R(etired)N

I loved the Snow Day video shot in Victoria - here is another one that will make you smile!

Dog cam -  on the loose!


Johnny Neon 'Hearts' from Dave Meinert on Vimeo.


I always wondered what a dog does when he escapes ....

Well done!

Just in case you are wondering: Shot in Cape Town, South Africa.

I remember years ago when I lived in the East Bay San Francisco - my roommate was dating a guy who was high up in the echelon of a certain TV station in The City.   She was invited to attend the Oscars as his date.

My room mate was quite a picky gal, but she had all kinds of suitors lining up to have a chance to date her. 

I remember one guy that had the misfortune to have a little car trouble on his two hour round trip to pick her up for a dinner date.  He was five minutes late.

Because of this tardiness, she kept him standing on the doorstep as she took the flowers he offered and told him that if he didn't respect her enough to be on time, she wasn't going to bother going out with him.  She shut the door in his face.

She didn't even think twice about turning him away.

She ignored my "awww the poor guy...." comment, and just refused to lower her standards - as she put it.

I secretly admired such confidence and attitude  - that she wouldn't put up with anything.....although, I did feel sorry for that one guy.

Back to the Red Carpet.

A couple days before the Oscars - she announced she had changed her mind.

Incredulously, I looked at her - mouth agape.

"I don't like the guy" she proclaimed.  "I'm not going to go."

That was the end of that.

I think that I probably would have suffered with the guy for ONE night - and gone -  just for the experience and the ambiance and to say I had attended the Oscars.

Anyway. 

Here is a little story of someone I knew - and worked with  - One of the Residents on L&D - and a very good one at that! - who performed at the Oscars a few years back. 

The Resident paid for her education with her part time job -  performing with Cirque du Soleil. 

Since the Cirque is performing again this year at the Oscars....I thought it might just be a very timely recycle.

Hope you enjoy it. 

That -  and the Oscars tonight.

For the last month, the Bald Eagles have been back at their nest poking around, rearranging sticks and fluff to prepare their nest for another clutch of eggs!  Click on the Eagle Photo in the Right hand column to see the web cams!*

That must mean spring is almost here?

Just to let you know.....it snowed here again today. 

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*when you click on the photo of the eagle photo in the right hand column and get to the web cam page, you can choose to click on the black tab "Live Cameras" just below the Green header to view a few other cams brought to you by the Hancock Wildlife Foundation, including an owl cam, an Australian sea eagle cam, and also a hummingbird cam (not yet up and running).

Book mark the page!

That almost sounds like a cheesy TV ad.

But - it isn't!

Took my Diabetic cat to the Vet on Friday and got a clean bill of health!

She hadn't gained much weight, but her bony spine had filled in and her fur now is incredibly soft and healthy looking.

In the space of 2 weeks, her diabetes has gone into remission and she is healthier than before she got sick.  Her energy is amazing!

Incredible!

I would have never believed it...

All because I changed her diet.  No more dry food for her! Only  HIGH PROTEIN food.  Canned or Raw.

For anyone out there who has a cat - to avoid the expense and suffering of a diabetic cat - switch over to canned high protein food.   The carbs in the dry food is killing your cat.

Better to switch now than have to go through what my cat and I did!

No more insulin injections and no more taking blood glucose levels!  Well, I will do the occasional fasting blood sugar in the am, just to keep an eye on it.

Kitty's happy!

I'm happy, too.

From what I gather by the research already done, if you catch diabetes in cats soon enough, there is 100% reversal .... which avoids the damage to the vital organs.

The catch is - to find out as early as possible and treat it.

Feline Diabetes is more common than you think.  One of our tenants had a diabetic cat - and I have had two!
 
Hopefully cat food manufacturers will realize this and change their dry food to reflect this information - not that they didn't already know! High protein is what cats require - not corn and other carb fillers!

Save your cat before it's too late!

Now here is a Valentine's story I can go with!

It's not really a V-Day story, but a Kiss story!  A lot of them!!!

Go to this site and read about the creation of the Kiss Map!

Remember that First Kiss? That Baby Kiss?  Or that Friendly Kiss? The Awkward kiss?

You can map that kiss and tell your story in 500 words or less on this Kiss Map.

Do it!  It's fun, and you don't have to feel left out, even if you are single!  

We all have a memory of a kiss.....or two!

I have never been a fan of Valentine's Day. 

It's just another excuse for businesses to sell stuff as far as I can tell.  

I suppose that is a good thing if you have an economy that needs a boost, but not so good if you don't have the money to spend......or someone to spend money on....it's a fairly hollow occasion.

I have told my husband not to bother.  I would rather get a bouquet of flowers this Friday when the prices drop to more reasonable levels....or dinner out when we won't have to fight the crowds.

I don't want a certain day to dictate when to be romantic. 

To me, that's not Romance or Love.

