This is my second attempt at writing this blog entry. The first attempt was OK. It was full of newspaper quotes from the past year. But it didn't capture the feelings I am experiencing.
You all already know the facts.
In January, management announced that the 15 LPNs of Backus Hospital would be eliminated by the end of the year. They were promised that management would do everything it could to find them other jobs in the hospital. Since then, some of them have found their own new jobs.
On September 30, the 10 LPNs still at Backus were called into meetings and, one by one, they were walked out.
They were not allowed to return to the floor to say goodbye to their coworkers, there was no retirement tea, they were not even allowed to retrieve their own belongings from their lockers.
After up to 40 years of dedicated service they were, as on newspaper heading stated, "put on the shelf".
Nursing is not a job, it is a way of life. Being a nurse does not end at the door, we carry it with us to the market and the ball field. When someone needs us, we are there. Our patients are not "customers", they are as our children, our siblings, our parents and grandparents.
Some people don't get this.
That is the problem.
Kathy Claussen RN sent an open letter to the New London Day and it really captures what we are feeling.
To my friends and colleagues at Backus Hospital, I'm sorry we didn't get to say goodbye. When I came to work you were gone. I can only imagine how you feel. I feel sad, angry, embarrassed, helpless.
I appreciated working beside you all these years. The dedication, compassion, loyalty, competence and professionalism you exhibited is unsurpassed in my eyes.
I will miss you all. I already do. You all deserve the best in your next endeavors
To all the LPNs of Backus, past and present, God bless your for your dedicated service to the hospital and your patients know that we love you, we respect you, and that no decision can erase what you have done and what you have meant to all of us.
God speed, your are our colleagues and you are in our hearts.
You all already know the facts.
In January, management announced that the 15 LPNs of Backus Hospital would be eliminated by the end of the year. They were promised that management would do everything it could to find them other jobs in the hospital. Since then, some of them have found their own new jobs.
On September 30, the 10 LPNs still at Backus were called into meetings and, one by one, they were walked out.
They were not allowed to return to the floor to say goodbye to their coworkers, there was no retirement tea, they were not even allowed to retrieve their own belongings from their lockers.
After up to 40 years of dedicated service they were, as on newspaper heading stated, "put on the shelf".
Nursing is not a job, it is a way of life. Being a nurse does not end at the door, we carry it with us to the market and the ball field. When someone needs us, we are there. Our patients are not "customers", they are as our children, our siblings, our parents and grandparents.
Some people don't get this.
That is the problem.
Kathy Claussen RN sent an open letter to the New London Day and it really captures what we are feeling.
To my friends and colleagues at Backus Hospital, I'm sorry we didn't get to say goodbye. When I came to work you were gone. I can only imagine how you feel. I feel sad, angry, embarrassed, helpless.
I appreciated working beside you all these years. The dedication, compassion, loyalty, competence and professionalism you exhibited is unsurpassed in my eyes.
I will miss you all. I already do. You all deserve the best in your next endeavors
To all the LPNs of Backus, past and present, God bless your for your dedicated service to the hospital and your patients know that we love you, we respect you, and that no decision can erase what you have done and what you have meant to all of us.
God speed, your are our colleagues and you are in our hearts.
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