I Survived a Nursing Career and I am Now RETIRED!!!!

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

In my last post, I shared that we celebrated 3 milestones.....

Our 41 st Wedding Anniversary

Joe's 65th Birthday

and a huge milestone for me!!!

Click HERE if you missed that post.......

On Monday, August 12th, I finally was able to do something that I had dreamed about doing for a very long time......

Pretty much for the past 41 years.....

May I remind you that Nursing was NOT the profession that I chose for myself......

My Mother insisted that I go into Nursing because my sister was a nurse so I was not given a choice in the matter....

I NEVER wanted to be a Nurse.....

Before I go any further, I feel that all these great Sayings I found about being a Retired Nurse should say "a Retired Staff Nurse" as they are the ones who do direct patient care and are actually out there in the trenches, working up to 16 hour shifts, and weekends and Holidays and being mandated to do over time because of short staffing............

I sent Joe to the Post Office to mail out 3 certified letters for me.....

Each one contained my official letter of Resignation from the Health Care system that I have been employed by, having been grandfathered in after a company sale, for the past 41 years!!!

  Letters were sent to the Human Resource Department with my ID badges......

 To my former Operations Manager and also to the CEO of the Health Care System.....

When I do something, I always mean business.....

And I always said I was going to go out in a Blaze of Glory!!

But I have been told that I did it with grace, dignity and more respect than was shown to me and my co workers......

In November, the Rehabilitation Unit that I had worked on for the last 37 years, was closed rather abruptly.

 I found out about the closure of my department in an email from a former co worker who had taken another position in the System.

If I had not found out about the closure of my unit this way, I would not have heard about it until I returned to work 3 days later, as I had a few days off , because my Operations Manager did not feel the need to call staff members at home to inform them of the closure of our unit......

 We were "promised" that the unit would reopen as an Acute Care Medical Surgical Unit and our positions would be "transferred" to that unit.

When I demanded a Buy Out and Severance package, I was told it was not a closure but a "transfer"!!!

I was also informed that even though I was hired specifically for that department and not as an RN who could be floated out , I would be required to float to other departments including those at the main hospital where the acuity level was significantly higher...

In other words, my non-Float status that was supposedly "grandfathered in" was not going to be honored.....

I demanded answers to a lot of questions from my Operations Manager , Human Resources and the Nursing Union who supposedly represented me.

All were to no avail.....

I was given a mere 3 days of Orientation on an acute Medical Surgical Department and a few hours of Inservice Education by a member of the Nursing Education department since I had worked over 37 years on a Non Acute department.....

 It was then expected that I would not only work on my newly reopened unit but if it was closed because of lack of patients, I would float, not only to the Medical Surgical Units in the building where I worked, but also to the units in the main hospital, located several miles away, which has a significantly higher acuity level as it is a Trauma Center!!

Now I believe everything happens for a reason and when I had to move up my Knee Replacement Surgery from October to April  and go on a medical leave because of the pain in my knee in February, it really was a blessing in disguise......

 Since I had been on my Medical Leave of Absence, my department was closed due to lack of patients and has not reopened since March 29th....

Remember it was supposedly a "Transfer" not a Closure!

This situation was something that I alluded to in a previous post which you can click HERE to read...

My co workers have been floated not only to the 2 remaining Medical Surgical units in the building where I worked but also to the Medical Surgical units at the Main Hospital

Management has "asked" my co workers to work 12 hour shifts in an attempt to not to be floated to the main hospital even though they were hired for 8 hours shifts and when they refused, they were more often than not floated to the Main Hospital any way to do an 8 hour shift...

Management has also utilized Flex Nursing staff to staff the units where I worked and floated out regularly scheduled nurses to the Main Hospital....

I have not heard from my Operations Manager or my Clinical Coordinator as to what the status of my position was and in fact, I have not heard from my Operations Manager since February when I went on Medical Leave..

Nor did I hear from her when I had my surgery.....

My position was held for 2 months according to policy.......

 After that, I was supposed to be offered another comparable position for up to one year.....

I have heard nothing from any representative of my employer during the entire time that I have been on medical leave....

I called and left several messages with the representative from Human Resources in regards to what my job status was and what positions I would be offered or would have to apply for should I desire to return to work after my medical leave was over......

 My calls were NEVER returned......