Love is in the day to day drudgery of living - those small things we do for each other every day, the special consideration shown every minute.  It's also an enduring Friendship.

That's what Valentine's is.

Besides, chocolate gives me mouth sores.

Just a little thought for the Day.

First watch this video  by the President of the CNA and then read my rebuttal:



I have been mulling over writing this since I found the CNA's stance on using an American company to write computer exams for Canadian Nurses.

I did a little bit of online research and have come to the conclusion that Americans and the NCLEX aren't the monsters the CNA would like you to believe, and it gets me to wondering what the CNA's agenda is.

By now, if you have been reading my blog, you have probably noticed that I am not American, although I do have family members that are,  and that I don't always agree with the American Way. 

Much like most Canadians, I would never give up our Canadian Medical system for what exists south of the border - even though there is much to be fixed.

However.

What bothers me is this: why is the CNA so dead set against using the American exams as a basis for the Canadian Registration exams?  Why are they seeking to re-invent the wheel for the sake of nationalism?  There are exams that exist that are entirely adequate for our needs.

It isn't as if the NCLEX questions were put together by a bunch of monkeys in the back room somewhere, although that is what the CNA seems to suggest by their objections.  These are well thought out questions by expert RN specialists in their fields - questions that have been tried and tested before being placed in the NCLEX exam.  I can guarantee we won't be clicking on any multiple choice questions that involve HMOs or delivering-care-for-those-without-insurance-plans or any other Americanisms.

I have written both the Canadian and the American RN exams and I can tell you that I found very little difference between the two in content.   Basic nursing ethics and practice are the same both sides of the border.  I know.  I have worked in both countries along side American nurses, and the quality of nurses are equal to Canadian nurses.


If Judith Shamian - the CNA president and the person in the video above - is so concerned about the Canadian content being  the golden rule of nursing in this country, why did she get both of her Masters and Doctorate degrees south of the border?  By her reasoning, the exams she wrote and the course content in the aquisition of her degrees are not up to Canadian standards and she should redo both at our own Canadian Universities.

I noticed in her Youtube rants that she flogs "child abuse laws of reporting"  as an area of compromise in the exam questions.    FACT:  48 states have specific laws that demand health care workers (RNs included!) report any child abuse/neglect and the other states have laws that demand EVERYONE has a duty to report.  I think this pretty much covers child abuse....so I don't understand where Judith or the CNA was going with this "difference".  There really isn't any.

Judith also announces that using the American NCLEX will open the doors to the mass exodus of Canadian nurses heading south of the border and she deduces that this is the clandestine reason that Americans want Canada to use their exams....so they can "steal" Canadian nurses when the nursing shortage appears.  

News flash!  If a nurse wants to travel and work elsewhere....she/he will go despite the hoops that have to be jumped.  I was one of those nurses.  


I can also reassure the CNA that it's not something as simple as "writing the same exam" that allows nurses to skip south of the border to work.   There are other hoops to jump that have been put in place in the past few years by Homeland Security.....never mind that there has to actually be a "need" for nurses.    

At present, there are hardly enough jobs for American RNs - new grads as well as seasoned nurses - due to the downturn of the US economy.  USA Recruiters are glaringly absent at Canadian job fairs these days.   My American cousin who lives in the USA has been looking for an RN job since last spring when she completed the RN refresher program. 

We might even want a few American nurses.  Guess what?  Free Trade -  NAFTA -  works both ways.  American nurses are welcome to write our exams and come and work here in Canada if there is a need.   Oh - but wait a minute! Lets put NCLEX in place and it will be easy !!! Ahhh!  But there are other qualifications, similar to what the USA has in place for us.  It isn't as easy as you would think! 

Judith brings up the Patriot Act and tries to scare Canadian nurses into thinking there is information we would give up as a result when we write these exams.   Believe me when I say that we have more to fear from what we post on Facebook - another American company that exists under the laws of the Patriot Act - than the meagre information the NCLEX collects.

Fact:  Most of the information we give up to write exams is already on the Internet - Public domain - open to the world.   Check the RN registry in any province or state.  Check out  online phonebooks.  Check out the BC court system data base.    I use all of these to vet my potential tenants and believe me - between these sources and LinkdIn, Facebook, Myspace and Google.....I can find anything on anyone.   More than people think.

I believe that any American exam can be tweaked to reflect Canadian content.  We wouldn't be giving up the right to do that by using an American exam.   If we are purchasing a product, we would retain the right to inject Canadianisms into it much like what BC has done with certain systems that are already in place in our Medical system - Healthlink - originally an American program purchased by the province of B.C. and modified to fit Canadian standards.

I know the CRNBC has dropped its affiliation with the CNA in the past year because of it's politics and lobbying, and with that disassociation, the CRNBC took with it any monetary contributions from it's members.   It has left the CNA flapping in the breeze in B.C. not knowing what to do. 

