Heavy Lifting

 

In the trenches of bedside nursing everything is like the movie scenario presented in "Groundhog Day". The same events happening over and over and over and so on, until somebody realizes the way to get out. 

Nursing exists in its own Groundhog Day. I've been writing about the same topics every decade with only nuances of change. I have a lot of poems regarding the difficulty (logistics) of Nursing care with very weighty people. However, it is worth noting that in 1978 when I began a healthcare career in a hospital, the prevalence of morbid obesity was quite low. (Major medical center in Los Angeles).

Here I address the claim that hospitals are looking out for us and providing Lift Equipment and making it available to everywhere in the hospital (but not everywhere at any given moment)

Buxom and Girth

Dear Bertha with the buxom bosom

Had sepsis, pneumonia and shock,

To keep her alive we infused 30 liters

Adding four-stone in four hours on the clock,

Each turn in the bed for her skin care

‘Twould take the muscles of three mighty nurses,

Pausing to share a reflection

And sort out their favorite curses.

With a gnashing of teeth and straining of spine

These three groaned in triplicate unity,

Knowing quite well if they busted their backs

The hospital would deny with impunity,

Management argues we have the equipment

To maneuver the oversized clients,

They blame us for slack or impatience

Without truly understanding the science.

Suffice to say we nurses are tougher

From the keelhaul we had this past decade,

Throw anything at us and we will just cuss

We don’t succumb to the brute or the blade,

Better to back Nurses than Wall Street

Unlike a bitcoin account, we add worth,

Protect the nurses who are the backbone of the workforce

In this arena of buxom and girth.