There were over 20 nursing staff members in my department when it closed as a Rehab department....

There are now only 2 staff members left......

And one will be retiring by the end of the year if she lasts until then...

All have either accepted other positions in the system but most have resigned and taken jobs with other employers....

My co worker on night shift just resigned effectively immediately because of what she felt was harrassment from management.....

The catch phrase that the Health Care System I have been employed by is "CARING"

As a patient of said Health Care system, I have no complaints as I received excellent care when I had my Knee Replacement Surgery and I do feel that they do "CARE" for and about their patients...

BUT that is because it is the employees who do so....

Those in Administration and Management  definitely do not "CARE" about how they treat their employees and many of us feel that those of us who have the most seniority have had targets on our backs for some time now......

We make the most money and get the largest amount of Paid Time off.....

Every year, each employee gets a statement in regards to how much their salary is and what their benefits cost the employer......

In other words, how expensive we are to them.....

So my decision on whether or not to return to such a mismanaged, chaotic and toxic working environment was rather easy.......

I chose to resign 6 months prior to my originally planned date of retirement on my 62nd Birthday on January 31, 2020.

 I have always voiced my opinion and discontent over issues since the day I started my employment on September 5th, 1978......

I am proud to say that I have been written up for insubordination twice and suspended once because of voicing my opinion!!!

I was never called on the carpet for my Nursing Care and always did very well in my employee evaluations...

It was always about my attitude and my big mouth!!

LOL!!

My father taught me to 'Never Let Anyone Use You as a Door Mat"!!!

 I was never intimidated by Management because after working in the same place for 41 years, I pretty much knew everyone before they were anyone and I knew where all the skeletons were hidden......

 I also had a hard time taking my supposed superiors, who were many years younger than me, seriously!!!

  So it will be interesting to see if I will be granted an Exist interview which is now only a survey that you take online rather than meeting with an actual person, as I laid out all my reasons for resigning in my Letter of Resignation and sent a copy to the CEO of the Company!!!

I thank God that I had the sense to heavily invest in my 401 K plan, getting the highest percentage of money that my employer would match therefore getting them to essentially pay me much more than just my salary.......

 It is because of that that I am able to resign now, 6 months prior to my eligibility for my Social Security benefits.......

My sanity and inner peace is worth far more than money can buy........

 And why would I put myself through such stress caused by total chaos for a mere 6 months???????

  I have held my tongue for close to 6 months as to how I, an employee for almost 41 years, and my fellow co workers were treated .........

Which for those who know me well, was extremely hard for me to do!

Sadly, Health Care is nothing more than a Business nowadays and employees are nothing more than just a Number!!

They have no hold on me anymore and after 41 years, as Joe says,  I owe them NOTHING!!

So now, effective today, August 19th, I get to do what I want to do......

And not have to answer to anyone!!

If I was still working when my last day came, this is exactly what I would have been doing!!!!

I can not tell you how much I absolutely love that quote!!

Yes, I am DONE!!!!!

Done working either the Eve or Day of every Holiday.......

Done working every other weekend......

Done trying to find my own replacement when I needed time off ......

Done being told to write on the white boards in patient rooms because that has become more important than actual patient care

Done with doing Mandatory Goals online every year so much so that I had them memorized....

 Done with preparing for JACHO when I worked night shift and they would NEVER show up at night!!!

Done with giving bedside report in a semi private room which I felt was totally against Hippa regulations...

Done with being yelled at by physicians when you called them in the middle of the night and woke them up to tell them that their patient was going down the tubes!!

Done being responsible for up to 10 patients a piece, only working with another RN on night shift who also had 10 patients and working with NO Aide!!

Done with paying for and renewing my Nursing license!!!

My Favorite Quote is.....

 "It is Never Too Late to be What You Might Have Been"

This quote was written by George Eliot, which is ironically a pen name for a woman named Maryanne Evans, a journalist in Victorian times who wanted to escape the stereotype of woman journalists only being known for writing Romance novels and wanted to be taken more seriously....

It is now time for me to spread my wings and do what I want to do......

 Because after all......

I will be posting about how I got the most out of my employer and I am not just talking salary.....

And what I now plan to do with my life in retirement including my Time Management ideas.....

So I hope you will stop by and come along with me on my Retirement Journey!!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

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