Posts Tagged ‘NOT funny’

“Get away from me!”

I don’t remember much about going to Sunday School other than it was kinda boring and something I was forced to do when I would’ve had way more fun hanging out with my friends or at the very least with my pillow on Sunday mornings. But lately with all of the hate-talk from Trump and the glaring racial injustice broadcast on every news station, email alert, hashtag and newspaper I’m reminded of something my Sunday School Teachers drummed into my uninterested brain —

“Prejudice is Fear.

It’s a definition I’d never heard before or after, but it stayed with me all these years.

Right now it rings truer than ever as —

• Donald the demagogue appeals to the emotions, fears and ignorance of uneducated Americans so he can gain power and promote his political motives.
• Police rookies unintentionally racial profile and shoot-first-think-later.
• Law-abiding citizens and families are being targeted because of their ethnicity or religion.
• Many of us avoid crowds, planes, civic and sports events in order to stay safe.
• We resist protecting the rights of others, worrying that it will diminish our own rights.

Read the rest of this entry »

Normally I dread mandatory meetings for Volunteers, but I actually was a little curious when we went to one about Ebola. Volunteering in the ER is a little scary when you think about it. Volunteers are often the first to come in contact with Patients as they walk through the door. We’re like the “first responders!” I mean I’d like to be a famous actor, but not because I’ve caught Ebola, yikes!

How in the world are we supposed to know if someone has the flu or food poisoning or Ebola? Early symptoms are the same: weakness, fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting.

Separating Facts from Fiction —

learn the facts

Charlayne says transmission occurs only through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids of patients who are ill from Ebola – or contact with needles or syringes that’ve been exposed. But what if someone sneezes on you? Does that count? Or what if you sit on a toilet seat that’s a little wet but you don’t know it till it’s too late?

Fear of the Unknown —

Niles says that the panic over Ebola reminds him of the paranoia around Aids in the early 80s when people were dying, but no one knew how you could catch it. That was before they knew about infected blood transfusions and all of the hows-and-whys of sexual transmission – so scary. Not-knowing is almost the hardest part.

Now people are really freaking out about Ebola — and with good reason (Did you see Contagion?) Imagine being on the flight where a coughing-hacking-guy announces to passengers, “I’ve got Ebola, you’re all screwed!” Imagine having someone take your temperature at JFK, or O’Hare, or Dulles Airport and then command you to, “Please come this way…”

Helping Patients with Ebola —

We’d all like to just live in our own bubble, but — if you have a family member or friend who’s exposed to Ebola, don’t you want to get him/her to a major hospital STAT? Wouldn’t you want to help? What if you were exposed? Wouldn’t you want someone to help you?

In our meeting they basically told us to “Purell” constantly + protect ourselves with gowns, gloves, face shield, mask, booties, shoe covers, leg covers if we “come in contact” – but the bigger question is: “How do you know when you’re coming in contact?” How can you help those who need it, if you have to put yourself at risk? Read the rest of this entry »

the new flu can be rough-rough!

OMG! It’s a MASKADEMIC! Our hospital reminds me of Asia during the Sars Epidemic ‘cuz everyone’s wearing a MASK! Crazy! It’s like the opposite of what we learned in ER Volunteer Training when our Supervisor Charlayne told us –

Ya’ll need to wear masks around patients in ISO, but be sure to remove them when you’re walkin’ around. It’s like wearin’ rubber gloves in the waitin’ room. They give the wrong message.

Things are different now with the current strain of Flu — because it’s much stronger, scarier, and more virulent than in previous years. The new Flu is a RISK to the young, the old, the high-risk and even to HEALTHY humans. Yeah, it’s Twilight-Zone-y, sorta like that movie Gwyneth Paltrow was in: CONTAGION. Well no, not that bad —  but seriously, this new Flu can be a matter of life-and-death. No kidding! Read the rest of this entry »

nightmare!

They say — “Timing is everything” but when is it gonna to be my time? The right time? Time to cash a paycheck?  Booking a job is like an oasis – it seems like it’s right there in front of me…like I’m on theverge. But when I get closer it just vaporizes into a cloud of disappointment. I feel like I’m constantly letting down the people who care about me — the ones who believe in me… it totally sucks.

I keep trying to — Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry, Mom — not feeling so optimistic right now.

Volunteering in the ER isn’t that hard most of the time. Though we help patients in stressful moments of need, we usually send them home with a fix or admit them upstairs for tests or rush them to the OR — and then move-on, “Next!” But every now and then I get sucked into the depth of someone’s despair and like quicksand it consumes me. The more experienced Volunteers, Doctors and Nurses appear to be affected the least. I guess that’s how they get through it.

TOLERATING TRAGEDY

I feel like our nation is experiencing an epidemic of “Desensitizeditis!”

Daily we hear about another random act of violence, often involving a gun and a possibly-bullied, off-balanced human who may or may not play video games, who watches a lot of violent movies and thinks it’s cool to go down in history as a cover story in People. No guilt or sadness over creating chaos and cruelty. No fear of repercussion. Just the overwhelming desire to do something devastating and LOUD. One last chance to be heard.

We as a society hear about it, read about it, Tweet about it —  and then move-on, “Next!” Meanwhile innocent people lose their lives. Family members and friends will never ever be the same. Civilization continues to sink. Maybe we can’t bear to focus on our own loss of safety and wellbeing. FEELING POWERLESS is not a good feeling. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m trying to remain calm, but I just finished my ER shift and I need to vent. Earlier, as I was driving to the Employee Parking Lot, a very Pregnant Woman was walking in the crosswalk talking on her cell. A man in the car to the left of me barreled through the crosswalk. He didn’t seem to notice or care about the Preggy Pedestrian. And the Mama-to-Be was so engrossed in the conversation, she wasn’t thinking about protecting her baby. The weirdest part was that no one seemed to notice — not the Driver, not the Pedestrian, only ME.

Am I in the Twilight Zone?

So just as I’m exclaiming “Whaaaa?” I drive into the parking structure that’s completely packed. I search every level and finally find one measly spot. But it’s not a trouble-free-spot because on one side a car is parked in an intruding slant over the double line and on the other side the neighboring car has been pushed so far over by the car next to it, it’s squishing over my other boundary line as well. Why aren’t there any boundaries in human behavior? Why is everyone pushing everyone else over the edge? Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone’s on pins-and-needles in the ER. 24/7 an INVISIBLE STRESSBALL powers through Triage growing bigger and bigger — affecting everyone in its path. We deal with a MISHMOSH of PAIN from Patients, Family Members and Staff. Volunteers must juggle everyone’s Physical Pain, Emotional Pain, Pressure and Anxiety. Stressed-out people lose patience, get defensive, become argumentative and over-react. Everyone takes it out on each other. It’s UGLY!

This doesn’t even take into account what’s hiding in everyone’s baggage. I mean, almost everyone who’s an adult has some family member or loved one who’s fighting some sort of battle, whether it’s emotional or physical, not to mention that we all have things going wrong in our day on some level. Add to that indigestion, PMSing, bills we can’t pay and it’s a miracle we don’t all EXPLODE! Read the rest of this entry »