After paying approximately $1600 per year (2% straight time earnings) in Union dues and $473.76 for my professional license with the CRNBC for the year,   I am reluctant to contribute anything extra to the CNA.

Perhaps the CNA is looking to put in dibs for exam creation and maintenance? Is this a "make work" project for them in the face of their perceived irrelevance?   I am all for a united Canadian Nursing association  - but this makes me wonder about the way they conduct business and whether I want them to represent me.


If they are to present a reason not to re-invent the wheel, then give me better excuses than the fear mongering I see in their posted videos.  Give me a reason why CNA hasn't already come up with their own exam while Americans have been doing computer testing for the last 10 years. Where have they been all this time?   Show me that re-doing that which already exists isn't going to cost me a lot more money.

American Nurses are not our enemy.    After all, aren't we all sisters and brothers in a common goal?

Yes, we have our cultural differences, but the basics of nursing is the same - ask Amanda Trujillo as she fights the system for doing what any nurse should and would do either here in Canada or the USA.

The system might be different - but our knowledge base and the essence of what we stand for as nurses remain the same.

 "Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles."

  

.... and I am just not into it.

When the University's email came into my box I just ignored it.

Then, the follow-up email came.  I ignored it again.....and promptly forgot about it.




Learning: for all dinosaurs like me

 
A week later, I thought I should at least perhaps take a peek at the email. 

I knew I was supposed to start the course in January - and I had procrastinated until the end of January - and now it was the first week in February.  

The email was asking those who had not yet checked in to the University - please do.   Apparently half the class was missing. 

Oops!

The course I am taking is  Assessment and Communications in my Area of Expertise.   Looking over the discussions already started and the topics and the assignments and required reading........I started to panic. 

There was no way I could catch up....I was already three weeks behind!

Why did I so stupidly volunteer for this ??

What the program  is - is a 2 year University certification course to "qualify" me in my area of Expertise....all paid for by my employer.

We are allowed five years to complete it.

 At work, looking at all the course and the readings......I quickly became discouraged.   I talked to my Manager about my misgivings.

She was very sympathetic.  

"Remember - it's an adult learning course.  It's different than when you were in University for your nursing.  We are not held by the same standards as other courses.   As long as you have learned something.  So - just sit back and learn.....!"

She rounded up a couple of the other gals taking the same course.  They tried their best to reassure me and even gave me their home email addresses so I could contact them if necessary.

Problem is, I am a little OCD and if I can't do something perfectly - I can't be bothered doing it at all.   I never want to do anything part way or half-assed.

It's all or nothing with me. 

It was helpful to read on Berate Your Professor's blog "If you enjoy learning you will do well" in this blogpost "Don't Worry, Be Happy".

Trying to "sit back and learn" is going to be difficult.

I will try and enjoy it.

I am going to audit the present class this time round and get used to negotiating the website and doing the required things one does while taking an online course - and  will start with the next class.........

Ethics and Legalities in my area of Expertise.

Fun.

I have mentioned previously that I had worked in a prison as an RN for a period of time.  I was working with male patients - the worst of the worst, if you get my drift.

I have worked inside those double barbed wire walls of prison with very little protection than a Personal Protection Alarm....and dozens of male prisoners out of their cells and all around me.....

So I am telling you from experience that I am not naive or oblivious to the manipulations and the emotional immaturity in these places.

Prior to my stint as a prison nurse, when I worked in Labor Delivery, we occasionally had an incarcerated patient accompanied by a guard escort.

Photo credit: here for an interesting article on shackles in L&D

It also wasn't uncommon to be caring for a pregnant woman off the streets, trying to shake their drug addiction -  and on methadone.

My heart went out to these women.

What was it that led to their present situation? I always wondered.

One time - I did ask.

Along with my other new moms, I was assigned a prisoner transferred from the local lockup, admitted for preterm labour.

A quiet withdrawn little thing, she presented as a tiny pathetic figure almost lost in the mountain of covers on her bed.

On one of my patient rounds I rescued a small bunch of flowers that another discharged patient had left behind.  It would have gone in the garbage had I not salvaged it - and I hate waste. 

I picked out the dead and wilted flowers and brought the little freshened-up bouquet into her room.  Placing it on the windowsill where she could see it, I told her that I would leave them for her to enjoy.

The guard glared at me - but my patient was transformed.

Tears in her eyes,  she thanked me profusely - and unnecessarily - for such a small and insignificant gesture.

It was later on during my night shift that she told me  her story:


Her early married life started out as most....very happy,  living an average life in an average family neighborhood doing what most young mothers and wives do. 

Tragically, her husband died and she was left coping with two young children on her own, a mountain of bills to pay - and no job experience.  

She was at a loss to find a way to provide for her children.   At this point, welfare was not an option.  She was too proud to take handouts.

