Lutheran Hospital: is the rumor true?

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Specializes in ICU.

Evidently a friend of a friend was asked to do a 48 hour shift during the first big snow storm here in Colorado. (He's a psych nurse.) They said they'd pay him double time, but after the shift was over, they backed out of their original promise. If it IS true, it sure speaks volumes of Exempla Lutheren. And we wonder why there's a shortage. Anyone hear of this being true? I wouldn't want to tarnish a hospital's reputation so don't take this for face value unless someone has some direct experience they can post.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

I also worked as a nurse during both of those blizzards....I worked a 15 hr shift ( I usually work an 8 hr shift) with the first and didn't have much of a choice b/c I had no way to get home and my relief didn't have a way to get to get there. I actually wasn't even supposed to work that day but a couple of the other nurses who were scheduled lived in the country and had absolutely no way of even getting to the hospital. I live in town - and a volunteer with a huge 4x4 came to pick me up. I also had issues with my paycheck (long story) for that pay period but decided not to pursue it - they werent major. Things were so chaotic during that time but it wasn't entirely the hospitals fault.

And with the second blizzard, my DH and I were going to leave to go to Wyoming to see family that day ...all the roads were closed going north - needless to say we didn't make it. It was all over the news the preceding day that the blizzard was coming so he really wanted me to call in that night (I was supposed to work) so that we could leave immediately and 'beat it' and get there b/f the roads closed and the snow started. I refused b/c I didn't want to leave my coworkers shortstaffed, but he got pretty pizzed at me. I told him that maybe I would go work for the school district like he does....8-4 m-f and all those breaks they get for holidays....at that moment I realized that I was in a prime reason for not wanting to be a nurse - not worth all the trouble with our 'extremely abnormal' schedules of working night shifts, holidays, weekends, ect. Come to think of it, I've sacrificed alot of 'family time' b/c of nursing.....

I'm sorry for the nurses who worked the 24 - 48 hr shifts during these times...and it wasn't out of choice for many others I know - I was probably lucky I got to go home when I did.....I was thinking about what nursing in Arizona might be like as I had to walk 2 blocks thru 3 feet of snow b/c the streets hadn't been plowed yet and it was impossible to even drive to my house.

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Specializes in home health, neuro, palliative care.

If it is true, it says less about Exempla, and more about whomever told this nurse he would be paid double. All these agreements should be in writing, to avoid confusion if nothing else.

~Mel'

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