The hurricane is slated to arive 2-6 pm on Sunday. THe DON threatened the entire Nursing staff today saying that anyone who does not adhere to the new schedule (coming out tomorrow) will be fired!
Let me tell you what this new schedule entails - ALL nursing staff will come in on Sunday. Those that are scheduled to work Sunday will work. Everyone else will RELAX until their shift comes due (in my case more than 24 hours later).
This LTC locked us in the facility for 48+ hours during and after Hurricane Ivan 10 months ago!
I have 32 years experience as an LPN and I understand what quality of care means to my patients. But I do not like being threatened with my license and I do not like being incarcerated!
More importantly, I do not like the idea that this LTC facility is staying regardless of Dennis being a Category 3 or 4 hurricane. We are less than 1 mile from the Pensacola Bay.
The management and the DON and ADON are threatening the staff. They are putting their patients at RISK.
Then they wonder why people are quitting.
I need that great American dream - health insurance - so I can't quit.
Jessica, again we have days to plan what to do with the family. There are shelters all over town for those in evacation zones, etc. If plans for the family can't be made, or you're single without anyone to care for your kids, here you can bring them to work where they'll be safe. Planning is the key. So one is saying "leave your family in danger and come to work". If your home is not safe..........get out.
I live out in the mid-west, where we have tornadoes and all sort of things all the time. But we can bring our family to our facility as well, if we need to. THey don't care HOW you come in, as long as you DO come in.
ANd, to answer questions, locking those doors IS against the law. Its not ONLY considered wrongful imprisonment, its also a heafty fire hazard in cases of emergencies. Add to that that you were THREATENED, which is a big no-no under the law as well, and your employer could have QUITE a heafty law suite between the local and state law emforcements, the employees, and the state health programs.
What is wrong about the patients families being concerned over them and taking them out to evacuate??? I dont get it, if my relative was in a nursing home in the path of a major category hurricane I'll be darned if I would worry over my self only and not even bother to get them to safety. This doesnt make any sense, stay during a major disaster and be responsible for someone else's family member? I'm sorry, I also have priorities and my family and pets comes first. After we saw what happened during Ivan we no longer take any chances and our safety comes first. If anyone had noticed that after last year all the facilities here were advertising for nurses all shifts. Seems that the hardnose policy of not showing up backfired and they were without staff for a length of time. Didnt see that this year, with the exception of the facility mentioned that started this thread. There are too many other LTC centers that would be happy to have you and they also have health insurance. It isnt worth your life or license.
The hurricane is slated to arive 2-6 pm on Sunday. THe DON threatened the entire Nursing staff today saying that anyone who does not adhere to the new schedule (coming out tomorrow) will be fired!
Let me tell you what this new schedule entails - ALL nursing staff will come in on Sunday. Those that are scheduled to work Sunday will work. Everyone else will RELAX until their shift comes due (in my case more than 24 hours later).
This LTC locked us in the facility for 48+ hours during and after Hurricane Ivan 10 months ago!
I have 32 years experience as an LPN and I understand what quality of care means to my patients. But I do not like being threatened with my license and I do not like being incarcerated!
More importantly, I do not like the idea that this LTC facility is staying regardless of Dennis being a Category 3 or 4 hurricane. We are less than 1 mile from the Pensacola Bay.
The management and the DON and ADON are threatening the staff. They are putting their patients at RISK.
Then they wonder why people are quitting.
I need that great American dream - health insurance - so I can't quit.
I am a nurse with more than 20 years in this business and I don't respond well to threats. There is no facility that can hold you hostage because of a natural disaster. I understand that it is necessary to have as many available staff as possible in a situation such as the above but there should be a plan that has been set and people that are already scheduled or willing to be available for times like this.
When you offer your staff a good plan of attack and involve them in the entire picture they are going to be more willing to assist you. Threats are what they are "just threats",and a good way to lose an excellent employee.
Everyone wants the American Dream but how high are you willing to pay to get it? A lousy employer that makes ultimatums & threats isn't a pretty picture of that dream and good nurses are needed everywhere!
I thought it was a catastrophe when I no longer had heatlh insurance after I was laid off from my hospital job (they were laying off due to financial reasons). Turns out to be the best thing ever happened to me. I went to work in home health and found it sooooo much more agreeable. I'd worked in hospitals since '92 and don't ever want to step foot in another. My new employer doesn't offer health insurance; I've just come to accept that for a year while I get my feet wet. If you don't have any major health problems, you can probably do ok without it. I'd never put up with being incarcerated by my employer or threatened like that. I couldn't work for a$$holes like that anymore.
