Technology

Technology is everywhere!  Without doubt, there is good in it, but there are dangers also.
In medicine we have a saying, "Treat the patient, not the monitor" It means to treat what you see because technology can fool you.
Have you seen people sitting together for lunch, both on smart phones texting away but not talking?  Now, maybe there's something important going on that they need to deal with right away, but maybe not. 
I've had people sitting in the triage chair text their friends to tell them where they are instead of answering my questions.

I speak from personal experience. You see, I can be a bit of a geek at times and I'm as guilty as anyone, just ask my wife.  We have been at lunch and I have been the one on the smart phone and she's let me know about it.

She's right.

It's more than just rude.  There are only so many hours in a day, so many days in a life.  I think it's important to examine how we spend that time.
There is a balance, I'm sure.  Nothing is all good or all bad.

I guess the question to ask myself is this:  Is technology, or anything for that matter, enhancing my life or diminishing it?

One final note, while you ponder this question in your life. 

There are certain blogs, which by their nature, only enhance your life.

Doubt and Faith

We all have doubts at times.  We start a project, unsure if we'll be successful, or start it with utmost confidence, only to have doubts part way through.
When I went back to school I knew it would be a long process because I needed to work full time and raise a family also.  I had doubts.  I almost let my doubts stop me from trying and here were many days during school that I doubted I could continue.
Often, in raising children, we doubt how well we will do and how they will turn out.
We consider a job change or moving to another part of the country, we have doubts.
I guess it's part of human nature.
I heard recently that Mother Theresa had many doubts during her lifetime.  She even doubted God.  If Mother Theresa can have doubts about God who are any of us to question our doubts.

Some would say that if our faith were strong enough we wouldn't have doubts.  I don't think that's true.  I think that faith cannot exist without doubt.
Faith is having doubts but continuing on anyway, with school, work, moving, raising children, or caring for the sickest of the sick.
Often, doubt leads us to having just enough faith to turn to a Higher Power in prayer.
A friend sent me a video from the show West Wing, where the leader of the free world is having doubts.  He even doubts if God is listening to him when he prays.
It's a good reminder that God always listens, sometimes we just don't hear the answer and sometimes we just don't like the answer we get.

The Man who lived by the river

Maybe it's just me

My phone rang at 4:22 AM on New Years Day.

My first words of the new year, "what the hell".

I figured it was work, but then I thought, what if it's not. I always worry about family when I get night time calls. I stumbled to the phone in the next room, trying to clear the sleep from my eyes.
"William W Backus" on the caller ID.
The phone had tripped to voice mail by the time I got to it. The message was asking if I could come in early, before my scheduled 7:00 AM start. I collapsed back into bed, my thoughts on how I would be getting up in 30 minutes anyway.
"What the hell", this time silently.
I returned to the phone, called in and told them I would be there as soon as possible.

It's what we do. It's the nature of the business, we can get busy at the drop of a dime. We deal with it. We help our coworkers out.
When the crap its the fan, you know who to call.

It was very busy when I got there. I transported someone to CCU and a few people who had drank too much the night before got rides home and things settled down.

The next day, Monday, the 2nd, was crazy busy. Most of the primary doctor offices were closed. At one point we had every stretcher, including hallways, full and still had 20 in the waiting room. We saw 219 patients before the day was done.

Two things both days had in common, they were "holidays" for supervisory staff and we handled it.

Which brings me to a point.
If you want something done right, don't do it yourself, ask the people who actually DO the job.
I believe our team could handle anything thrown our way and it makes me crazy when someone who doesn't do my job tells me HOW to do my job.

Seems to me that if I thought I had a good idea, and it involved the cooperation of other people to work, I would want to involve the people who do the work from the beginning.

But, maybe that's just me.

