January

With Papa's death anniversary coming up & Vinh's right around the corner, and despite the fact that my birthday is this month, I can't help but feel sadness at this time every year. Two great people were taken from this world almost exactly a year apart. Papa lived his life to the fullest, yet suffered the last 5 years of his life; while Vinh at such a young age was drastically taken from us without any warning. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, one can never prepare and be ready for the true heartbreak reality of death until it happens to someone close to you.

For the past 7 months, I have learned the ins and outs of staffing in healthcare. It's brutal and cutthroat. We work with a lot of hospice companies around town and every time we are given a case, my thoughts are always for the family that is going through such a trying time. Death is a part of life, and learning how to cope with it is the challenge to overcome. It breaks my heart when dealing with some of these hospice companies who are not so compassionate with the patients and their families. I just finished begging and pleading one of my nurses to pick up a case that is over an hour drive from her because the company failed to do their part in communicating to us about having enough coverage for the case. If it wasn't my persistence and a little prayer, the dying patient and her family would have been left with an overwhelming situation that they are not prepared to deal with on their own.

I did the best I could trying to cover the case as far as I can, but I can't say the same for the hospice company. It felt almost as if they did not care, it didn't even feel like they even tried. The on call nurse even told me that if we can't find anyone, the case "will just have to end at 8a." WHAT?! I hate being on call too, but I keep trying and trying until there is truly nothing left. Eventually, the psycho calling pays off. Don't get me wrong, not all companies are like this one. In fact, my favorite one would NEVER miss coverage for any case. It just sucks having to deal with these situations.