Just when we need them the most nurses are being laid off

My jobs (I have two) are entirely dependent on surgery (I’m a surgical technologist and a sterile processing tech). With elective surgical cases being halted all over the country you’ll see healthcare workers like me being layed-off or furloughed. I’m currently furloughed. I never thought I’d be considered non-essential but here we are. Surgery is one of the biggest money-makers for most hospitals, so many of them are going to be struggling financially with that loss of revenue. If they can’t find other necessary work for their employees in other parts of their facilities then they are not going to be able to keep all the employees on the payroll.

Some nurses and other healthcare workers are willing and able and have the right skill set to travel to areas where they are desperately needed right now, which I’m sure is a huge benefit to them and the facilities receiving them as long as the worker doesn’t become sick themselves. I know that there are many who are not able or willing to do that, so they face furloughs or lay-offs or reduced pay.

I don’t believe any of the furloughed nurses I work with at my same-day surgery clinic are working anywhere else at this time. I’m not sure how much experience they’d have in ER or ICU or even floor nursing, where most of the need is right now, or how confident they’d be trying to safely assimilate into that kind of role coming out of a surgery setting.

It’s just a bad situation all the way around .

I’m sure there are many people terrified to enter an emergency room right now, afraid they’ll contract the virus. Hopefully we won’t see a whole subset of deaths from people who waited too long to get their heart or appendix or gall bladder checked out  

My husband has something bad going on in his neck. He is doing everything he can to avoid the hospital system right now.

Bad is in his pinky and ring finger are numb and the pain attacks are almost crippling.

My unit has been shut down for over 4 weeks. They combined our staff with another unit and we take turns getting put on standby. I must say, my facility has been really trying their best to find hours for us and the OR staff and others. It's just now getting to the point where they need helpers with the Covids which I have done a couple times in addition to other supportive roles over the last few weeks. They have started finding supportive roles for staff from ancillary depts and our affiliated medical offices and clinics as well.

The ER is very slow because people are afraid to come in unless they're very sick, as they should be doing right now. Obviously, elective procedures are cancelled.

They are not furloughing anyone right now. I mentioned I wanted to see about taking a travel contract but they said no one is going to be granted a LOA right now so here I sit. I could quit I guess but I like it here so I'm not willing to do that.

They have opened up 3 Covid ICUs and my unit is going to be turned into the 4th, so we should all be back to full time soon. We're not expecting the peak to hit until May 1. I know the critical care nurses need a break and while they'll still have to be here to manage certain things I'm not signed off on such as certain critical care equipment, I can do most anything the patients need. Also, no one mentions how hard the RTs work--they're frazzled right now with all these Covid pts. Shout out to them!

TL;DR: those who are laid off could be getting lucrative pay if they can travel. The rest of us will be needed soon enough I think! But it's tough for many right now, especially those with a single income.

I know I'll sound odd here but I'd much rather get my chest pain checked out than die at home. I find nurses to be very comforting (partly why I became one) and even if I was dying, not sure I wouldn't want to do it where my family didn't have to see. In any case they will let your family see you if you are actually dying (probably only one at a time right now, and limited numbers, but still), unless you do it so fast they can't notify your family in time.

I'm not so scared of Covid that I'd choose to die rather than risk the hospital, but then I work in one so my perspective is skewed I suppose.

My niece is a PICU nurse in Broward county Florida and she’s been called out two of her last three shifts. Granted she’s working two 12 hour days per week because her husband is a fireman in Pompano Beach so they work opposite each other so the kids don’t go to daycare. She said they’re not seeing a lot of sick children. She’s thankful though that her husband is able to put in some overtime

Our local 322-bed hospital recently furloughed 810 workers. That of course includes a lot of support staff, but the community was surprised at so many nurses and specialty providers being released. They are also encouraging other employees to take time off, both paid and unpaid.

He should call his doctor's office so they can set up some imaging or whatever they might want to do, if he's worried about going to the ER.

My unit was converted to a covid-19 unit so there's probably no chance of me being laid off soon. BUT I will say that the ED is pretty dead. No one wants to come in and catch the virus. It has become a place for true emergencies these days. I do wonder though if people are suffering or dying at home. Because of that the hospital is low census. My unit is the 2nd covid-only unit in my hospital. Initially we were just to take the overflow from the first one. Seems like we're the only floors that are ramping up. The wave is coming our way, ugh. Any nurses here out of work want to join me?

My girlfriend in MA works for a Nursing Staff Temp Service. She just posted this this morning On Facebook if any healthcare professionals are interested—

“We are hiring in MA-If you are a healthcare professional and license in MA, PLEASE let me know! Also, if you are NOT licensed in MA you can get an MA license in 24 hours if you are interested”.

If anyone is interested Message me and I will give you her contact info.