My Daily Struggle in the COVID-19 Lockdown

"And so Jacob worked for Laban for 7 years to marry Rachel. But do you know what happened? Laban tricked Jacob and gave him his ugly daughter, Leah, so that to marry Rachel, he had to work for Laban another 7 years. So you see, children, the Bible clearly teaches us, you can never trust an employer!" That is my favorite quote from my favorite play, "Fiddler on the Roof." When I first saw this, I thought it was funny, but my humor about it keeps getting dryer and dryer. Why? Because, with the exception of some employers, like She Sits by the Fire, employers are untrustworthy. Loyalty and dependence means very little to them. I have been at my current job for over 10 years. In that first year, I worked extra hard. I worked even harder when I had a client with cancer. I worked extra hours and spend almost 90% of my documentable time with her. I went more that above and beyond. I did things for clients that my colleagues wouldn't even dream of doing. As this woman...

Today was a little bit better, but pretty busy nonetheless. Had a meeting this morning in which we processed the death of that client that was discovered yesterday. I felt a little numb, but I tried to support my other coworkers, especially the desk clerk who found the corpse.  I had a lot of paperwork that was due today, and I was hoping to finish it in a timely fashion, but no! After calling clients to report  the death of one of their residents , I had to admit another client to the hospital after this client finally snapped from psychiatric symptoms due to quarantine Cabin Fever. I couldn't follow him to be emergency room because of the COVID-19 restrictions. I therefore had to fax the necessary papers to the emergency room and the social worker on duty and then follow-up to make sure that they received the documents. Surprisingly, they admitted him right away and did not have to wait a long period of time in the emergency room. But then, this hospital has a psych ward o...

Bad day. First, I came in to realize that a client's medication was sent to the wrong pharmacy, and then, when it was sent to the right pharmacy, they agreed to sent it right away, and they did--to another site. Now, my client will go 8 days without insulin. Then I learned that two clients had been arguing with each other all weekend, and one grabbed the other last night, and then they went back to yelling at each other again today. When I asked what happened last night, one person accused the other of something, and the other denied it completely. Of course, there were no witnesses. On top of it all, another client I once worked with died. This makes the fourth in 3 years. He died all by himself because his delusions kept him from his family and from having true friends. When you have delusions so strong that you cannot trust anyone and you are always in fear for your safety, life is very hard. It is ever frightening and exhausting. I would hate to live so isolated from others w...