I had a lousy night last night. I am an insomniac so this is nothing new. And to make matters worse I had a terrible dream right before I woke up. Not quite as bad as a night terror but a nasty piece of business all the same. It was similar to other dreams I’ve had where I am wandering around in some very strange terrain, only this one was a bit more specific and definitely scarier. Toward the end of this dream I followed someone I trusted and was led to a staircase going down and told to follow the staircase which was very narrow and steep. I kept going down it and suddenly water was swirling around my feet. I was swept to the bottom of the stairs and washed out into rapidly flowing waters where my final thought was that I had been duped!
Basically this down the rabbit hole feeling is what I’ve experienced since this job loss. Once you are cut free from
the occupation that formed so much of your personal structure you are in a strange land. You have to marshal all your faculties and resources for the job hunt. The job hunt becomes your job. Of course life goes on otherwise so there are lots of other little ripples that spread out from this event. One of these ripples is maintaining your health insurance. Since it was a medical issue precipitating my job loss I was very concerned.
I knew my employer sponsored health plan would send me a notification regarding COBRA provisions to continue my insurance. They have 45 days to do so. In the meantime, if you have prescriptions to get filled your insurance will deny payment because your insurance ends the last day of the month in which you were terminated. Of course as soon as they notify you regarding your COBRA election and you pay the outrageous premium they assign to you, you will be reinstated.
This year because of the Economic Recovery Act, you may be entitled to a break in your premium rate. I certainly felt I was entitled to this as I fit the criteria of having been terminated by my employer within the stated time limits. However, when I sent in the application for this I got a denial letter from my COBRA administrator, because it was stated I voluntarily left my position. No way! I was referred to the Department of Labor where I spoke to a representative named Barbara. I explained my situation and she told me to stay on the line while she called the HR department at my former employer. On the other end of other line I got to listen to some lackey deny any knowledge of my particular situation, unfortunately true, because he wasn’t the snippy person I had been dealing with.
He actually told Ms Barbara with the Department of Labor he would not be able to help her because he really had no way of knowing if she was who she said she was!
Ms Barbara directed me to their website to submit an appeal.
I filled this out and included all my documentation and sent this off. I was told a ruling would be made on my case within 15 days. During this time the insurance company is not paying for any of your drugs, doctor visits, or treatments unless you’ve paid that outrageous premium.
Also during this time I received notification regarding my retirement account rollover. This had to be dealt with, as well as my long-term disability insurance, and my life insurance.
Altogether, handling all these issues took up several days of my life.
Did I mention my resume?
Finally I got a message on my phone from Ms. Barbara that I was going to receive the COBRA reduction of premium and that I would get a notification soon from my COBRA administrator.
She wanted me to notify her when it happened. Actually I received a mail notification from her first so I faxed it to my
COBRA administrator and sent in the reduced premium amount to restore my insurance coverage. Then I followed up with them to ask if my coverage had been restored. Amazingly someone had misfiled the fax so that had not happened!
They assured me I would receive a call from Cindy regarding my new payment amount. Finally on February 1, two full months
After my last day of coverage I received their notification by mail with premium coupons. Ms Barbara had already called me to see if I was receiving the reduction of premium.
I can truthfully say during this whole episode Ms Barbara with the Department of Labor was the only person who acted like she was even remotely interested or motivated to move in a timely fashion to restore my insurance benefits. Thank you Ms Barbara!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Termination – What It’s Meant To Me
Does termination mean being fired? Well, not if that all important line about you being eligible for rehire is also included. When you get fired they don’t offer to rehire you. Semantics? Well, not entirely. So, even though my position was terminated, I have the cold comfort of knowing at least it wasn’t for some violation of nursing practice or corporate rule, some act of insubordination, or employee dishonesty. No, what got me was not being able to comply with that contract that said I’d work those twelve hour shifts. At least that’s the contention of my former employer.
