dollar per year salaried CEO’s and Board members with their financial perks that Health Care professionals and Nurses during “Healthcare/Nurse week” in May of each year…. That we are no longer in the second grade.
Maybe we need to remind “them” that we are college educated healthcare professionals, with degrees such as ADN’s, BSN, MSN’s, RN’s and LPN’s and educators and Nurse practitioners and Respiratory Therapists.
Last year, for our appreciation month, our unit on dayshift received pizza. The night shift received the 2 pieces leftover from dayshift.
Or the year before, when hospital wide staff all received a cookie. If you were a member of the “Resource team” and you went from one critical care unit to another, wherever you were needed, you did not get a cookie because you really weren’t a member of that “team.”
One year we all received lifesavers with a strip of paper that said “thank you for being a lifesaver”, or the institution that gave out real rocks with the statement “You rock” , and you may paint your rock with whatever will “empower” you.
This year, we received shoelaces. That’s correct. Shoelaces. With a sticky note that said: “We’re in this together, Every step of the way.”
Do we need to educate these high powered, upper echelons, that we are not 2 years old?
Do we need to go through a litany of how we save lives, how we bring patients back to life, how we do CPR, Code Blues, Code Cools, how we assist in open heart surgery, and CABG’s, dialysis, assist in intubations, manage ventilators and pressors and assist in inserting central lines and arterial lines, and titrations of life-saving IV medications, and ECMO’s and …
If your exhausted just reading this, imagine a 12-14 hour shift and no break, no 30 minutes, no 15 minutes.
Imagine the 24/7 cerebral perfusion we all do to save your loved ones life, or bring that baby into this world safely, or ease someone into a comfortable painless death.
Imagine giving us key rings, left-over pizzas, chapstick, lifesavers, rocks, shoestrings, a cookie.
Spare us these incredible insults. Disrespect. Disregard.
Of our healthcare professionals.
This year, I collected the shoestrings given to us and donated them to our local homeless shelter downtown.
We refuse to be disrespected anymore.
#Healthcare Week/Nurses Week.
#Empower.
Do Not Resuscitate 
Thanks for the shout out. I’ve been in healthcare as an RN or APRN for 37 years. Actually more years as I work as a CNA. I walked away from healthcare the end of December because of my mental health/burnout. I could not seek “help” without it affecting my job and career. So I decided to take some time off. Not sure if I will go back… but I could definitely use the money. I have not truly missed it but I have had a bit of an identity crisis. My job is all I have ever known. I’m learning to have another life.. one that involves my family. I’m getting to know them once again. I learning to be present and not a million miles away thinking about pt/work issues. I’m learning to relax. To read a book. To play with my dogs. To honor my elderly parents. I’ve missed so much for a career/profession that is no longer respected. Thanks for your support. Enjoy your retirement 😇😎😃
Cindy Rosenberger Sent from my iPhone
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