Clinton will walk in nurse's shoes for a day

[babylonsister]

August 07, 2007

Clinton will walk in nurse's shoes for a day

By J. Patrick Coolican <[e-mail]>
Las Vegas Sun

Sen. Hillary Clinton, whose greatest disappointment was her failure to reform the American health care system when she had the chance to in the 1990s, will work the health care issue on a slightly smaller scale this month - as a shift nurse at one of Southern Nevada's St. Rose Dominican Hospitals.

It's part of the Service Employees International Union "Walk a day in my shoes" program, which has presidential candidates pulling a union worker's shift to meet one of the criteria for winning the coveted SEIU endorsement. The national union has 1.9 million workers, politically savvy leadership and deep pockets.

The Clinton event, which promises to be a media circus, illustrates how important Nevada has become in the Democrats' nomination strategy. This is the second candidate to choose Nevada to do the "Walk a day in my shoes" event, even though SEIU membership in Nevada is small compared with states such as California and New York. (The other candidate was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who served for a day as a social worker.)

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2007/aug/07/566617169.html

[slackmaster]

1. As long as she doesn't do it after Labor Day it's fine with me

[Warpy]

2. As a practical matter, she'll just "shadow" a real nurse

and won't be allowed to touch a patient in any capacity. That means her back won't shriek at her when she lifts helpless people from bed to chair and back, she won't have to twist herself into a pretzel around equipment to restart IVs, and she'll miss doing any of the reams and reams of paperwork a shift generates. Her shift will probably be 8 hours, not the more standard 12.

My guess is that she'll be off her feet the following day, legs elevated, just from the walking she'll do.

[glowing]

3. She won't make it. I don't know how nurses do it now.

[Donnachaidh]

4. Edward's scared her

Taking a page out of his book Hill? :rofl:

[rinsd]

6. Most of the candidates have done this and it was scheduled some time ago.

http://www.walkadayinmyshoes2008.com/walkadaytour/

But nice try.

:eyes:

[Donnachaidh]

10. oh yeah - and her announcing this AFTER the debates isn't political

Nice try back atcha hun. :eyes:

[ElizabethDC]

11. It was announced a while ago

I think this is just the first time we've gotten real specifics (i.e., where she'd be doing it).

But, nice try and thanks for playing!

[rinsd]

22. Except it was announced some time before the debates.

Most of the candidates have done this so far. Obama's just went last week and this week is Hillary's turn. Edwards, Richardson and Dodd have all done their day.

[Adelante]

17. Bob Graham

I always think of how he did his "work days" his entire career. What a good guy.

[rinsd]

5. Good for Hillary and good for all the other candidates who have done this. (nt)

[quinnox]

7. this is wonderful and

a grand gesture on Hillary's part. She will no doubt get a good workout(hope she is in good shape!) from walking in a nurse's shoes for a day and gain a greater understanding of how hard some Americans have to work day after day.

[Catchawave]

8. Good for her !

It should be a requirement running for any public office.

Here's Edwards "on the job"...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seiu/sets/72157600065316195/

[trashcanistanista]

9. I hope someone calls in sick on the next shift and

she is asked to do a double!

[kcass1954]

12. Bob Graham did this for years...

One of the things I have always admired about him. This was no publicity stunt - he started it as a dare, but continued it as a matter of routine, like it was part of his job description.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Graham

Bob Graham began Workdays in 1974, teaching a semester of civics at Miami Carol City Senior High School in Miami while serving in the Florida Senate. He performed 100 Workdays in 1986 during his first successful campaign for U.S. Senate. Since then, he has completed 386 Workdays, more than a year's worth of days spent laboring side-by-side with the people he represents. His Workdays are an extension of his belief in a personal style of governing.

Graham has continued doing Workdays throughout his tenure as governor and in the United States Senate. His jobs have included service as a police officer, busboy, railroad engineer, construction worker, fisherman, garbageman, factory worker, and teacher. On No. 365, he checked in customers, handled baggage and helped serve passengers on US Airways.


Also, pictures posted here -

http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/photo_exhibits/bobgraham_intro.cfm

[sandnsea]

14. Baucus does too

Usually during the August break, if memory serves. I think it's a good idea too. They should all be required to spend 2-3 days a year working.

[onethatcares]

13. she should have to empty bedpans and

wash old guys private areas. I'm very sorry, but after reading Greg Palast and "the best democracy money can buy", I am having a very hard time gearing up to support Hilary.

