CNA

Certified Nursing Assistants.
This should be a noble profession, the girls really do like thier patients.
No, I will not call them clients. Patients are in need of care, clients are money makers for business. At least money is made for someone else, as CNA"s are forced to work at poverty level or below.

Nurses can no longer be equated with patient care. One freind dropped nursing school when , after two years, she hadn't even been taught to use a thermometer. In two years she only had an anatomy class, patient care wasn't even mentioned.
Nurses (RN's) can work ten years in a hospital and never enter a patients a room. They are in offices doing paper work.
LPN's are the ones doing treatments and passing meds, unless it is a floor where the liablitly is too high, then an RN is on the floor, but if the work can be passed onto a lower grade, it is.

Many RN's see patient care as a task below their station. If I only had a dollar for everytime I asked for help, only to have the RN tell me "I'm a nurse, I don't work with patients" as she trots down the hall with a big smile on her face. Leaving the patient looking at me in utter confusion.
The patient sat on the bedside commode for half an hour while I hunted down another CNA and waited for her to get a minute to help me.

One memory I have of working in a nursing facility (please note how the names always imply kind care giving in order to lure the client to their fate), involves patients being lined up along the wall opposite the nurses station. I was feeding a patient when I heard another patient trying to gert the attention of two administrators conversing in front of her.
she was asking for a tissue.
Several minutes went by and pleas became more urgent.
Glancing toward her, she was trying to wipe the snot running from her nose onto her shoulder, wiping the excess from her lips, she tried to remove the mucus from her tongue by scraping it along her shirt sleeve.

the adiministrators kept talking. A therapist and a doctor passed her and did nothing.
I left my patient, walked the three steps toward the tissue box and handed the client a tissue.
At no extra charge.
The two administrators kept talking then moved when they thought the client was too gross to stand near.

THe administrators have a private office, their own parking space and medical benefits.
CNA's don't.

My first job was in 1982. I made 3.35 an hour with the promsie of a nickel raise at the end of the year. The twit had the nerve to act like we were supposed to be enthused about this.
Finally, in the 80's there was a staffing agency called All Stat (not all state) who paid $7 an hour for day shift and $8 for weekends.
My freinds and I were ecstatic. We worked all we could for this agency, as most places paid $5 an hour at the most.

Now in 2010, CNA's still only make $8 an hour and that is the high side. One agency cut CNA pay by a dollar an hour citing the economy as the reason. Do you think administrators took a pay cut?

I was concerend when I accessed the DISCOVER computer program at the college. It lists nurse/psych assistant pay range as between $11-$17 an hoiur. I would love to know who they asked.
Medicare home health visits used to be $11 an hour back in 1990. I don't know what happened to the industry, but CNA's quit making money. The pay rate is busted down to $7-8 an hour with no consideration to experience.
I made more in 1990 than I do now.

Death of a parent

I know the drill too well. The patient lands in the hospital, recovers, something else goes wrong and he lands in the hospital again.
Dad has been in and out three times in a week and now they have him at a rehab center. Ugh! Its a nice way to say nursing home.

I always said nursing homes aren't gateway to Hell but you could see the front door from there.
but this blog isn't about nursing homes, its about death.

My dad and I were never close. It sucks, it isn't that he was abusive or drunk. He never drank, and i am sure he did his best with a daughter he had no clue how to raise. His mom was closed off and cold. The oldest of three brothers, dad had no real experience with how to deal with women.
He wasn't real affectionate, when I told him a hug a day was vital to mental health, he would respond with "maybe you'll get two tomorrow."
He never said where the source of the hugs would come from.

He was critical, real critical. I was already insecure and unsure of myself, add this to a birth defect that kept me alienated from my peers, and constant criticism was a devastation to me.
I went to work once and opened up to a co worker about him.
she said "It sounds like he's always knocking you. It's hard to like someone who's always knocking you."

I hate to sound like a whiner, but talking to him was like being on a job interview. I always called to wish him a happy birthday or father's day at times when he wasn't home so I could just leave a message. I tired to be closer, but the personalities just didn't mesh.

As he got older, and he was showing signs of dementia, we got along better.
I joked with my hubby and son about it.
We laugh, but they both know what I'm really saying.

We talked while he was in the hospital.
I am conveniently located out of state, so I can stay safely on the phone.
He told me he loves me, and he was really supportive of my family and our future endeavors.
Now I know how sick he really is.

Mom tells me he cries, he hates being helpless and feeling worthless.
I know the feeling.
I've called mom several times and we talk. He could on a few more years this way, but I hope death is merciful. He will die soon with dignity rather than be bed bound and sick. He is confused at times and he describes the lunch room at the home to be "creepy".
He sits next to people who say nothing for 45 minutes.

They have nothing to say. the train is about to make its last stop and they need to review their lives and get right with God, before its time to disembark.

I am calling mom a lot, as I want to support her.
Dad I hope will go to Heaven soon. I don't mean to sound harsh, but the reality is, mom is over 80 herself, and she can't care for him.

For me, I will treasure the last conversation we had. Dad was the loving father I always wanted.

