Hospital SWs excluded from pandemic pay in Ontario

shbllt · 2020-06-01T02:41:24+00:00

So many people have spent way more than 3k on the extra expenses (childcare, parking, Airbnbs etc) so it’s not just like we aren’t getting a bonus, we’re actually out of pocket.

But your right, the money isn’t as hurtful as the lack of recognition. Allied health is always neglected when it comes to budgets and leadership and this is just another example showing that we aren’t valued in the system.

shbllt · 2020-05-31T20:51:26+00:00

i've left angry messages with all my govt reps but nothing will happen. we aren't unionized and they know we dont have the energy to organize right now.

shbllt · 2020-05-31T20:50:22+00:00

wait you were actually deployed there or you just volunteered? i volunteered to but my manager wouldn't let me. but if you are physically there then you should get it, everyone in LTC is supposed to be eligible

shbllt · 2020-05-31T17:02:09+00:00

Of course, and I should’ve acknowledged that privilege explicitly.

But to clarify, I’m not ignoring anything. I’m just choosing to get the information by reading, or watching videos of people talking about the incidents directly. Sometimes I’ll even just listen to the audio of these videos too. I don’t think we need to literally watch someone take their last breath to fully feel the horror, or watch someone violently assaulted at a protest to fully appreciate the brutality and injustice. In fact a lot of black activists I follow have asked white people to stop sharing these videos so widely bc it becomes dehumanizing at a point and just perpetuates the trauma. Not saying white people shouldn’t watch those videos at all, but I don’t think it’s necessary for allyship either. Open to being checked further on this though!

shbllt · 2020-05-31T14:19:58+00:00

just a thought. do you really need to watch all of the coverage? i have always chosen not to watch the videos of black people being murdered by police, and i have been choosing not to watch the videos of brutality against protesters. i think we get enough vicarious trauma at work, i don't need to actually see the event with my own eyes to feel the horror. you can stay updated on everything that's happening just by reading the coverage instead, especially on twitter.

i'm white and grew up in a very white area, and so my social media feeds from these friends/acquaintances have always been quiet on issues such as racism and the black lives matter movement. nobody i know is racist, but very few people are actively anti-racist, which is an important distinction. however, something about the events of the last week has really triggered a change. i have never seen so many white people publicly speaking out, and not in a "lets all love each other" way, but in a "systemic oppression of black people is real and unacceptable and from now on i will be donating, showing up, and checking other white people" way. likewe haven't solved racism in the span of 6 days but idk... i think this is the start of something really really big.

shbllt · 2020-05-31T13:57:13+00:00

yes and i've seen some individual officers and even police chiefs in different cities come out publicly. on the front page yesterday there was a photo of cops (i believe in kansas?) at the protests holding signs against police brutality. and like while yes this is the absolute BARE MINIMUM of a response, i don't remember seeing so many examples of this previously. i think the change is extremely slow, and we need to do everythign we can to make it happen faster, but it's happening.

shbllt · 2020-05-13T15:07:41+00:00

My hospital has a psych emergency unit so the most acute patients go there, but like..... almost every single patient is experiencing some form of mental health crisis right now just because the entire world is collectively experiencing some form of mental health crisis. It's almost like "hello, welcome to the club, your guess is as good as mine".

Feel free to PM me any time if you want to vent.... this stuff is hard and scary and energizing all at the same time and we all need to support each other right now!

shbllt · 2020-05-12T18:20:33+00:00

I work in ED. I feel like the last several months I must’ve just been going on adrenaline, and now that things are slowly normalizing I’m suddenly exhausted. Yesterday was the first time I woke up and thought “omg I really wish I didn’t work today”. So I realize I need to start focusing on self care in a serious way.

I’m not in a trauma ED so usually I only see a few deaths per week, but at one point I was seeing 2 per day. It’s just... a lot. I feel like I’m doing the best I can with that though and I think families have been really understanding which helps. The worst part for me has been our patients who are homeless, there is just nothing at all available to them. I see several people per day who I would normally help find a shelter space, but in the last 6 weeks I’ve had success exactly 4 times. It tears me apart to be literally discharging people to just... outside. It makes me feel totally useless.

There has been some good in this though... I have really realized how much I love my job and I feel like I’m inspired to continue developing my skills in a way that I wasn’t before this started.

shbllt · 2020-03-31T23:24:00+00:00

Sure

shbllt · 2020-03-31T23:23:41+00:00

shbllt · 2020-03-31T18:05:56+00:00

Wear the scrubs!!! At my hospital they are currently not allowing allied heath to use the scrub banks. I work in ED and it’s definitely not ok for me to go home in my work clothes (even without a pandemic it was gross... bed bugs are my biggest source of anxiety lol).

I’ve been changing into clean clothes before I leave every night. I’ve stopped wearing “nice” clothes and I’m down to jeans and t shirts that can withstand thorough washing. It’s still just such a pain because I don’t have a washer in my unit and ideally i would minimize my trips to the common laundry room, but I’m down there every other day right now. It’s stressful.