The money she earned at a minimum wage job couldn't pay the bills.  She wrote a couple of bad cheques and ended up in the court system. 

From there it went from bad to worse.   She lost her house.  

To deal with her depression  over her hopeless situation, she turned to alcohol. 

She was involved in an MVA and thereafter became dependent on pain medications prescribed by her MD.  She couldn't afford to drive and couldn't get to any job that would even look at her for employment now she had a record.

The social system took away her children when she became involved with unsavory persons who provided her with living quarters -  the only place she could afford after being turned down by a series of landlords.

Increasingly addicted, one day she changed her prescription for pain medications and was caught by the pharmacy - and the law. 

She went back to court - and then lockup -  and thereafter,  her life became stuck in the revolving door of prison.  

When I met her she was pregnant by an unknown father while prostituting.

Even if only part of her story is true.....how tragic!

Sometimes we look down at these people, thinking how much superior we are....forgetting that but for the grace of God.......

Are these people salvageable?

Statistics are not on their side but as a society, we are behoven to try.

Recently,  girlfriend that works in a different area of the penal system sent me this link:

The If Project:  Essays from women from Washington State Correction State Center for Women.

Over 240 essays written by the women at this prison when they were asked :

 “If there was something someone could have said or done that would have changed the path that led you here, what would it have been?”

The hope was to find out tangible things they could do or say as officers working on the street that could actually work to change a young person's direction in life before it was too late.

If you choose not to click on any of the links above,  please, at least  take a moment to watch this short video and let the women speak for themselves:


The If Project Trailer from The If Project on Vimeo.


I wonder how many of these women, if shown discipline and love... would have ended up in a different place?

This following video is worth a repost:

Can't Change the World....sung by a First Nations gal that was a foster child until a family took her in and cared for her ....and her life was so totally different than it could have been:

If you are tired of all those University LipDubs.....here is a switch for you.

Now I know what I have coming in a few years......



A Retirement Community in Grand Rapids Michigan. I will have to forward this on to my friend Michael....

Just to start the morning right....

If you live in the United States - you probably didn't.

In Canada, those highly publicized ads that show on American TV during the Superbowl are blocked and substituted for lousy Canadian ads that are usually not worth a second look.

That makes it great for snack retrieval but most often,  we always feel like we were robbed of viewing the most talked about part of the Superbowl Game.

Most often the ads we see are reruns that we have seen a gazillion times (well, maybe not us with our PVR!)   - poor planning by the ad department.

So. 

Remember the Budweiser ads that get a lot of chatter on US TV in past years?

Budweiser decided to make a Canadian ad to rival the American ads.  Perhaps they realized there are a lot of Canadians who might watch the game after all.  AND - a lot of Canadians that drink beer. 

Personally, I can't even stand the smell of beer.

But, what they came up with was a Canadian advertisement that touches the heart of every Canadian.

Finally an ad......involving - not horses or dogs or babies....but HOCKEY.

Every Canadian kid dreams of playing in the NHL.  You can see it as they play street hockey...yelling out the make-believe play by play - or by the work that goes into the small patches of cleared ice on frozen lakes - just enough for a lively game of impromptu hockey.

Unfortunately, it's not possible.  Only the elite go on to play on those hallowed halls of the NHL.

But those small boys playing out on the street grow up and they still dream - and play in their informal  recreational leagues across the country.

Budweiser  made that dream come true - or at least that perception - when they filmed this commercial that showed during a Superbowl ad time slot yesterday afternoon on Canadian Television - surprising a lot of Canadians........

It's probably the best ad of the Game yesterday and not one American got to see it.

It almost brought tears to my eyes to think of how these "grown-up boys" felt......well....watch the video.  It speaks for itself.




So - now you know how we feel in Canada when we have to view the ads after the game rather than during!

Here is the story behind the making of  the video.


************************************************
P.S.  If you will notice, the white shirts beat the blue shirts.  If you were using this to make a bet in the Superbowl - you would have won BIG!!!!!!!!!

It's amazing the way people can rally on the internet and cause change.  Some governments realize this and as a result, have limited access to their citizens.

Sometimes the changes made are revolutionary and sometimes they are insignificant for all but a few.

What is incredible is that, before the internet, many of these changes would have never taken place, and would have been, well,  impossible.

That's the power - formerly once only possessed by the few great and mighty - that is now in the hands of ordinary people like you and me.

You probably think I am referring to the political upheaval in Egypt or perhaps some other important current affair.

Nope.

Just  a 2 minute documentary about a 40 year old tractor in a small eastern B.C. town that was about to be replaced by a Zamboni posted on the internet.

The outcry to the city from people who watched this short film - 40K and counting ....  caused the town to reverse it's decision and save the old 1972 Ford tractor.


THE FLOOD from Juicy Studios on Vimeo

The Flood.

And here is the story.