Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Gee Whiz
Gee Whiz, it's been a long week. First off, Happy New Years! I spent the holiday with my good friends April and Eddie and their 3 month old son. Great time was had by all, but I was the only one awake at midnight. Not that I cared, I had my nose buried in a book at the time. Party animal, that's me!
Unfortunately, everyone at their house was sick. Now I am beating back the dreaded cold. I've had my flu shot and I really, really do not feel that badly. I'm hoping this gets no worse. And yes, I'm drugged (legally) to the gills.
Then, on New Years day, I get a message that my 95 year old grandmother has been hospitalized for a cardiac "incident". I'm told by my brother, D, that our aunt sent out an e-mail but he'd called mother to let her know since she's not in on the e-mail loop. Mom tells him to call me since I'm out of town and probably haven't heard. This upsets me a little bit. D called me, but did not bother to call Suzy, C, or M - (our siblings). Suz and C don't have e-mail at home, only through work and remember - this is a holiday and a Sunday. M works long hours and who knows how often he checks the computer? I called them. C and S did not know and M returned my message as soon as he got home and he had not heard either. I came home later and found I DIDN'T EVEN GET THE E-MAIL.
Petty rant, but there it is.
To tell on myself, I forgot to call our cousin Trish. But she did get the message from my aunt, so it did all work out in the end.
I spoke with my grandmother and she had heard from everyone and was soooo pleased! It just made her so happy. She's a bit upset the doctor told her she can't drive anymore. We're all relieved about that actually. She's went home yesterday and is doing well, thank God.
A different incident shook me a bit recently. We had a new employee I shall call "Marianne" which is so not her name. I use the word "had" and a false name because, well, she was escorted off the premises the other day. Failed drug test. Now, I happened to like this girl and turns out I have worked with her mother in the past. I have great respect for her mother (and liked her Dad a lot) although I haven't seen her since I left that job to finish my fieldwork for my degree. I hate this. Not only did she lose her job, but this is now reported (by law) to the governing board of our licensure (occupational therapy assisting).
I'm sorry and appalled at the same time. Why? Why jeapardize everything for ... what???? I'm sorry. I'm one of the annoying that has never smoked cigarettes. I've tried marijuana in the past (long past) but didn't get real excited about it. We are in a field that drug tests are random and serious. Health care. Direct patient care. Duh.
What you do on your own time is your own business. But don't bring it to work. Now I'm left without any PRN help right now and while the caseload is low that's ok, but it never stays this way. We interviewed a new girl today. New grad. Oh boy (insert sarcasm here). It should be a rule that all new grads should start in the hospital system and then go elsewhere if they so choose. That's what I did. I learned more in a few months in that setting than I ever did in school. They tell you straight up that when you graduate with our degree you may have the title of a therapist but what you have actually acquired is only the basic knowledge from which you will learn how to do your job ONLY ONCE YOU START WORK.
Maybe she'll be great. But there is so much more to learn and experience in a wider hospital setting than there is in a narrower specialized field like long-term care.
That's not everyone's opinion. Just mine and every OTR and COTA I have ever worked with or gone to school with. Admittedly it's a narrow sampling, oh well.
REVIEWS!
Only MY opinions follow:
Kung Fu Hustle: Loved it! Funny, very funny! Yes they use special effects and wires (unlike Ong Bak), but it works and is not formulaic (unlike Ong Bak).
Sky High: I can see why Marvel wanted to block this movie. Straight rip-off of many Marvel and D.C. characters. Especially note - dude wall climbing i.e. Spidey. HOWEVER - loved it! Funny and charming. Rip-off it may be, but it was lovingly done.
Grave Sight: This is a book review, not a movie. This is a new book by a favorite author - Charlaine Harris. This is outside of her Southern Vampire and Aurora/Lily mysteries. I admit, I was a bit miffed that she had taken time away from these three lovely series to write another one. I was wrong. LOVED IT! No spoilers, but seriously - check it out! It's paranormal mystery - but no vampires or werewolves or anything like that. BTW - I like this author (although she makes me nervous) because she is not afraid to shake up the status quo in a series - she has been known to kill off major characters.