[juajen]

21. Scuse me, sugah, nurses neither bathe patients nor empty bedpans.

That is so passe.

[LeftCoast]

24. This nurse does

:hi:

[meowomon]

25. Bullshit!

Nurses do whatever it takes to take care of a patients health. If that means emptying bedpans or helping a patient to bathe, then so be it. I get coffee, empty bedpans, apply soothing lotions, talk to distraught patients and families and much much more! Even nurses who are in administrative positions are charged to do this work if a patient needs it. I'll never forget my nurse supervisor Kathy L. I came on shift and she was there working the floor in her suit and high heels because they were short one nurse. Now THAT is a nurse! I do whatever it takes to help my patients. You have NO CLUE!

[Forkboy]

15. This stuff is almost getting trendy.

But it's a trend that may actually be a good one for a change.

[meowomon]

16. She Can't Even Come Close to Doing a Nurses Job

This is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever seen. It takes years to actually become a nurse. Even after you graduate from school, the real learning is on the job training. You can't know the heartache or the wonderful satisfaction of being with another human being when they are at the most vulnerable point in their life. You become a part of this person's family and an integral part of their life for maybe a day, maybe several years.

Nursing is more than just throwing a few pills around. It is knowing that you have the highest respect for human life and dignity. It is knowing that you have to be there for this person's whole health, not just the physical health. You are the sister(brother)or the mother(father) or the child of this person. You become a trusted friend and confidant. You have this person's life literally in the palm of your hand as they trust you to proceed with your medical treatment.

Then you have, all too often, a case where a patient or family treats you as if you are just a servant and not a trained medial professional. There was only one time in my 15 years as a nurse when I "went off" on a patient. I was frantically helping a frail 84 year old post surgical patient who was having some serious vomiting. As I was rushing down the hall to get another emesis basin, a healthy soon to be discharged patient yelled out at me from the bed in her room, "Hey You!" She wanted some milk. Furiously, I informed her that, "My name is Ms. Marks, you have a call light and you need to use that instead of disturbing the whole hospital" Her eyes became big and she stuttered her apologies. There have been more that I wanted to yell back at, but their usually vulnerable state kept my furor in check.

I have been vomited on, shit on, spat on, peed on, bled on. I have dis-impacted bowels, held hair back from a puking patient's face. I have smelled smells that would turn most people green and leave them in a putrid mess of their own making. I have seen torn limbs, veins and arteries, muscle and brain tissue.

I have laughed with patients, cried with them. Sat in a room with families as their loved ones have died. I have injected and inserted medications into areas of a human body that only the patient or an intimate lover have been. I have measured, calculated and counted. I have had days where my only time off of my feet was the rare trip to the bathroom to pee.

I have stood up to the shift supervisor who accused me of not being a team player when I refused a new admission. (I already had 2 more patients than was allowed by hospital protocol.) I have been been brought to tears and then resigned after my supervisor questioned me about 6 missing morphine injections. (The pharmacy made a mistake, but I was suspect after being the last one to sign off on an emergency dose of another narcotic) I have walked off a job when I told a Director that his facility was unsafe. (He was admitting residents in his Adult Congregate Living Facility who really needed a skilled nursing home) I have questioned a doctor's order and saved him from a medical malpractice nightmare.

I have loved every minute of being a nurse even as I have hated every second of my day. And Hilary Clinton thinks she can understand a nurses world by attempting to walk one day in her shoes?

Dear Senator Clinton, you will never be able to even come close to understanding a nurses world by shadowing one for only a day. It will never be enough.

Good luck though. I wish you the best and I hope you get several healthy, ready to be discharged from the hospital patients, because you don't have near what it takes to walk even a moment in a real nurses shoes.

[DemBones DemBones]

19. You think Hillary and the others doing this will do bedpan duty?

:rofl:

[angrycarpenter]

20. amen

My mother has been a nurse for 44 years and I have been around nurses all my life. While I admire her intentions I don't think she will ever have A clue as to the work life of A nurse. Make her stay up for three days, Give her A worn-out pair of shoes, Get Bill to say he's leaving her for working long hours, And hit her in the lower back with A bat. Then she will know what it is like to be A nurse.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. I signed up at that site a week ago

to get a politician to come do my job for a day. I sure hope I get picked!!

[Javaman]

23. How about she walk in someones shoes that doesn't have healthcare..

is in debt up to their eyeballs because of medical bills and is dying of cancer.

Now that would be something.

que the photo op.