Sandy Storm whom do I serve?

[echoRNC711]

Sandy storm is en-route I feel it's strength echo in the wind that cautions me vigilance. My husband ,who is a Srgt.in the NYPD , has already been called in and is expected to be on duty for a minimum 48 hrs. I am here with my children and received "that" call, the one where I am sitting here wrestling with whom do I serve?

My area of work is an off site facility but as we are on disaster status I am expected to show up .The the hospital requires me to be in at 7am prepared to stay there through Tuesday am. The hospital has no concern for my children or situation that would mean in my case they would be left here alone. I ask myself questions like "Is it abandonment to not show up? Could I be fired ? Where do I stand legally if I choose my children's safety over patient's? As I sit here contemplating I am also thinking I know I can't be the only nurse making this decision tonight.

I consider, Have I not shown up before for emergencies through my 20 years of service. I have walked through snow to my thighs to receive a 25 pt load because only myself and one other nurse felt it our duty to show up.I have arrived in a blackout, on my night off ,in 2 different colored flip flops because it was all I could find scrambling in the dark.There I was left manning the ED cardiac unit alone with 2 active chest painers and no doctor in sight. I stood in the ED on 9/11 waiting for patients while my own husband was down there and I didn't know if he was safe.

I am aware as I'm writing this I am relieving my own conscience that the truth is I have already decided that this time I am not going to show up.

For weeks after hurricane Katrina I thought of the nurse's those who both stayed and those that didn't and how they each felt as the water gradually rose up. I couldn't in my own heart arrive at a decision would I have stayed with vented patients or raced home to my family instead.

So I am inviting a discussion that when faced with an emergency is the call to serve greater or to serve family first? Personally, I am not leaving my children,my mind is made up but the consequences of the decision I am yet to find out

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

This storm is affecting almost every area in a northeast or mid atlantic state. nyc has closed public trAnsport i believe dc and philly have also. many in these cities do not own cars. can all the martyrs walk through a hurricane? doubt it. also, there is life and commitment outside of work preventing many from camping out for days prior to a shift. camping out where , if you dont have a car? i worked through A natural disaster before (nothing at all like katrina and it was traumatizing enough). I will go to work today expecting to be mandated and basically locked in there ( what they did last time). silly to assume the op can just come up with child care for possibly days and nights on end. my fear during these situations is that my hospital will become like the ones during katrina.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

I dunno Nrs. Karen.

I can remember back when i was a unit secretary 22 years ago and I almost made it to work in the worst snow storm in 30 years. I got run off the road about 1.5 miles from the hospital. They told me I had to make it in to work and to walk and no they would not help. Which I did. Not fun. The drive was hellacious and so was the walk and if I had not been young and fit no way would I have made it. And i would have been fired, but my car wouldn't have been wrecked and I wouldn't have been possibly injured.

I can see both sides. Yes, there is an obligation, but where does it end? Should we have to risk life and limb? And shouldn't the facilities also be making compromises to assist the employees to be able to work?

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

wow. op can be in 40s with toddlers!!!! or might not be biological kids. math and thinking skills are needed to plan for these things! also this rarely happens in nyc so few people have an emergency nanny they can conjure up when their husbands or emergently placed on 48hrs duty.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

For over 100 years, nurses have made storm preparation arrangements with their families so they could perform their essential function and be at work during blizzard/hurricane/tornados/coal strike/ floods. Why is today's generation shirking this aspect of our job?

What is this coal strike all about and how would it affect nursing? Curious.

[monkeybug]

For over 100 years, nurses have made storm preparation arrangements with their families so they could perform their essential function and be at work during blizzard/hurricane/tornados/coal strike/ floods. Why is today's generation shirking this aspect of our job?

Because in the past, the hospital had some small modicum of respect and care for their nurses. Now we are a warm body that can be replaced without a second thought. My first job, I worked for a faciltiy and manager that cared for me and supported me in good and bad. I would (and did) work to the point of sheer exhaustion (22 straight hours at one point when no relief could get to us) because I respected my manager and the doctors and administration. I knew if I was there, my manager would be, too. My current hospital has no respect for me as a human being. If I dropped dead in the nurses station, my manager wouldn't spare a thought for my family, she would a) be ticked off because she had to step over my body b) be super ticked off because she'd have to staff around my absence. I owe that facilty NOTHING extra. Crappy attitude, I know, but they've earned that attitude from me and every other nurse in my unit.