Anyway, rants and raves are over.
Good Night and God Bless
Unfortunately, everyone at their house was sick. Now I am beating back the dreaded cold. I've had my flu shot and I really, really do not feel that badly. I'm hoping this gets no worse. And yes, I'm drugged (legally) to the gills.
Then, on New Years day, I get a message that my 95 year old grandmother has been hospitalized for a cardiac "incident". I'm told by my brother, D, that our aunt sent out an e-mail but he'd called mother to let her know since she's not in on the e-mail loop. Mom tells him to call me since I'm out of town and probably haven't heard. This upsets me a little bit. D called me, but did not bother to call Suzy, C, or M - (our siblings). Suz and C don't have e-mail at home, only through work and remember - this is a holiday and a Sunday. M works long hours and who knows how often he checks the computer? I called them. C and S did not know and M returned my message as soon as he got home and he had not heard either. I came home later and found I DIDN'T EVEN GET THE E-MAIL.
Petty rant, but there it is.
To tell on myself, I forgot to call our cousin Trish. But she did get the message from my aunt, so it did all work out in the end.
I spoke with my grandmother and she had heard from everyone and was soooo pleased! It just made her so happy. She's a bit upset the doctor told her she can't drive anymore. We're all relieved about that actually. She's went home yesterday and is doing well, thank God.
A different incident shook me a bit recently. We had a new employee I shall call "Marianne" which is so not her name. I use the word "had" and a false name because, well, she was escorted off the premises the other day. Failed drug test. Now, I happened to like this girl and turns out I have worked with her mother in the past. I have great respect for her mother (and liked her Dad a lot) although I haven't seen her since I left that job to finish my fieldwork for my degree. I hate this. Not only did she lose her job, but this is now reported (by law) to the governing board of our licensure (occupational therapy assisting).
I'm sorry and appalled at the same time. Why? Why jeapardize everything for ... what???? I'm sorry. I'm one of the annoying that has never smoked cigarettes. I've tried marijuana in the past (long past) but didn't get real excited about it. We are in a field that drug tests are random and serious. Health care. Direct patient care. Duh.
What you do on your own time is your own business. But don't bring it to work. Now I'm left without any PRN help right now and while the caseload is low that's ok, but it never stays this way. We interviewed a new girl today. New grad. Oh boy (insert sarcasm here). It should be a rule that all new grads should start in the hospital system and then go elsewhere if they so choose. That's what I did. I learned more in a few months in that setting than I ever did in school. They tell you straight up that when you graduate with our degree you may have the title of a therapist but what you have actually acquired is only the basic knowledge from which you will learn how to do your job ONLY ONCE YOU START WORK.
Maybe she'll be great. But there is so much more to learn and experience in a wider hospital setting than there is in a narrower specialized field like long-term care.
That's not everyone's opinion. Just mine and every OTR and COTA I have ever worked with or gone to school with. Admittedly it's a narrow sampling, oh well.
REVIEWS!
Only MY opinions follow:
Kung Fu Hustle: Loved it! Funny, very funny! Yes they use special effects and wires (unlike Ong Bak), but it works and is not formulaic (unlike Ong Bak).
Sky High: I can see why Marvel wanted to block this movie. Straight rip-off of many Marvel and D.C. characters. Especially note - dude wall climbing i.e. Spidey. HOWEVER - loved it! Funny and charming. Rip-off it may be, but it was lovingly done.
Grave Sight: This is a book review, not a movie. This is a new book by a favorite author - Charlaine Harris. This is outside of her Southern Vampire and Aurora/Lily mysteries. I admit, I was a bit miffed that she had taken time away from these three lovely series to write another one. I was wrong. LOVED IT! No spoilers, but seriously - check it out! It's paranormal mystery - but no vampires or werewolves or anything like that. BTW - I like this author (although she makes me nervous) because she is not afraid to shake up the status quo in a series - she has been known to kill off major characters.
Anyway, rants and raves are over.
Good Night and God Bless
# posted by Qeltic @ 6:22 PM 
