A nurse friend of mine passed away: A WARNING TO ALL

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A friend of mine, someone I worked with for a few years , passed away Wednesday. She was doing home health care nursing and she was seeing a patient that day. The police/fire depts were called after a fire was reported. After they put out the fire, they discovered my friend and her patient had been shot multiple times. She was a mother and a wife, someone's daughter and someone's sister and friend. She will be missed. She was also a great nurse.

Let this be a warning to anyone who does home care, never let your guard down and always be aware of what is going on around you. Never be defenseless.

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

What a terrible thing. I am so very sorry for your loss.

When I did home health in a iffy neighborhood, we rode shotgun for the primary nurse...If it were a really bad situation, we were instructed to call the police, or the paramedics and the police to meet us there. They never seemed to mind. Then there were times we had to notify the doc that we were in an unsafe position and the patient would not be a home health client.

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Specializes in Hospice & Palliative Care, Oncology, M/S.

I'm so very sorry to hear you've lost your friend... what a tragic shock this is. My condolences to the families and friends of those lost. :(

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Oramar, thank you for that nice post of support.

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Specializes in trauma, ortho, burns, plastic surgery.

I am so sorry to hear that.

What policy has HH and hosipce, related safe and safety protection for people employed???? Is a realistic one or need to be changed?

Someone screens the future patients and evironment?

Is a police check background of patients before the nurses to go there????

(Is the RIGHT of nurses to know where they will go and to choose or not to go or not in dangerous areas with dangerous patients or families).

Even in army, people know the risk of the place where they will go and they

was agree befeore with and compensated based on.

Is an incentive for dangerous work conditons?

Is a special cover insurance for handicap, invalidity or death in/caused by work?

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I am so sorry for your loss and will include this nurse and her family in my prayers. Anytime you go into a stranger's environment there is risk, not just in "bad" neighborhoods, although those are the areas that you tend to be on guard. When I was still a Realtor, a colleague was raped and murdered while showing a million dollar property in New Hampshire. She took the regular precautions, but the guy used a phony name, and she did not write down his license plate number before she left the office. We all have to be on guard, all of the time, even in the hospitals.

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

I had thought a lot about being a hospice nurse, but being in a rural area, if things started to go sideways in that last house at the end of a 3 mile dirt road, help simply isn't going to get there before something bad happens. I had a friend who got robbed for her drug kit at gunpoint -- she was okay, but she went back to the hospital setting afterwards. Even in an urban area, a lot of bad stuff can happen in the 3 minute window we get quoted for a response time. I have a lot of love and respect for those who do take the risk for those who need help in the home.

For those of you who do this, please be careful. You are more precious than you know.

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Specializes in allergy and asthma, urgent care.

This is so tragic! My heart goes out to the victims, and all who knew and loved them.

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Specializes in Long Term Care.

I am so sorry for your loss. My condolences to you and the family of your friend.

And thank you for your warning. I am thinking that this warning is meant more for somebody like me who can be "naive " sometimes (i wish not to say the "s-----" word...) esp of the risks/danger in our society (more so that I am looking forward to being in home health care after a year experience as LVN). We live in one of the safest community in California and I have been very complacent and trusting. I need to be more careful, too, as no one - no place is invincible (not sure if this is the right word) of accidents, more so of crime.

Take care and God bless.

P.S. This is why I just can't control myself from visiting allnurses.com, i learn something each time. Thank you again for sharing us your time.

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Specializes in Emergency, Nursing Management, Auditing.

I am so very sorry for your loss. God bless your friend and all other people who go out into these sometimes dangerous situations to help others. I don't know if I could ever do it.

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Specializes in maternal child, public/community health.

I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. It is even harder when it is so unexpected and unnecessary.I can't imagine how you, her family and other loved ones feel. Please take care of yourself as you grieve.

I am a home health nurse. My job is not the typical - I work with pregnant and parenting teens. I must say that my employer emphasizes that we are NEVER to put ourselves in danger. If need be, they will provide a security guard to accompany us (though I do wonder how much good that would do!) We are told to be alert, to be aware of our surroundings and the people, and to trust our gut. If we have any concerns, we are NOT to go in. We are told to call 911 if we have any reason to. This is true not only for maternal-child but for those who do hospice and other types of home health.

The program I work in includes many teens in high crime areas. I try to be smart. I do not schedule visits in those areas late on Fridays or on Saturdays since tends to be more problems on the weekend but the reality is that something could happen anywhere even in a hospital setting. Yes, you have more people to back you up but there are weirdos everywhere. We need to be aware of people around us wherever we are - at work, home, or just out in the community living our lives.

Thank you for your concerns for other nurses. Perhaps your warning will save someone's life.

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I am very sorry this happened. I am a Home Health Aide and agree that we have to be vigilant and aware at all times.

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Wow I know how this could happen I am so sorry for you. I am a new grad and took a job for a home care agency and the client I worked with had major drama in his family. The family all lived in the home and the rest stayed in the duplex above of us and sometimes I was afraid for my life and that is why I left. The sister would get beat up by her boy friend who then started threatening us it was crazy so I had to get the hell out of there. Thank you so much for that warning :)

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