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| Job shift | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 30 2012, 05:44 AM (52 Views) | |
| Dewey | Jun 30 2012, 05:44 AM Post #1 |
HOLY CARP!!!
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I've mentioned before that I had been working as the Friday overnight chaplain at Affluent Suburban Flagship Hospital (ASFH), part of a large healthcare concern. I'd also been picking up a few shifts at Gritty Downtown Urban Hospital (GDUH), a smaller but very intense level one trauma center within the same corporate family. ASFH has been undergoing some staffing changes recently. The Director of Pastoral Care there was reassigned about a year ago, to have the same position, but for both GDUH and Second Affluent Suburban Hospital (SASH). This Director was the man who supervised my Clinical Pastoral Education, at the end of which he gave me an embarrassingly complimentary final evaluation. He was also largely the force behind my being picked up as a Contract Chaplain in the system, and my being used more than a number of other more highly credentialed folks. He's a real player in the system, and I'm grateful and honored that he's been a supporter over the past year. His replacement at ASFH is also very sharp, having originally come from the banking industry before entering the ministry. She's making some changes in their department, and they're good changes. But they do include using Contract Chaplains a lot less frequently. My 8-hour Friday overnight shifts were really secure into the foreseeable future, but there was increasingly less opportunity to get the total 15-20 hours I'm looking for just to be able to pay the basic bills. Fortunately for me, GDUH is short chaplains right now, due to some realignment and a retirement. Given that, the Director at GDUH and ASFH got their heads together and offered me a job shift. The bulk of my time would be working at GDUH, in a single, 20-hour shift that runs from 8pm Friday to 4pm Saturday. There would also be routine opportunities for occasional additional infill shifts at both GDUH and ASFH. While that's a long shift, and it essentially wipes out my weekends, I get my minimum nut covered in basically one shift, it will never interfere with my classes come the Fall, and with the parish work, I really didn't have weekends free anyway. So my time off shifts into the weekdays. And, I'm pretty much guaranteed more hours (I'd been averaging 15 hours per week in the past). I started the new gig last night, so I'm basically halfway through the first shift as I type this. One nice thing about this place is that they actually have a designated sleeping room, with an honest-to-God bed, and a nice shower facility, reserved for the on-call chaplain - much better than just flopping on the futon in the corner of the conference room, like at ASFH. I did actually get to use the bed, at least a little bit, last night. But not very much. Last night, up till about 8 this morning, I think there were 23 or 24 traumas to come through here. Half of them were Trauma 1's, which is mandatory for the chaplain to be at; the trauma 2's are optional, but I think I got to three or four of them or so, typically just by association, due to a trauma 1 being taken care of just a few feet away. This compares with maybe two or three trauma 1's on the typical 8-hour Friday overnight at ASFH. It was busy enough just showing up, getting the patient data, and getting them logged in at the security desk for visitors. Thank goodness that, oddly, none of them had any family to attend to. There were several people injured by falling trees, wind-shattered windows, and wind-propelled objects hitting them; in addition to a few gunshot wounds, three stabbings (one self-inflicted, to make a statement), a suicide attempt, a couple motor vehicle accidents, a smoke inhalation and other miscellaneous mayhem. Oy. There were also a few routine patient visits last night, along with some family craziness and drama, and I just pulled a list of several other patients who want a visit today. Oddly - and I hope I'm not jinxing myself - there were no deaths overnight (typically, ASFH would have had two or three overnighters). It's a different atmosphere here versus the other facility. The staff at both are extremely personable and friendly, and the patients have commented about that to me at both places. I've enjoyed that welcoming attitude too, as a n00b myself. Ah well, enough of this for now. They just called another trauma I - time to head back down the hall... |
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11:51 PM Jun 18