The last day of summer school was this past week. The summer program is 6 weeks long. I remember for many years that I worked it; it was nice, almost fun. The vibe was light hearted but serious, we are still at school. I recall everyone pretty much getting along. We all signed up to work so in my opinion, the majority of us wanted to work. We are paid additional funds to work those six weeks so yes the money is a great incentive.
This summer however…the vibe was off. Not pleasant. By the end of week 2 I seriously wondered wth did I sign up for? I ran into one of my favorite OT’s and we both exclaimed “OMG, what is going on? Remember when summer was fun?” I felt so relieved that it wasn’t “me” and I know they felt the same.
As DOE nurses it’s part of Meg and my job to request nursing coverage for field trips from the office of school health. If there are a student/s attending the trip and they have nursing/medication orders on file; a nurse must attend the trip to administer medications. As a parent of a special needs child who greatly benefited from these trips and outings back in the day, I think it is awesome for our students to be out and about. These students are amazing. However, in my professional and educated opinion safety is the highest priority when planning a field trip. When a medically fragile student is attending school, it is a controlled environment. The staff have their roles and perform them well. The nurse who cares for that student knows the student well. One cannot replicate such in a dark movie theater.
A nurse who is covering a trip should not be responsible for 16 students with medical orders. Then, be berated and criticized when they speak up and express concern over the safety of this outing. “Are you refusing the assignment?” No nurse ever, ever wants to be accused of refusing an assignment.
When I worked in the hospital, our only option of speaking out about an unsafe assignment was to work the shift and file a protest with the union that the assignment was unsafe. No I never felt any kind of protection going that route but it was all we could do.
This summer I know God was present when large trips were cancelled. The Canadian wildfires which negatively affected our air quality necessitated all trips to be cancelled. I was largely vocal that a planned trip was unsafe for one nurse to cover. Another nurse was permitted to attend that trip but gosh dang it, the air quality sucked. Trip cancelled! Don’t tell me that God doesn’t watch over our special needs people.
Another large trip was cancelled because the nurse who originally contracted to cover was a “no show, no call” 📞 and no other RN would take the assignment. Coincidence? I think not.
Things did not settle down until well into week 3. By then we were all counting down the days left to work. I never count down days, I figure time will simply pass and we just move on. Ha! This summer I counted down days.
It’s funny though, I truly adore many of my co workers and my work wife nurse, Meg. By the end of the last day we were hugging and wishing all a great rest of the summer. Thanking each other. Asking about plans for the time off. Not many mentioned “see you in September.” And that was fine.
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 