:angryfire
The hurricane is slated to arive 2-6 pm on Sunday. THe DON threatened the entire Nursing staff today saying that anyone who does not adhere to the new schedule (coming out tomorrow) will be fired!
Let me tell you what this new schedule entails - ALL nursing staff will come in on Sunday. Those that are scheduled to work Sunday will work. Everyone else will RELAX until their shift comes due (in my case more than 24 hours later).
This LTC locked us in the facility for 48+ hours during and after Hurricane Ivan 10 months ago!
I have 32 years experience as an LPN and I understand what quality of care means to my patients. But I do not like being threatened with my license and I do not like being incarcerated!
More importantly, I do not like the idea that this LTC facility is staying regardless of Dennis being a Category 3 or 4 hurricane. We are less than 1 mile from the Pensacola Bay.
The management and the DON and ADON are threatening the staff. They are putting their patients at RISK.
Then they wonder why people are quitting.
I need that great American dream - health insurance - so I can't quit.
I've never worked in a hurricane zone, but I HAVE worked during tornados and blizzards...in situations where the staff could not get to work and we could not leave. I was NOT threatened, I was treated well and appreciated. We all pitched in and got through a hard time together. This DON doesn't deserve to have good people stay on with her IMO.
I also live in the gulf coast area and work at a hospital that has a hurricane plan. For Georges we were paid our base rate while we not on the floor. The same for Ivan last year. Th is year we were told we would be paid only for the time that we are working. If it is mandatory that we be there, how can they get away with this.
Ditto to the threats of losing our job, lockdown and all that stuff.
Bite me" is too gentle a word for this situation.:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire
:angryfire
The hurricane is slated to arive 2-6 pm on Sunday. THe DON threatened the entire Nursing staff today saying that anyone who does not adhere to the new schedule (coming out tomorrow) will be fired!
Let me tell you what this new schedule entails - ALL nursing staff will come in on Sunday. Those that are scheduled to work Sunday will work. Everyone else will RELAX until their shift comes due (in my case more than 24 hours later).
This LTC locked us in the facility for 48+ hours during and after Hurricane Ivan 10 months ago!
I have 32 years experience as an LPN and I understand what quality of care means to my patients. But I do not like being threatened with my license and I do not like being incarcerated!
More importantly, I do not like the idea that this LTC facility is staying regardless of Dennis being a Category 3 or 4 hurricane. We are less than 1 mile from the Pensacola Bay.
The management and the DON and ADON are threatening the staff. They are putting their patients at RISK.
Then they wonder why people are quitting.
I need that great American dream - health insurance - so I can't quit.
The hospital that I work at also has a hurricane plan. It is well discussed ahead of time so everyone knows the policy. If you are scheduled for duty, you are expected to be there. There is a "lock down" and it is well known ahead of time. All hourly staff is paid from lockdown to release. The cafeteria does not charge staff that is there. The lock down time is with the county warnings. As soon as it is safe, everyone is released. We have had daycare for years during the hurricane. Volenteers and parents watch the kids while parents are on duty. We now have pet care. All pets must be in a cage and the owner is responsible for walking, clean up, etc. Families come to the facility. Only one visitor per patient is allowed. Yes it is a lock down but it is for safety and only during the hours it is not safe to be out on the road.
This is the problem in nursing to begin with. You have people too ignorant to realize when something is illegal. No one can force you to report to work 2, 3, or4 shifts in advance. Are they paying you for all that time? Probably not. Here's the solution to anyone out there. You get a physician to sign a disability form stating you can't work anymore than so many hours in a row period. This will supersede ANY facility policy like this, which would be illegal anyway, and make idiots like this DON legally liable for firing you in this case. I would tell her to kiss my ass.
i've been a nurse for many years and have worked in the capcity of an lpn and an rn. and, in my experience, it is the policy of most medical facilities in the path of a hurricane not to evacuate as the hospitals are usually powered by generators in the event of power failure. this is for those patients utilizing medical equipment that requires electrical power to keep them functioning properly; and, it is also policy for the staff of those facilities to report to duty as directed by their managers/head nurse of their department or unit. after a period of time, as fema and the ema of the state involved to call for a "lock down" of the facility after the winds reach tropical storm status. that's why the people were locked into the ltc facility in the intial post. in our area, the ltc facilities usually relocate those patients on oxygen, vents, or other equipment requiring electricity to the area hospitals, otherwise, they keep the patients in the facilty.
i've been through many storms throughout the years.
the hospital i work at is on the gulf coast and is approximately 4 blocks from the coastline. the hospital has never evacuated in its entire history of over 50 years. and, we are always required to report to duty when called upon by adminstration during a hurricane. we are required to bring our own eats, enough clothing for 2 days, bottled water and drinks. we are not allowed to bring family members unless they have no other place to go during the storm. it is the down side to the job. who wants to leave their family behind during a storm? the patients can't even have visitors. it's a liability issue. so, with the aforementioned restrictions, pets aren't even a consideration by administration.
you are legally entitled to compensation for working the storm. it is the law. the adminstration can not require you to be at the workplace without due compensation. locate the wages and hour division of the department of labor in your area, and find out what your rights are. this might be some of the new overtime rules in changes to labor laws passed by congress recently.
