To paint the picture, I was let go from my job and lost my health insurance. A couple days after I accepted a job offer I got Covid which turned into long covid (start date was over a month). From what I understood there wasn't much I could do but wait it out so I did, my issue is I had a low fever for about four weeks. As soon as I started my job and got my insurance info I went to the doctor just to make sure I didn't sous vide my brain.
I was sitting in the room waiting for a nurse to check me out and do nurse things when she finally swung the door open.
She came in hot, and by hot I mean clearly irritated and short tempered. She looked at my description and looked at me with a dead but exhausted look and said in a very condescending tone, “So you have long Covid”. and just stared at me like I was a fucking idiot.
“I guess? I don't know, I've been sick for a long time since I got Covid and I want to make sure I'm okay. What do I do about this?”
“Nothing. It's long Covid. This has been going on for three years, you should know this.”
Everything she said was extremely abrasive and short, and while I wanted to match her energy I could tell she was just burnt out. I have this weird super power where people confide in me, I've had it my whole life. Total strangers just trust me for whatever reason.
After a little bit I smoothed her feathers eventually and she just went off. She told me about how burnt out she is, how much she hates the job, the profession, this economy, how there's no help, etc. She went on about the current state of the economy and politics, and how France is actually coming together to protest and how upset she is that we're not doing this. She told me how she's absolutely ready to leave the country because she just can't take it anymore.
I felt terrible. I've been burnt out at every job I've ever had, so I completely understood what it's like to feel burnt out but not in the healthcare industry.
This went on for 30 minutes… 30 MINUTES this poor woman vented to me, a total stranger, a patient, about how she just can't do this anymore. I listened to every word because she clearly needed that and I'm totally fine offering an ear to bend.
Eventually she left after she was more composed and later coming back to tell me what the game plan was for me. And after she said, “Also… I'm so sorry. I'm just so burnt out. I haven't had therapy in a long time and I literally just set up an appointment the other day. I'm really sorry.”
I made it abundantly clear to her not to apologize, and if that she was going to do that to anyone it's a good thing it was me.
American Healthcare is fucked and the people working in it are absolutely being ground down. This is not sustainable. This is not okay.