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Saturday, October 18, 2014

Dear Mr/Mrs John/Jane Q. Public: don't bite the hand that feeds you

There is starting to be a backlash against the nurse who took a flight to Cleveland and now a lab tech who went on a cruise.  People are starting to turn on them, exclaiming, "how could they travel knowing they took care of the patient!"  They are so SELFISH, so STUPID.  Lacking in COMMON SENSE.

It is obvious that the CDC did not tell these people they couldn't travel.  They were not concerned enough about them to monitor them themselves. They said they could "self monitor".  Even though these people had direct contact with the patient.  So they must have figured, I'm OK I can take my temp anywhere I go. So they went. Now they are being vilified. Just like the first nurse was portrayed as essentially "messing up" the isolation procedures until more information came out.

First of all, NO healthcare worker is SELFISH especially when they are willing to take care of an ebola patient at all.  They are LITERALLY taking their lives in their hands for the sake of caring for someone else. If you aren't a nurse would you volunteer to clean up the poop and vomit of an ebola patient?

Secondly they are not STUPID.  You can't be stupid and be a nurse.  They were following what they were told by "experts".  Their COMMON SENSE told them they should listen to the "experts".

This kind of thing pisses me off royally.  That people have the nerve to say these kind of things about these nurses or other health care workers. Nurses who risked their lives for the patient and are now very ill with ebola. I would suggest that public start thinking about how they are talking about nurses or healthcare workers in this situation. WE are the ones who take care of you when you get ebola.  When we are blamed, we may just say FUCK YOU. You take care of them. You are biting the hand that feeds you.

3 comments:

Martha said...

Amen! It bugs me to know end to hear the general public criticize the nurse or other health care provider and yet in the next breath, sing our praises because there is no way they could handle the tasks we face on a daily basis.

My job as a school nurse means I am very unlikely to face the health risks that my colleagues in nursing face. My worry is for my colleagues in health care: That they receive the tools and training they need to manage not just ebola, but influenza, MERS, and whatever other horrible things cross their path on a potentially daily basis.

Keep preaching it on your blog! Your words sum up so much of what the real issues are out there!

Mark p.s.2 said...

I do not blame the nurse who took that plane ride. She was trying to live her life, planning her wedding I think it was for.

I do not think it was selfish, I gave the example of two scientists who were arrogant about their skill level.

I look at it as just the odds combined with humans can not be perfect. After 100,000 successful protective gowns put on and off, one is bound to go wrong. Then you have to wait 21 days, every time.

I just saw some Government official on CBS news, so arrogant, arrogant about how stupid the virus is compared to humans, so humans MUST win!

They are going to run out of nurses.

Anonymous said...

Just because you have a job that serves the public does not mean you are not capable of being selfish. That nurse had her worries about traveling. She knew she was sick with SOMETHING. Hmmm what COULD it be? So, yes, she SELFISHLY decided to go wedding dress shopping. If she only had the flu, she shouldn't have traveled. To place blame in this situation is a waste of time, but she definitely demonstrated a severe lack of ethics. Nurses can't be selfish...that's hilarious. My mother was a nurse for 40 years. She's a selfish piece of work. Nurses are people, not saints. That's a mighty fine looking high horse you rode in on.