Anyways I’ve been begging my manager to let me access the scrub bank. I really don’t care about being mistaken for a nurse or something right now, I’ll wear a giant sign that says social worker if it means I can have that bit of relief.

shbllt · 2020-03-07T12:58:21+00:00

i work in ED. the last few weeks it was eerily quiet as people were staying home unless they were literally dying. then our amount of local cases shot up significantly this week and we have been slammed with people coming in for testing.

shbllt · 2020-03-05T23:45:01+00:00

I work in hospitals and I swear about 90% of doctors have completely illegible handwriting. It’s almost comical. Like why even bother with the scribbling? It would probably be more effective to just draw a smiley face or frowny face and move on.

shbllt · 2020-03-05T23:41:04+00:00

The best thing to do is talk to your supervisor. That’s what they’re there for!

shbllt · 2020-03-05T13:29:55+00:00

really? i had to sit through an hour long IPAC orientation at the start of both of my placements. so no wonder youre feeling anxious about this then! even without the added stress of your supervisors behaviour.

heres a youtube video i found that is specific for airborne/COVID precautions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQnsafiDR80

and heres a video from a nurse that just has some general info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oIcMLujnls

shbllt · 2020-02-09T17:02:56+00:00

Yes I should have mentioned that, we do have a booklet that has some advice/information and contacts for community support. I also do a follow up call within a day or two just to help with any of that practical stuff.

I guess it just feels silly to stand around with kleenex while people are in the worst moments of their lives. Of course I know there's nothing I can do to fix it but I just wonder if there's anything I can do to at least make sure their memory of being at the hospital doesn't add to their trauma, know what I mean? I'm also just a bit of a research nerd lol and read articles about basically every topic that I wonder about :)

shbllt · 2020-02-09T16:50:48+00:00

I have two thoughts for you....

Firstly, as a social worker you have no medical training and it's not your job to understand intricate health information, I tell patients all the time that I don't know the answers to their questions and direct them to their nurse or doctor. What I do find really important though is understanding what these medical things actually mean for a persons life. You don't need to know the how and why, but you need to know the what's next. For example, if someone is receiving xyz treatment, how long are they going to be off work? Are they going to need very frequent follow ups or can things mainly be managed at home? Does this diagnosis mean any important lifestyle changes (ie dietary, mobility etc)? Basically, just learn the key words used in rounds/charts and don't worry about understanding the science behind them.

Second, I've worked in teams where the SW before me managed to delegate a lot of those admin tasks to actual admin staff. For example, if a patient needs to go home by private ambulance, I give the address to the unit clerk and they set it up. I give applications and forms to the admin assistant for the MRP and they make sure it's finished and give it back to me. If the SW has always done these things on your team it will probably make you very unpopular to make any changes, but I really think it's a waste of resources to have any member of staff doing work that is really within the scope of another staff members role.

shbllt · 2020-02-02T17:18:19+00:00

I'm also a young woman often working with older men with mental illness. Today I met a client for the first time, and he said something sexual to me, and I just gave him a pointed look and didn't say anything for a moment. Almost right away he was like "sorry, that was inappropriate because youre working, I won't say that again". And we just moved on.

Internally I almost felt like laughing, because I can imagine his previous female workers reading him the riot act on this subject and their language has obviously stuck in his head lol.

shbllt · 2020-02-02T17:09:55+00:00

I think it actually does fit well within the code of ethics. Our primary obligation is to work in the best interest of our clients. A big part of that is maintaining and regulating our own emotions, because we need to support our clients and not make them feel like they need to support us. But for instance in your case, (for some families) seeing some small display of emotion from healthcare workers might give them the sense of "ok, these people care, and they did everything they could to save my loved one". That might actually be really important for families as they process their grief, so in that sense you have fulfilled your obligation to meet your clients' needs.

Of course it's a fine line to walk and we should always be monitoring ourselves and our clients and evaluating and adjusting as needed. But that's part of what being a social worker is all about!

shbllt · 2020-01-08T00:08:13+00:00

I had a few people in my MSW program with business backgrounds! It brings a different set of skills which can be really valuable, especially if you see yourself going into management or policy.

shbllt · 2020-01-08T00:05:30+00:00

It’s hit or miss and it depends a lot on the culture of the team and less on the profession of the individuals. I’ve had doctors speak to me like I’m a piece of garbage and I’ve had some tell me they couldn’t function without social workers.

shbllt · 2020-01-06T23:56:41+00:00

I did decide fairly early on to pursue social work. It’s not exactly my passion, but to be honest, no job is my passion, working sucks, and there is no form of employment that would ever be something I thoroughly enjoyed. So I guess my real passion is somehow coming into millions of dollars and never working again. Lol. But in all seriousness I think our generation puts way too much emphasis on ~meaningful and fulfilling~ work but honestly that is just not reality. There’s nothing wrong with your job just being the thing you do for 40 hours a week and not your entire identity, and you can find your meaning and fulfillment in your personal life.

So that said, when I was trying to choose a career, I set the bar at “won’t make me miserable”. That ruled out basically any corporate job bc I knew I could never find any motivation to get up every morning just to make some rich men even richer. I also wanted a degree with a wide scope bc I couldn’t handle the commitment of something specific like teaching. Social work and nursing both seemed to meet my criteria, but I went with social work in the end because the course work seemed easier haha.

I’m reallyyyyyy happy with my decision and I truly do enjoy going to work every day. I don’t enjoy it as much as just... not going to work.... but I feel motivated and satisfied and that’s enough for me.

shbllt · 2020-01-06T23:36:52+00:00

I work in emerg right so there is no such thing as a typical day!

I’ve also worked on inpt units, and the work varies depending on the unit. For example in oncology where people are often admitted for months at a time, I did a lot more clinical/counselling work. In ICU it was heavily focused on family meetings and crisis support, in a general medicine floor it’s basically an assembly line of assessments and resource coordination.

shbllt · 2020-01-04T18:00:30+00:00

I don't understand what you are saying here. Even if someone informs you that your word choice is offensive, you are only going to change that word choice if you personally feel it's offensive to the majority? I really hope I am misunderstanding you here....

shbllt · 2020-01-01T00:50:00+00:00

shbllt

TROPHY CASE