The title pretty much says it. I work at a small critical access hospital in a rural area. The whole area is having an increased rate of suicides (even fucking kids man) but our hospital staff have been hit the hardest. Especially our ER. I don't know the point of this post, but I'm just so sad and this seems like the only sub that would understand why.
I want to make clear that the suicide issue is predominantly nurses at our hospital but definitely not only them. The whole place is depressed. How long can we work for mediocre pay, shit conditions, getting yelled at by patients every time you ask mandatory covid/vaccination questions, being told I'm stupid for wearing my required mask, etc.
We used to have a great cafeteria but they chased away all the best workers so now I don't even have that to look forward to during a long shift.
Last fall I put in so many 16+ hr shifts for that place. I did get a raise but I'd rather have adequate staffing. If you mention union you are going to be stalked until you make a mistake they can fire you for, which is so easy when we are this understaffed. It's also so rural besides clinics and nursing homes there's nowhere else for medical folks to work.
God damnit I went into this career to help people and lately I feel like I can't even help myself. The gross stuff never bugged me, the long hours honestly don't even get to me, but the chronically understaffing the communities ONLY hospital is just so cruel to not only the employees but also the whole community. They aren't getting the best care. Management literally told us to “do what we can” about patient care. I just want the time and resources to actually care for patients the way I want to care for them.
I have voted in every single primary, local, and general election since I turned 18 and everything keeps getting worse. The way healthcare is run turned me into a liberal hating leftist BEFORE covid even happened, so by this point I'm so hopeless it's hard to even care.