The women who shape us

We try to remember none of us are perfect. We try to give those around us the benefit of the doubt, and we try not to shout WTF when someone says something so mind boggling that logical thought is blown.

Porsche is trying to raise a lady, a high class lady, not a tramp. The problem is her standards are a bit Victorian and it seems natural inclinations play no part in her attitudes.
I was 12 when i went to my brother's ball game. A really cute guy was near the water fountain and I just wanted a closer look, so I took a drink.

OMG
You would think I was offering blow jobs for a quarter. Porsche went nuts.
I was labeled a whore and told everyone saw me "chasing after" this boy.
By this time I wore a 34 B, it wasn't like dudes weren't gawking at my chest; yet, I never heard any of them get the verbal beat down.

Moving on to 8Th grade. I was vengeful, and I still say the sucker had it coming.
For months I was taunted at school. I went to the office crying, only to be told to ignore it or worse, "maybe they like you."
Perhaps the teaching that abuse equals like is what lands a person on Dysfunction Junction.
Well I had had enough.
I put my poison pen to paper.

Love letters, each more scorching than the last, made their way into the tormentor's locker.
Always anonymous and always read to his friends.
It was almost too easy.
He got a letter a day for a month before I finally signed it with a boy's name.
LOL

He called me crying.
The twerp even tried the guilt card. "I know a good Christian like you would never do that."
Bitch please.
Ten years later, he still refused to talk to me.

The down side was when I was caught reading one of the letters to my BFF over the phone.
YIKES
Evil genius is never appreciated in its own time.

The day I realized the paragon of virtue that is Porsche had a character flaw was during the LA riots. Rodney King was beaten by police and it was video taped.
Porsche was livid over the rioting and couldn't understand why people were giving the boys in blue a hard time. Don't they sacrifice for the good of the community.

I tried to explain "Porsche, did you see the video?"
In a perfect "Edith Bunker" tone she responded:
"Oh! I saw that...Why'd they quit hitting him."

The phone was silent. I was dumbfounded.
"I guess their arms got tired, Porsche."

I laugh at this now, but seriously, I 'm thinking scoping out a cute guy at the water fountain might be the lesser of these offenses.

Springtime resolutions

I haven't been fanatical about posting this blog.
As I about once a week on other blogs, but I wanted to start with the beginning of Lent to restart.


Spring is the most symbolic of seasons, though I love the snow, renewal is inspiration.
I have decided I am a writer asnd need to create a platform as such. In keeping with the lenten season I will give up some things.'

I surrender the notion that I have to have the perfcect figure I had at 20. I am 47 and my husband finds the extra curves appealing. enough said. the up side to being a biker, fashion isn't a biggie with these guys.

I will adopt healthy habits. walking and yoga. I would like to fit more comfortably in my leather pants, but I will not obsess over being a little heavy.

I will quit trying to tell God how to do his job, The world is not now, nor ever will be, what I think it should be.

I will create a platform that reflects my writing and submit more often (articles, not opinions)

I will be happy with who I am and with what I have.

A newbie biker, Christian and writer with a teen son and a husband who adores me. I am blessed and as such, I will use my talents to offer comfort and humor where I can.

I will always be flawed, so the pressure is off to be perfect.
so screw it, let's ride.

Book Review

Kindertransport
Jennifer Childers
Historical romance
Available from The Wild Rose Press
ISBN: 1-60154-522-3 August 2009

In the months before full scale war breaks out in Germany Erika Lehmeier is trying to find a way to help the six children she cares for escape death.
Hitler has decreed that people who have no worth to society, the ones he calls feeders, have to die to preserve the sanctity of the Aryan race. Erika knows the strengths and goodness of the children and can't bear to see them harmed. The only one she can turn to is Rickard Sankt an SS officer. Will he help her or lead them all to certain death?

Jennifer Childers tells a fascinating story of atrocities committed by people who believed in a leader who brought them to prosperity. By the time they realize what is going on they couldn't refuse to follow his demands if they wanted to live.

There are always those, like Gregor, who thrive with a license for cruelty. The writer reminds us in many ways that he and others of his ilk aren't representatives of all German society. Most readers know the history of the death camps where Jews and other unwanted adults were annihilated. This is a heart wrenching tale.

I don't think the plans to destroy a whole generation of adults and children with any kind of mental, emotional or physical defect is as widely known.
Excellent characters and dialogue throughout show the wide variation in the German citizens' reactions to what is going on around them in the world. Erika, Rickard, Father Julian, Olga and many others show the diversity and the love everyday Germans have for their country. Ms. Childers has done an exceptional job crafting this mixture of fact and fiction into a book that will captivate the reader from first page to last.

Overall rating: Sensuality rating: Very sensual

History's tough mothers

The worlds'oldest profession, err, the other oldest profession.

Motherhood.

We are the cornerstone of society, the building blocks of an empire rest on our shoulders, how we nurture the next generation makes history.This mothers day, I would like to acknowlege some of the tough mothers we might have forgotten.

