Seeing various workers strike recently made me recall the walk-out I once was caught in. It was very disruptive, and we were all glad, both strikers and non-strikers alike, when the Union came to terms with Management.
Strike
"Patients before Profit!"
"Honk if you support nurses!"
It's not about the money.
It's always about the money.
* * *
MD on my name tag: a toxic
cipher to the marchers
but a pass to cross their line.
The waiting-room slimed
with runny noses and coughs.
A single travel-nurse triaging.
"Safe staffing now!" faintly audible.
The chant mingles with the gnat-like
buzz from an aggrieved ER light.
Infant struggling to breathe placed
in Critical Room One. Oxygen started,
nasal swab sent, portable X-ray taken.
Admit with RSV. But where? Into
whose hands? Transfer. But where?
Next up: a clean cut to be stitched.
In reality: wild child vs pinch hitter
lacking savvy. No soothing words, no
warm blanket wrap to contain wiggles.
The father faints. My bumbling sidekick
and I tend to him. Child wailing. Sterile
field broken.
New gloves. New suture. New needle.
Papa newly seated.
Outside: fireworks dampened at midnight.
Marilyn Aschoff Mellor
