• Nurse’s assignment taxing
• Telephone company blues
• The end result
• Let’s talk rubbish
Nurse’s assignment taxing
Strange how life is able to tap you on the shoulder, reminding you of experience and necessity.
In August of 2001 I was filling a gap for a few weeks and was sent to Wilcox Hospital as an agency nurse for a week or so. I anticipated the assignment because I had spent almost a year on that beautiful island. The position in reality was pretty much a nightmare. I was assigned to a long term/acute unit on the night shift. I believed I was given one night as an orientation and then left with probably between 25 to 30 patients. In fact it could have been upward of that, however I do not recall the exact census. I had two nurses aides with me, basically just me responsible for an entire unit; unfamiliar and raw to the Wilcox Hospital population and staff. My supervising nurse was on the unit below me, grateful that someone was finally there as she had been covering both units alone for some time. The task was pretty much overwhelming. There were patients on a controlled analgesic pump, PIC lines, blouses of narcotics, recovering addicts, hip replacements along with all the general nursing duties. One nurse for all of that. It was a relief to leave the assignment.
Now five years later Juliet Begley asked me to write this. The situation was and is serious. Patients’ safety was jepordized by the hazardous nurse/patient ratio, the Wilcox nurses are on strike rightfully and for a just cause. This is the age of Jaico; strict regulations that must be adhered to by administrative and licensees alike.
Nurses are usually caring people who often go the extra step for patient care. They feel demoralized when they cannot take the time to do this, they feel demoralized when not understood and supported by not only the administration that has hired them but sometimes the public as well and they jeapordize their own license should a situation occur and not get handled correctly due to lack of time or lack of proximity. Who gets blamed if Mr. Jones falls and recieves injury while the nurse is on the opposite side of the unit attending to Mr. Smith’s IV and complaints of pain?
True Story, yes. Support the Wilcox nurses. Listen and respect their requests and needs. The strike needs to be settled. My experience was a brief insight. They walk that walk daily.
I am newly involved with the HNA, have just met Juliet, and this was the first public issue and it was of my experience. Yes, life can tap you on the shoulder.
Telephone company blues
I echo Andrew Pendleton’s July 31 description of Hawaiian Telcom as “inept.” I would even add such descriptions as “uncaring” and “callous.”
As for his question of “Now what do we do?” I urge everyone who has experienced problems to go to http://hawaii.gov/puc to learn how to file an official complaint with the PUC (Public Utilities Commission).
As stated so well by Mr. Pendleton, the behavior of Hawaiian Telcom “… has been a recurring total disaster….”
This is true of their Internet services, as well as telephone services.
Dealing with “customer service” is a nightmare. We’re at their mercy. Despite their claims to be a Hawai‘i company, the only people we can ever reach are located on the Mainland. In today’s busy world, they think nothing of putting customers on hold for 45 minutes, an hour, even longer. Then, all problems are blamed on Verizon, the previous owner, and the “transition” which they, as a large company, should have handled smoothly. The truth is that they are only interested in the corporate bottom line, rather than in correcting any problems encountered by customers.
The problem with Mr. Pendleton’s suggestion about canceling service is that, for all intents and purposes, Hawaiian Telcom has a monopoly on land-line phone service. More and more people are going to cell phone-only usage, but some of us still like to have an old-fashioned land line at home.
In Hawaiian Telcom, we see yet another example of the disastrous results brought about when large corporations “flip” certain companies for a quick profit. In just the last five or six years, our “local” phone company has changed hands several times. A good parlor game is to see who can list all the previous names of “our” Kaua‘i telephone company.
Of course, another reason for the disaster we now have is that Hawaiian Telcom is owned by the Carlyle Group — not known for doing good things in this world.
The end result
I just read the article on the proposed bike path and had an interesting thought. I haven’t read anything regarding this issue. Now I assume that people who will be walking their pets will bring along something to pick up after them if they “went” on the path. I have nothing against horses at all. But is it realistic to assume that a horse rider is willing to stop, dismount and pick up all that horse poo. Then what are you going to do with it? Is the county going to provide suitable containers for that type of waste? Yeah, I know, the proposal is an equestrian trail alongside the bike path. But still the sanitation and health issues need to be addressed for both dog, cat or horse owners. I hope not to ruffle any feathers. Like I said, just an interesting thought.
Let’s talk rubbish
All of us keep complaining about the garbage situation.
Well number one, we must learn to wash dishes, cups etc. … that alone will do a lot to help the paper waste, especially when it’s scattered all over streets, roads, yards, beachside and countryside areas.
Please, these people do not want garbage in their premises, attracting all sorts of bugs, rodents and sickness.