Being a nuring leader in the south where hurricaines are a real threat there is something here that just does not sound right. IF what you are saying is true, I would suggest that you seek legal counsel.
Panic and fear do very strange things to otherwise perfectly sensible people. Sometimes in high stress times it is a matter of somantics.
My question would be: What happened at your facility during Hurricane Ivan last year, and what was the concensus with Dennis fast approaching. Were people threatening to leave and not show up to work?
For those of you who suggested the hospital evacuate, where should they evacuate to? If you do not live in hurricane prone areas it is hard to imagine what it is like as a storm approaches, and realistically, there is no place within a reasonable distance to evacuate to. And for larger hosptals, the evacuation process would have to start DAYS ahead of time. Don't forget you also need an accepting facility.
I have had to enforce the hurricane policy at our institution and it is not an easy job informing people you work with that they are expected to be at work when their families are evacuating. We will generally call a manadatory report time for ALL staff involved to coincide with local road closures. We allow our staff to bring their immediate families with them to work. We pay them from the time we call everyone in until the time we release them from duty. We provide food for our staff. We arrange sleeping quarters for all departments so that those not on duty can sleep.
When Dennis was approaching the the gulf coast I called all of my staff on Friday and told them the possibilities of the storm heading our way. I informed them when they would possibly be called into work according to the forecast, reminded them to bring their families and did not get one negative word from any of them. I was very proud of they way they handled the situation.
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
DCAILLOUET:
They worked with you because you worked with them. That is all it takes. You made all the proper arrangements, paid them for the time they were there, and treated it as a team effort with everyone doing their part. That is all that is needed. If the original OP's DON would have handled it like you then there wouldn't need to be a thread like this in the first part. Now we just need to clone you!
The hurricane is slated to arive 2-6 pm on Sunday. THe DON threatened the entire Nursing staff today saying that anyone who does not adhere to the new schedule (coming out tomorrow) will be fired!
Let me tell you what this new schedule entails - ALL nursing staff will come in on Sunday. Those that are scheduled to work Sunday will work. Everyone else will RELAX until their shift comes due (in my case more than 24 hours later).
This LTC locked us in the facility for 48+ hours during and after Hurricane Ivan 10 months ago!
I have 32 years experience as an LPN and I understand what quality of care means to my patients. But I do not like being threatened with my license and I do not like being incarcerated!
More importantly, I do not like the idea that this LTC facility is staying regardless of Dennis being a Category 3 or 4 hurricane. We are less than 1 mile from the Pensacola Bay.
The management and the DON and ADON are threatening the staff. They are putting their patients at RISK.
Then they wonder why people are quitting.
I need that great American dream - health insurance - so I can't quit.
Perhaps you could suggest a "hurricane schedule". Having been in line for over a half dozen hurricanes myself, I can tell you that it makes for much happier employees and staff.
Regardless of the outcome, you have to have people in house during the storm, and people who are able to get in to relieve the staff when the all clear is called. Each year prior to hurricane season our staff signs up for "in house" or "post call" and our schedules will be rearranged accordingly. FIMA money pays for our time in. As a mom with grown kids I prefer to work during the storms and that way I can clean up afterward. Others with small kids and childcare problems prefer to work after, when the allclear has been called and there is some childcare available.
Your DON should contact some of the hospitals on the coast to see how hurricane preparations are made. We take it VERY seriously. Our facility has 4 wheel drive vehicles to get staff in and out as the case may be, so if your car has been hit by a tree or whatever we still can get to and from work.
MichaelLooney
68 Posts
I live out in the mid-west, where we have tornadoes and all sort of things all the time. But we can bring our family to our facility as well, if we need to. THey don't care HOW you come in, as long as you DO come in.
ANd, to answer questions, locking those doors IS against the law. Its not ONLY considered wrongful imprisonment, its also a heafty fire hazard in cases of emergencies. Add to that that you were THREATENED, which is a big no-no under the law as well, and your employer could have QUITE a heafty law suite between the local and state law emforcements, the employees, and the state health programs.