I count you twice

I'll be honest, sometimes coming from a large family can be difficult. This week we lost my mother in law to cancer. It hurts when bad things happen to those we love. Then, at the end of the week, we celebrated my family reunion in California as we did 4 years ago, and 2 years ago in Rhode Island. We are social animals, it's part of our species,we form bonds. These are the people we share the details of our lives with, the good and the bad. We lean on each other for support. We may disagree amongst ourselves, but we defend against attacks from the outside. Family comes in another form, we call them friends. Here again, I am truly blessed. Among my family of friends are my coworkers. When we started meeting with others from throughout the hospital, we started caring about them. We've been through a lot together, and we know there are struggles and victories ahead of us. As with any family it comes with both good times and bad but most importantly, it brings support. Like any family we don't always agree, but let no one attack us from outside, for we will always stand together as brothers and sisters. There is an old Irish saying, "when I count my blessings, I count you twice". To my large family of blood relatives and friends, thank you for being there. I truly count you twice.

You can't make this stuff up

King Solomon wrote it, Pete Segar made it a song, and in 1965 the Byrds recorded it as a number one hit.
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."

Let's laugh a bit.

A 33 year old woman comes into the ER complaining of painful hole to the bottom of her foot.
"How long has it been bothering you?"
"2 years"
I look at the bottom of the foot,
There's a wart.

A women is held overnight in the ER because of alcohol intoxication. In the morning she explains what happened.
"The voices in my head told me to drink"
Then she adds, "they sounded familiar, I think they might have been me"

Nurse, "welcome to triage. Could I have your social security number? "
Patient, "047-52-___"
???????????????????????

Nurse, "Sir, what's your level of pain?"
Patient, "You mean now?"
(As opposed to when????????)

Nurse, "on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"
Patient, "12"
Nurse, "no, if 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain you've ever had in your life, what's your level of pain?"
"12"
Nurse, "no, I mean if 10 is the worst pain you've ever experienced in your life, including right now, what's your level?"
"12"
Nurse, "just so that I understand. Your telling me that the pain you have right now is more than you've ever experienced, and that it's worse than the pain you have now?"
"Yes"

You can't make this stuff up.

There is no cancer in heaven

When someone we care about is sick, life stands still. The issues that occupy our daily lives seem less important. Even those things we are passionate about are seen in a new light. It's human nature. It's not that the importance of our daily issues has changed, only our perspective. When the Boston Celtics are in the playoffs I rise and fall with each trip up the court. The last thing I did with my brother in law, Ira, before he died of cancer, was to watch the Celtics in a playoff game, both of us passionate about the outcome. Seems a little silly now. The Celtics won the championship a few weeks later and Ira had the best seat, in heaven. My mother in law, Gloria, is in hospice, it's lymphoma. So typical of her, she is accepting of her situation. When she was diagnosed she told my wife that she would place it in God's hands. In reality, she has lived her life this way. Life's tragedies remind me of what is important, family, friends, time. Silly as it might have been, watching the Celtics with Ira was the perfect thing to do. We shared our time and our love, for the Celtics and each other. Maybe in the grand plan our daily passions don't matter, or maybe, they're all that matter. We love you memere. There is no cancer in heaven.

Contract negotiations begin

On August 3, the Registered Nurses of Backus Hospital stood up, we stood together, and we stood proud. We accepted responsibility for the welfare of our patients, our hospital, our families, and our community. We sat at the table with management as equals. Forty eight nurses sat across from Mary Bylone, Theresa Buss, Ellen Crowe, Justin Sleeper, Becky Durham and the management’s attorney from JacksonLewis Tom Gibbons. We presented and explained our proposed contact. Management will now look it over and we will meet again on August 29 to negotiate. "Negotiate" is the key word. We have seen what happens in Washington when one side or the other refuses to negotiate. We are committed to making Backus Hospital a place we are proud of. Whenever possible we will work with management. We will negotiate, we will compromise, but we will never abandon our core belief, that RN participation in decisions is critical to good patient care. The negotiations are off to a good start. There will be disagreements ahead, but as long as both sides focus on what is best for the patients, we will agree on a contact that benefits all. We had a good turnout of members, but we need more. The strength of our local and our contract will be directly tied to the level of involvement of our membership. Remember, YOU ARE THE UNION!

Thank You

May 11 was a historic day for Backus RNs, we voted to join together and speak with one voice.  August 3 will be an equally historic day.  The Backus Federation of Nurses will sit with management and negotiate a contract to cover our wages, benefits, and working conditions.  I know this contract will lead to a stabilization of our work force and a better hospital for our patients and for us.  We have come a long way in the past year, from coffee house meetings to meeting across a table.  It seems to me like  a good time to reflect and give thanks.

I'd like to say thank you to the Backus security union for leading the way, it  took real courage.

Thank you to the organizers, field representatives, and whole staff of AFT CT for the expert advice and to our union leadership at AFT CT for having faith in us.
Thank you to the other AFT locals for the help, encouragement, support, and words of advice.  Special thanks to our brothers and sisters in the L+M locals.
Thank you also to the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.  AFT believed in us enough to send one of their top organizers.  When I was in Washington recently I got to see how what happens in our national affiliates effects us and how we in the locals effect them.

A big thank you to all who worked on the organizing campaign and the members of the Bargaining Committee.  Your tireless hours of work are commendable, a tribute to the care you feel for your coworkers.
Thank you to all our members.  You put your faith in the organizing nurses and the committee members.  You honored all of us by doing so.
Thank you to my Higher Power for leading us on this amazing journey and placing the people to guide us along the way.

A special thank you to our families.  The greatest gift we can give one another is the gift of time.  Thank you to our families for giving us that gift so we could pursue something they know is so important.
It's good to reflect on where we've been.  It helps us remember where we were heading when we started.  We start another chapter in our local's history this week, we have clear goals and we are united in our effort.  That's all we need.