Happy New Year

The end of one year and the beginning of another is a natural time to pause and reflect.  That's good.  Too often we are so caught up with life on a moment to moment basis that we fail to take the time to reflect.
Last year was a full one for me.  I started the  year out meeting and getting to know my fellow Backus nurses in a way I had never known them before.  I also meet and became friends with a wonderful group of people from AFT, people who's job is more than a job, like nursing, it is a calling.
In May this all culminated in a successful election and the forming of our local.  It also started a new phase of the work, a long process of preparation and negotiation which still continues.
In March, with Ole's guidance, I started this blog as a way to release some of my bottled up feelings. As the year ends I am closing in on 100 entries.
 That's a lot of bottled up feelings.
In June I testified before the NLRB in Washington about abuses we suffered during our campaign to assert our constitutional rights to organize and collectively bargain.  I also spoke at the AFL-CIO.
In August, Michelle and I travelled to California for a reunion with my cousins.


It was a year of loss too.
Here at home our family dog, Dylan, passed away. It surprised me how much that hurt.
My mother in law lost her battle to cancer, my brother in law lost his mom, and my Uncle John just before Christmas.  They are all missed, but they are not forgotten.

What will the new year bring? Only God knows. We can only imagine and hope.
I hope negotiations with administration will continue and we will sign a contract fair to both sides and things will settle down so Backus can become the hospital it should be. I hope administration comes to understand bedside nurses speak for the patient and it is not in conflict with our mission but it IS our mission. I hope they see our will to work in cooperation to improve Backus.

I do see some encouraging signs.
 
I think the addition of Karen Knight to the Human Resources department is promising. Although it is still early in our relationship, I have hope we can work with both her and Theresa Buss. Though undoubtedly we will not see eye to eye at times, I think there can be a partnership based on mutual respect. I think we all welcome her to Backus.

In the fall we will have an important election.  I hope for high voter turnout.  I encourage all to register, consider the candidates, and vote.  I know at times that the choices seem poor and it can be frustrating, but I have seen this year how important it is.  As just one example, the NLRB makeup changes by who is in the white house, a pro-worker president means a pro-worker board and greater rights for working men and women.
 
 For myself, I will continue to write as long as the words keep coming to my fingers.  I will continue to fight for and defend the rights of nurses at Backus and workers elsewhere in whatever capacity I am needed and wanted.
I would like to lose some pounds and get back to a little running but it seams every year that becomes harder. Time with Michelle and my sons and grandchildren is on my list of hopes.
Simple things.


I have seen enough New Years come and go to know that what I think will happen and what will happen this year will vary greatly. The only thing we can do is trust that God will see us through whatever comes our way.


That is really all we need.


Happy New Year

Let it be

The first funeral that I remember was while I was still quite young.  I think it was my cousin Barry's.  He was older than me and he passed just after high school. 

I remember one of my uncles joking with the young kids, I think it was Paul, but it could have been Jim or Matt.  The point is, I remember seeing the sadness and also the laughter. 
In my family we love each other intensely, not just our immediate family, but our extended family as well, all the aunts, uncles, cousins.  We cry when they leave us but we celebrate as well.  We celebrate their life and we celebrate that they have gone on to what we believe is not an end to life, but a change, an eternal life with their maker and an opportunity to be together again with all those relatives that have gone before them.

At my Uncle John's funeral this week, his grandson Jake, sang a song for us.  It was the Beatles "Let it be".  What a perfect song and what a good job he did, a gift for his grandpa and for all of us. 
Thank you Jake.

When the angel came to Mary and told her she would bear a son, her response was simple,  “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.'

The song speaks of giving ourselves to our Higher Power, especially "in my hour of darkness" because "there is still a light that shines on me."

I believe in these "words of wisdom", and yet I struggle.  I struggle in knowing when I am supposed to act and when I am supposed to accept.  When is it time to fight with every God given once of strength against what I see as being unjust in this world and when is it time to leave it all in my Higher Power's hands?
Wiser people than I have pondered this question. 

So I listened to Mary's words once more.

"Let it be done to me according to your word."

Mary didn't accept things how they were, she accepted God's role for her, a role that was far from passive.
.
It's not so much accepting things as they are as it is accepting that God wants us to work for how things can be.
I like the way Cesar Chavez put it:
"There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day.  And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance."

Laughter and tears, fighting on and letting go.

Let It Be by the Beatles