[monkeybug]

How old are your children? Surely if you are 20 years into nursing they are on the older side? Can you have your family care for them. As an experienced nurse and working in NYC you must know it is harder to get a job because of age discrimination and salary level as well as hospitals that have closed. I would advise caution, look at the nurses in DC that were fired for missing work during a blizzard when the roads themselves were shut done. The hospitals can be as cut throat as they want to be! Just saying!

Don't make such assumptions. I've got 15 years in and I have a 3 year old. People are delaying childbearing these days for many reasons.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

I am the DON of my facility. I live on the coast of Massachusetts. I made it into work. Several of the younger nurses were surprised to see me (I've only been there a few months and they don't know me well) and asked if I was considered an 'essential' worker. Heck yes I'm essential!

All the managers were there and we all stayed until the next shift arrived. The MDS nurses pitched a fit when the administrator said non essential people could go home. I said anyone with a license was expected to stay until we knew there was enough staff to cover the shift.

And for those of you who speak about their bosses having pizza parties?? Yikes. My managers and I make sure the staff nurses take a break and a lunch/dinner every day. Please don't lump us all in the same (sinking) boat.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

As I mentioned in one of my posts there are many reasons why one may not have reliable family to leave their children with for 24 hours or more .How dare anyone assume to know anyone's persoanl business? I work with women in their 40's who have young children,they have older parents,infirm parents,parents,siblings and/or spouses with substance abuse problems.Furthermore,my stepson was sexually molested in a sitter's care.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

And for those of you who speak about their bosses having pizza parties?? Yikes. My managers and I make sure the staff nurses take a break and a lunch/dinner every day. Please don't lump us all in the same (sinking) boat.

I would never put you in that boat-I've told you on other threads how much I respect your style of management.It's a shame there can't be more like you.You showing up will inspire your staff to attempt to do the same.I treat the cna's on my unit in the same way I wish the admin treated me,maybe if I keep making deposits in the karma bank it will come back to me..When we are short I 'll do am care,toilet residents ad lib and even make a round and make some beds.I don't call attention to it-I just go and do it.I'll take a bag with me tomorrow,I'll volunteer to stay so my co-worker can leave because she has a young child.In the past others did the same for me.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

i work tonight but i doubt it will be really bad where i am at, althought it is affecting all if ne us and mid atlantic areas. what worries me is the conditions hospitals will be in . roads, highways etc will be closed with flooding and down power lines meaning little to no supplies.

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

Karen, I see more younger nurse fighting to get to work than the older nurses. The older nurse have "paid dues" and have families. As I stated earlier I will do everything in my power to get to work. I have no problem working doubles as I've done this before. However, we have to be safe getting to work, especially when my job told us they will not provide transportation.

I don't have kids so I'm blessed that I'm more avail. however, I still get flashbacks of being stuck on the road for several hours on my way to work....

I think nurses have always complained about coming to work in hazardous conditions, nowadays we have the internet where we can vent our feelings on this topic. This is nice because we understand the downside of being an essential employee. ( Thank Goodness for AN)

[ANnot4me]

I left the US ten years ago and I only need to come to this site and read the postings here every few months to realise that I never want to work as a nurse again in the US. In regard to the topic at hand, I have worked a disaster and slept on site. I was happy to do it; however, I was given a free place to sleep and free food, but I was only paid for the hours I worked. Good experience, but I had no children and lived only a few miles from work.

Today I live in a country where occupational health and safety are taken very seriously and employers can not fire people without just cause or mandate you stay at work without paying you for every minute you are onsite. Mandating is a term I read about here all the time and it frightens me how little people know about what their state board of nursing or the law says about mandating and abandonment. Being mandated to work is a very serious demand and if your employer is chronically under-staffed, then they cannot mandate anyone to work. Furthermore, a professional nurse is expected to know herself enough to say "I am not safe to work beyond x amount of hours." As nurses we are every bit as human as our patients and we need to consider our holistic beings. We need to eat, sleep, love and be loved and care for our family every bit as much as our patients.

I work in palliative care and deal with the dying every day, I have yet to hear any dying person say, "If only I had given more to my work." I think of it this way, "If I died today would my place of employment close down?" As for the patients, in a disaster like this, only those without family or friends should need to rely totally on strangers for basic care. This is a big disaster... read about what happened during Katrina.

It just freaks me out that nurses in America live in fear that they may be fired at any moment for any reason. Is it really that bad? Sounds like a form of slavery to me... The land of the free is beholden to the irrational employer for the sake of a paycheck and health insurance?