Merry Christmas and a big thank you to all my healthcare friends. Your strength and dedication over the past 2 years has been remarkable. I know you are often at the end of your ropes. Many have decided to retire, move away from the bedside, go to travel agencies, because we all reach our limits.
I get it.
I work every week or two as a volunteer vaccinator but I know I couldn’t handle the grind of 16 hour shifts, often mandated at the last minute, usually with insufficient staffing. All made worse by healthcare corporations that often put profit over patients and staff.
You’ve been called heroes at the same time you are yelled at and physically attacked.
I get that some people have concerns about vaccinations. I urge them to discuss those concerns with their doctor or other trusted healthcare professional or their clergy.
I do not get those who refuse vacination, masking, or testing just because it is “their right.”
“Their right” in contributing to Healthcare Professionals burnout.
I don’t dispute that it is their right to not vaccinate, not wear a mask, refuse to get tested.
What I’m saying is that those actions bring consequences, including the consequence of adding to Healthcare Worker burnout.
Every “right” comes with a corresponding “responsibility.”
Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Some of us believe he was God, who decided to be born a man. His life was an example of how to live in service of others, something Healthcare Professionals exemplify. He chose to be born poor, homeless, to an unwed mother and a step father. He hung out with fishermen, tax collectors and prostitutes. He taught love and acceptance.
He would have loved todays nurses and other healthcare professionals.
He would have done all he could to help them.
Merry Christmas my friends and thank you.
