Haiti
So ever since this disaster happened on January 12, I have been wanting to crawl through my tv to go and help. Feel useless sitting here in the comfort of my living room, with central heating and running water and food in the fridge. The Friday after the earthquake I had to work. The first thing I did was go to my nurse manager and I asked her if our hospital was getting a team together to go to Haiti and share our knowledge and experience. She said she’d look into it and got back to me later that day. Unfortunately, nothing was planned as of that day. So I worked my weekend, went to the gym to teach my classes and tried not to watch the news too much. Numerous people, at work and outside of work, had already asked me if/when I was going to Haiti. Kind of funny, they seem to know me better than I know myself….
Then yesterday, when I came back to work, and checked my email, I found an email send by one of our orthopedic surgeons. He was trying to get a team together to go to Haiti to render care to the victims of the earthquake. So I emailed him back. Told him my experience, and I guess it is quite a list. So I got an email back from him… “When can you go????” one of the biggest compliments for me. So I told him whenever they needed me to go, but I also needed to get permission from my nurse manager to take the days off. Now it is not as long as Tanzania. Only 7 to 10 days. Only one weekend of work that I will not be there. So not too difficult I would think… Silly me. Even though I had emailed my boss fairly early I still had not heard anything back at the end of the shift. Now I know I am not the only one that wants her attention on an issue.. but jeez, this is Haiti and an earthquake and people dying and in desperate need of basic care.
So this morning, after I send my patient home after waking him up with a cheerful sternum rub (frequent visitor of our department with a narcotic dependance) and also requesting from him to please not play with himself while I was in the room, I wrote another email to please let me know as soon as possible so I could let the team know if and when I would be able to go.
Got an email back…
Have to run it by the next boss up…
And he probably has to run it by his boss…..
So we will see. They are trying to go this coming Monday or Tuesday, which would be a little quick practically, but not undoable (is this a word?). The next team would go on February 1, a week from monday.
Keep your fingers crossed. Think good thoughts! Because I really want to go. I think my future may be in this kind of work.