Anne Boleyn:
Refusal to become Henry VIII's mistrress. Anne kept her eyes on the prize. She became Queen of England when Catherine of Aragon was evicted back to Spain. A key figure in the English Reformation, She gave birth to one of the greatest leaders in England.
Queen Elizabeth I. Sadly the birth of a dughter became her undoing when the king wanted a son. She was beheaded May 1536 for hight treason.
When her daughter became queen, Anne was verated as a marty and heroine of the English Reformation. Her sister ran off with her child and raised her so, Mary Boleyn deserves mention as a tough mom as well.

Olympus of Epirus:
Princess of Epirote, commander of her own army and Queen of Macedonia, Alexander the Great just called her mom.Angry at comments that her son was an inferior hier as he wasn't of pure Macedonian blood, she told her husband Zeus fathered her baby.
They divorced and her husband, King Philip of Macedonia, denied Alexander. At the wedding of his next wife, a toast was made blessing Philip and the legitimate heirs he will have with his new bride. Philip then offered this man the hand of his daughter (with Olympia).
He was found murdered soon after and Alexander took over his father's throne.She supported her son and they were close, afer his death Olympia reared her grandchildren as warriors, plotted against ememies and caused the deaths of usurpers.
Cruel while in control it is said she was denied burial rites after she died.

Elizabeth (Ersébeth) Bathory:
The countess of Hungary, mass murderer, occultist and mother of four.When accused of her crimes against female blood the countess outsmarted her cousins attempt at a land grab and left all her property to her children, assuring thier wealth and title after her death.
She helped fund the war against the Turks and was in line to be queen of Poland. Her son stood up for her in court. Bathory was not executed but bricked up in her room until she died four years later in 1610.

Cleopatra:
Incestuous marriage to her brother yeilded no children. Political alliances (and betrayals) bore a son to Julias Ceasar and a son as well as twins to Marc Antony.Her reign marks the reign of the Roman Era i n the Eastern Mediterranean.
She rebelled against Rome and tried to fend for the best interests of Egypt. Allied with Marc Antony they suffered a final defeat at Actuim. She killed herself.
Her beauty was not as renowned as history proclaims. in the words of Plutarch, what made Cleopatra attractive was her wit, charm and sweetenss in her tone of voice.

Coretta Scott King
After her husband's murder in 1968, the easiest course for this lady might bave been to flee to a more tolerant part of the country and never risk raising public ire again. Coretta might have been critcized for not protecting her children, instead she rose to the challenge of continuing her husbands work with the civil rights movementas as well as the womens movement.
She approached Josephine Baker,an entertainer and activist, to take over her husbands place as leader of the civil rights movemement. she declined stating her children were too young to lose a mother.
Coretta steped up to the plate herself, speaking boldly for human rights, and an end to war and poverty.she founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Center of Non Violent Social Change in Atlanta.
Any threat of violence was superceded by a desire to carve a better world for children, hers and ours.

Does motherhood bestow an occult inner strength or does the power of love transcend all forces both natural and supernatural?

Lt. Nyota Uhura

In 1966 a new show came on the air called Star Trek.
A western set in space, the show gave free thinkers food for thought, in fact, after 79 seasons it was cancelled for being "too cerebral."

As a kindergartener watching this show with my older brothers, it didn't occur to me that white people working with other races, let alone Vulcans, should be unusual in any way.
I loved Uhura.
It was a dark secret I had to keep to myself, as an upper middle class child, growing up in the 70's there were some things not accepted.

In the 70's if there was a black woman on the screen she was a nanny, whore or maid.

Enter Nichelle Nichols.

The bridge of the Enterprise was graced with a woman who was elegant, refined and highly intelligent. Every inch a lady, Uhura shattered the stereotype not only for black women but women everywhere. She did not get coffee, no one referred to her as "the little lady" and she held her own without benefit of a husband.

Her skirt got shorter with the part and Nichelle thought about quitting. She tells about being in her dressing room when Martin Luther King popped in to say hello. He told her don't quit, no matter how small the part becomes, she is a role model to black girls on a show optimistic about the future.

Thankfully, she didnt quit, but Dr. King was only half right. Lt. Uhura was not just an inspiration to black girls. To the little girl ostracized for facial paralysis, Uhura gave me an example of dignity I tried to emulate as I walked down the halls at school. Lifting my head high I wouldn't let anyone see me cry. I read and learned to ignore ugly things I heard. (ok I did backslide and get suspended for fighting once. must have been my inner Kirk)

I look forward to the prequel "Trek XI" comes out next month. In the thirty second trailer you have Uhura stripping off her shirt.
Annoyance began creeping up my spine.
There is rumor she is going to have an affair with Kirk.
I gave an exasperated sigh.

As the release date nears, I am ready for battle. I want to love the movie, but more than that, I want Uhura treated with the class and dignity she has personified for 40 years.
She is nobody's slut and I don't think she needs to shake her money maker for ratings. (Isn't that what the Andorians were for?)

I will become very angry if they sully this refined character and make her ship's trollop. I will resort to coarse language when I rip into my communications board and blast Paramount out of the water.
I hope I am over reacting to a thirty second trailer and the creators of this movie will respect Rodenberry's vision.

It is a vision wrapped snugly in my psyche. Peace, cooperation, and unity made possible through acceptance of others and acceptance of self.