Front Row

We all know that the economy has gone to sh**, sadly those of us in healthcare have gotten a front row seat in the impact this has had on our communities.

In the last couple months our SI\SA (suicide ideation,suicide attempts) have drastically increased. Before we would get people "attempting" suicide more for attention getting behavior than from depression. Now on average I deal with 2-3 true attempts a shift. These are patients that by shear luck someone has found them and called 911.

The despair these patients and their families find themselves in I cant even imagine. The sad story is that time and time again there are children involved, so not only have they been helplessly watching their parents struggling to make ends meet but now have to deal with fact that their parent choose the easier answer of death than the harder fight of staying with them and protecting them albeit with a less flashy lifestyle.

While I fight to keep these families together, I cross the hall and walk into another patient's room and advocate for the destruction of another.. The DV (domestic violence) rates are shooting up. Patients ,in particular women are showing up in droves with injuries that only a closed fist or boot could make. They come in with their bogus stories and babies that look at me with timid faces telling me about their Mommy's "ouchie". My heart breaks for these children stuck in almost a lose lose situation.. Stay in the current situation and watch the abuse and become a victim of it as well, or have mommy leave and end up on the street or living in the car because so many shelters are full right now.

I wish I had a solution... I pray the President does as I see only things getting worse as my community looks down the barrel at the upcoming layoff planned for the end of this month at our local major employer.