paraloco

Many years ago, my mom was a home health nurse. She married the husband of a cancer patient she had been taking care of after she died. I thought it was strange at the time, but my children liked him, and he liked them. I don't think any of his family knew to complain back then. Looking back, it was bad.

I'm a paramedic, and I am against it. For one, you are enabling an administrator to exploit you. Two, you are treading in to turf where more often than not, you are not wanted. Nurses should be against it too. Don't you want to protect the value of your degree?

Dixie McCall at Rampart General Hospital from the Emergency series in the 70's

The taxes in Beaumont are high, and if you want your kids indoctrinated into the street culture, send them to the public schools. They have good Catholic schools, and at least two other Protestant schools. There is alot of old money in Beaumont, and good places to shop and eat. Houston is not far away, nor is the beach. Stay away from the neighborhoods surrounding the campus to the north, west and south.(drug activity, several half-way house facilities) Directly east is a highway, with a refinery and chemical plants on the other side, then the Neches River. The west end is nice. Most apartment complexes are section 8 . A lot of high-dollar homes are going up. Right across the river(to the east) is Vidor.Vicodin-land. Not a bad place like you may have read about. Your housing dollar will go alot further in Orange County than in Beaumont, but you'll pay substantially more to live to the north, in Lumberton(Hardin County) . To the south are three decent bedroom communities, all intermingled with refineries and chemical plants. South of those lies Port Arthur, a little smaller but demographically similar to Beaumont. I have been a paramedic in the area for 18 years, 13 of them for the city of Beaumont. I don't live there. Gas is less than some other places. The heat & humidity are oppressive. For you culture- artsy-types there are museums, 2 performing arts theaters, a symphony, 2 ballet companies. There is a large entertainment complex to the west of town, with a large amphitheater, a coliseum where they play arena football and ice hockey, and a whole bunch of softball fields where teams from all over the nation come every year for a huge tournament. There are two hospitals, Memorial Hermann Baptist, and St. Elizabeth, both understaffed (at least in the E.D., where you will frequently find ambulance cots lining the hallways). It just depends what you are looking for. I don't know much about the nursing program. I am going to go there to get my BSN after I go through a paramedic to RN program at Lamar-Port Arthur. I can't imagine why they would not transfer your credit from UT. Lamar is hardly Harvard. Though they have built alot of new gated on-campus apartments(almost all the housing is either new, or re-modeled), alot of its students are commuters. Those who went off to the big-name schools, partied too much, and limped on home to live with mommy & daddy again. Or adults, looking to better themselves. They gave up on football years ago, still have basketball, and a sometimes-impressive baseball team.

I was searching specifically for a nursing listserv, to compare your issues to those of the paramedics. I find that many of the complaints/concerns about your jobs are the same as ours. I also found that the grammar and spelling here are no better than ours. I will soon be entering a nursing program at my local community college. This site gives me some insights into your world. I rarely see anything beyond the E.D.

My mother was a home health nurse, told me funny story. I hope I'm not leaving anything out. She was caring for an elderly man, post-cva. He had a poor memory also. The first day she was in his home and he asked for his smoking materials, my mother informed him " Mr. ----, you haven't smoked in years." I rolled when she imitated the puzzled look on his face when he replied, "I haven't?" But yes, he did, and the nurse my mother relieved didn't tell her that.

I'm getting prereq's outta the way for a medic to rn program. I ran a call this morning that made me doubt my decision a little. An elderly gentleman fell in his home, was almost completely covered with tarry black stool. He was as jaundiced as a yellow crayon. Anyway, we felt we had to clean him up some before transport. I can't imagine having to do that with any frequency. Then it occured to me. Techs do most of that kind of work in the hospitals in my area, female techs at that, whatever the patient's gender. I guess that is a plus to being a male in nursing. *wearing my asbestos thong panties in anticipation of flames*

Will they admit men?

I'll occasionally see a high-powered specialist in er, with his very attractive nurse in tow. I mean a b*tt ugly drooling nerd cardiologist with a super-model looking nurse, wearing very nice clothes with an immaculate lab coat. I've never seen a male, or an unattracive female with a specialist.

I would think it would be dependent on circumstances. For example, a young person commits a non-violent crime. Serves their time, probation, whatever. Never offends again. Goes to school to improve non-gender-specific self. Sure, give them a chance, or else we are saying that nobody is redeemable. Might as well give them a choice of being shot or being a ditch-digger/fast food worker forever. I saw in the news where there was a controversy about a convicted kidnapper becoming a doctor. He participated in a kidnapping where the victim was buried alive (found alive later) . This was back in the 70's, I think. He served all of his time. Then put himself through school. I don't have a problem with it, because he has so much to lose if he re-offends. This way, he's high-profile, pays taxes, supports the economy, etc..... I really wouldn't care if the 40-something year old RN caring for one of my family got busted for a joint when they were 18 years old.

I have respect for LTC nurses, I have an idea what their jobs are like. Most encounters (few now) are pleasant, LTC nurses are people too. The problem I had when I frequented LTC facilities was not with the rudeness or politeness of the staff. The problem was that we would recieve a call as shortness of breath, but find that the patient was cold, with dependent lividity. WTF?!! That was a frequent scenario. Or get called to a code, and find them doing compressions on a soft bed, with a simple face mask not attached to ANY O2 source (as if that would have made a difference) and NO ventilations. Or (not the LTC facility's fault, but still annoying), getting the call for abdominal pain from a private EMS, to arrive and find that its really a g-tube replacement transfer. They would rather tie up a 911 med unit than let one of their competitors get a foot in the door at 'their' facility, cuz who knows how much candy, doughnuts, pens, coffee cups, (and yes, 'love') they hadda spread around to get the facility's business. Don't get me started on private EMS. Once again, LTC nurses are people, worthy of respect.

I have several reasons, all have varying degrees of importance. I have a caring attitude toward others most of the time, and even when I don't, I'm good at faking it. I have the aptitude and the skills to do the job well, and have proven myself under pressure for many years. I need the money, which is one heck of a lot more than what I make now in EMS, with(according to a friend of mine who is a medic, then became a flight and ICU nurse) about 1/8 the responsibility. I'm tired of a soul-crushing work load, with the knowledge that one unfortunate injury could end my livelihood, with not much more than "sorry" from my employer. I'm tired of sleep deprivation, and can't imagine another 20 years at the pace I've been keeping. I have 3 young teenagers, one now driving, and 2 more within 2 years, all three in college within 5 years.

I'll never forget the time I picked up one particular overdose patient. We woke her with narcan, she became combative enroute. After moving her to the bed in the ED, she offered to bite the charge nurse. The nurse snarled: "Bite me, and you'll be replacing your teeth!" I hadda leave to laugh! You should have seen the woman's face.

That perked me up too! If I have a combative head-injured patient, a combative patient in fulminating pulmonary edema, whatever, the only restraint necessary might be until the IV is secured, and I can sedate, then paralyze them. I don't do it just because I can, or because its 'cool' or 'b*tchin'. I had a 14 year old in status epilepticus. Even after the valium stopped the seizure, he was clenching his teeth, was choking on secretions that I couldn't get at with a Yankeur tip. I nasally intubated him, transported without incident, and he was discharged later in the day, rather than being in ICU on a vent like he would have been if I had RSI'd him.

A littman, or littman wannabe(as long as it has vinyl tubing) Latex tubing transmits too much environmental noise, such as you would find in an ambulance, or helicopter.