Greetings to everyone - my friends, faithful readers, and random folks who happened to stumble upon my tiny little corner of the Internet... as well as anyone else I may have left out.
Since I last saw you -
1. MARRIAGE
Yeah, I'm married now. Liz and I ventured bravely into the brave new world of matrimony, hand in hand, on the most beautiful Saturday afternoon I have ever lived to see. June 14th was the date and here we are, one month plus one week later, still madly in love and facing each day together. It's a wonderful feeling to know that when I get back from a day at the psych hospital, I have somebody who will be there to be MY care provider.
2. JUSTICE
Believe it or not, I actually have very little to say on the subject of justice... only that I encourage all of you who are of the impression that your current beliefs regarding justice are solid and unrelenting, please go see the films "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight." These films will not outright change how you feel about the concept of good versus evil per se, but they certainly inspire a great deal of internal dialogue about issues surrounding morality and justice, while also providing supremely entertaining and simply incredible pieces of artwork.
3. Psychiatric Care
First off, let me state clearly that I do not envy those in positions of authority, except for the fact that their paychecks are significantly larger than the ones I take home. With that out of the way, I want to pose a question: Which do you believe should have more staff members to oversee, a Starbucks Coffee Shop or an adult acute psychiatric ward with over 20 patients? Well, in the brilliant minds of the administration of my employer, they are equivalent. Don't get me wrong - the traffic of customers that grace a Starbucks counter greatly overshadows the number of faces I may encounter in a single day, but how many jobs does a Barista have when compared to a care provider? Or a psychiatric nurse?
I'm sorry for that last one - most of you probably are blissfully unaware of the happenings of psychiatric hospitals until the horrible effects of their understaffing practices are made painfully aware through the completely misguided media outlets, many of whom seen to exist only to find blame and point fingers. I suppose that I would rather precede the expectation that our hospital will keep making staff cutbacks until enough tragic events occur that they realize the error of their ways. Instead of reducing staff pay increases for the installation of a million dollar conference centers with ridiculous and completely unnecessary features and building new units anf reallocating funds toward them, perhaps said organization should consider increasing their staffing ratio to better serve those who really need the support - the patients themselves.
But, alas - I am convinced that many in this organization have long lost sight of what our true mission is supposed to be. The last time I saw any of our administration on the unit was when there was an investigation into a mishap that was due to an understaffed unit. Perhaps a little more administrative supervision would save the organization's reputation while also finding ways to provide better care to the generally under-served populations we are called to heal.
Enough from me - I could rant about that all day.
Perhaps I just need a new job. =( It's too bad, because I love what I do. I just hate that the organization expects all of these workers, who are doing this because they have a heart, to work to the point of exhaustion, then force staff to work extra shifts and sometimes do the work that was once designed to be done by two or three staff. That is completely unethical for the staff and unfair to the patients who far too often go ignored except for the 15 minute checks.
I need to stop.
Now I'm all worked up.
I'm going to play the guitar for a bit. Maybe that will help.
I'm sorry if you read all of this. You should get off the web and go see "The Dark Knight" instead. It would be a much better use of your incredibly valuable time.
Have a wonderful night. I will try to as well.
Love and peace,
Dave
P.S. I love Barack Obama, and I have not been (even in all of his imperfections - in fact, possibly because of his imperfections) this fired up about a political figure. He is the Bobby Kennedy of social change without the burden f being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. I just hope that he can live up to the high hpes of citizens across the United States when he's elected as president this fall...
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