You won't believe this comment

Not a blog comment. That occurred to me after I wrote it. I've totally avoided negative comments. Thank God.

Working in healthcare, people sometimes tend to make light of disabilities, illnesses, differences. I do it, I don't know anyone who doesn't. However, sometimes the comments can be very cruel or insensitive to the fact that just because you work in healthcare you are not exempt from these circumstances.

I've had it happen the most back when I worked in psych. Everyone assumed that there was no chance that a staff member was every bit as mentally ill as the patients. And back then I was. Once a nurse was trying to impress me by making a big deal that he was giving Geodon to someone and it "could start their heart right away. Like that. Side effect". All I could think was "been there, done that, extrapyramidal syndrome last month". I also had the very funny experience once of having a patient who was extremely agitated. She'd been sent to us after months in a psych ward where she just beat on people. After a while I started noticing she seemed to have light sensitivity. Suddenly I remembered my eyes hurting all the time on Geodon. A well-placed suggestion to a nurse friend who I told to take the credit for a sudden "memory" and within weeks she was off Geodon and a different person.

But today takes the cake. There is an aide who from what I can see is a very nice person, does a good job, but is a bit mentally slower. Probably she had significant learning disabilities, she moves slowly, that kind of thing. Personally I don't care. I care if I see them treating the patients well and doing what needs done in a reasonable time frame. So anyway, she somehow irritated the other aide who complained to the nurse. The nurse came in the nurses' station where I was working and told me something that stunned me to the point I didn't even remember the actual words. Essentially it was "the reason to hire the handicapped is so you can laugh at them" with a giggle. I was so horrified my jaw dropped open. Usually I am very careful to not react but that one really, really offended me to my core. Which I figure is ok because it was so offensive that if I hadn't been a contract employee with nowhere to complain I would have gone to a supervisor. I still may see if anything can be done.

I only wish that it would serve a good purpose to talk about my Seroquel dosage......

Handicapped indeed.