Unenjoyment

When I was a kid I heard people say they had applied for “unenjoyment”. It was a family joke and I know that my mom, because she worked seasonally in the canneries and food processing would have to apply for it whenever the season was over. I worked in the canneries, too, but never applied because I was in school and could always pick up work doing something.

In the 1970’s I suppose there was a lot of lay off situations and from time to time someone or another would be looking for work because they were on “unenjoyment” and were required to apply for so many jobs per week to get their benefits. It always had a negative connotation, eventhough the reason for applying is not questionable. You can’t apply unless you lose your job, right?

I have worked at least part time since I was 16. I have never had an extended period of time that I was without work except for the brief years that my kids were babies in the early 1990’s, and that was by choice. I have never been through a situation where I was unable to find work of some kind and fend for myself financially. I have been very blessed to do the work I love to do and get paid for it for the past 20 years.

Healthcare is always a stable industry because there are always sick people, hurting people, or injured people. But I didn’t start a career in healthcare until I was in my 30’s, and not because of the stability, but because to me it is the most meaningful profession, personally satisfying, helpful to others, technologically dynamic, and always interesting.

The past three weeks it has become something else. I don’t work on the frontlines of this epidemic/pandemic we are currently experiencing globally. I am not a nurse. I don’t work in a hospital environment. While many of my patients have cancer or some kind of chronic disease, my modality is not part of the screening process for this new bug called COVID-19.

We started wearing masks that make our ears hurt, our glasses fog up, and make it difficult to breathe. We have gone through cartons of gloves and virusides and spent countless hours deep cleaning. We clean often but now it is every piece of equipment multiple times a day just hoping our patients aren’t hiding the fact that they’ve had a fever, cough, or sore throat. Our part isn’t critical and can wait for the majority of patients. We do not want to use up resources but we don’t want to make people suffer waiting either.

Doctors’ offices that aren’t part of diagnosing, treating, evaluating or testing for COVID-19 are not seeing many patients, most surgeries have been cancelled, and resources that would be needed for patients with the virus must be rationed, some of the chronic pain and disease screening modalities must be closed down or drawn back to minimal use.

Over the past three weeks I have sent half of the employees I manage to the “Unenjoyment” lines. At first it was, “Don’t worry, it’ll just be a couple weeks and we can take turns”. Then it was, just hang on a couple more weeks, we can’t take turns because more have to take off. And now it’s the majority are asked to go online and sign up for the “Emergency Unemployment – Standby” benefits.

In my head I know, don’t feel guilty – it is necessary, it is temporary, it is our money that we have contributed for many, many years. It is not a government handout, it is our very own dollars coming back to us.

But here’s the deal. We don’t mind putting that money in there for those who need it. We have all worked hard to get where we are. We studied, we sacrificed, and we all love to do what we do. And it killed my soul today to tell two more people, then three more, including myself, that we are cutting back staffing to a minimum. And when my boss felt so bad it made me cry, then it was real. Up to this point it was just a bump in the road. Now it’s unenjoyment for the majority.

I’ve called the girls every week to check on them. The first three didn’t leave the house for the first ten days. Didn’t even go for a drive. I scolded them and said, get outside, get in the car, roll down the windows and DRIVE … get some fresh air, inhale some cow poop, go through a drive through. Walk around the block! C’mon, ladies.. we’ve got this. It’s just for a few weeks.

And now it’s just for another month. Then won’t we have a lot of catching up to do?? Then won’t we have patient schedules packed to overflowing picking up where we left off? Won’t it?

Will it?

God bless each of us as we find our “new normal” in this abnormal situation. Help us to find the JOY in Unenjoyment….