Having received my letter of termination I reflected on the possibilities before me. I have never been “terminated” before, so I felt that some respectful consideration was called for. How did this happen? I was so excited about this job, about the relocation back to my beloved little house in Melrose. The idea of being close enough to see all my new grandbabies, and the rest of my Florida family was something I had been pining for over the last months leading up to our move. The job was going to make all this possible. And now there was no job. No job and two mortgages add up to a cash flow crunch. Knowing you don’t have enough money to pay your bills puts an end to root cause analysis pronto!
About this time I would normally be out applying for any and all nursing positions available but now I had a new restriction on me. I could no longer work the mandatory twelve hour shifts most hospital jobs require. The hospital jobs are the highest paying jobs for nurses today. So off to apply for agency jobs I went. Actually, what I did was use the phone directory and looked up every agency I could find and applied on-line. The first five or six had no or few openings, or hiring freezes. I really wanted to work for the university home health agency that had done visits to my mom but they had no “lines” for new staff. I had just missed out on one job opening but was told they would call me in the future. I really did not want to drive to the next big city south due to the commute. It would be a commute on top of the driving between patients, which I felt would just set me up for a relapse of my back ailment. I received email acknowledgements to my applications and resumes from some of the companies and others I got no response from at all. I went to all the nearby doctor’s offices and clinics. Many don’t have office nurses. They use medical techs and are not interested in hiring nurses due to the difference in pay.
During all this time, from my last day at work until my termination, and even now I have had to continue to keep up with my exercise program, traction, and physical therapy. I did not file a worker’s comp claim. My injuries are the result of a life of hard physical work compounded by injuries in an automobile accident. The nature of my work and the length of the work day do not favor anyone with my physical issues. Just as I’ve dealt with this for many years I know I will have to be vigilant for the rest of my life to stay upright and mobile. Surgery is not something I want to think about, but there are times when I get one of those twinges that stop me in my tracks and cause my legs to weaken momentarily. Then I wonder if that’s what it will come to, my having to come to grips with it.
I had not had a paycheck in three months so I filed for unemployment. Nowadays this is something you can do in the privacy of your home. I read all the rules and managed to get through the process and was informed that I would be contacted within the week. This is exactly what happened. However, the person calling me said I would be better off filing in my previous state so once again I waded through the process. At some point I had another telephone conversation with a charming young lady who commented on how long it had taken me to complete the application. Thanks! After another week of waiting I would be able to file a “certification” that would grant me a week of unemployment that equaled about a third of what my former pay was. I’m not complaining; now I had enough income to pay one of my mortgages!
Next blog: An Angel at the Department of Labor!
Does termination mean being fired? Well, not if that all important line about you being eligible for rehire is also included. When you get fired they don’t offer to rehire you. Semantics? Well, not entirely. So, even though my position was terminated, I have the cold comfort of knowing at least it wasn’t for some violation of nursing practice or corporate rule, some act of insubordination, or employee dishonesty. No, what got me was not being able to comply with that contract that said I’d work those twelve hour shifts. At least that’s the contention of my former employer.
Having received my letter of termination I reflected on the possibilities before me. I have never been “terminated” before, so I felt that some respectful consideration was called for. How did this happen? I was so excited about this job, about the relocation back to my beloved little house in Melrose. The idea of being close enough to see all my new grandbabies, and the rest of my Florida family was something I had been pining for over the last months leading up to our move. The job was going to make all this possible. And now there was no job. No job and two mortgages add up to a cash flow crunch. Knowing you don’t have enough money to pay your bills puts an end to root cause analysis pronto!
About this time I would normally be out applying for any and all nursing positions available but now I had a new restriction on me. I could no longer work the mandatory twelve hour shifts most hospital jobs require. The hospital jobs are the highest paying jobs for nurses today. So off to apply for agency jobs I went. Actually, what I did was use the phone directory and looked up every agency I could find and applied on-line. The first five or six had no or few openings, or hiring freezes. I really wanted to work for the university home health agency that had done visits to my mom but they had no “lines” for new staff. I had just missed out on one job opening but was told they would call me in the future. I really did not want to drive to the next big city south due to the commute. It would be a commute on top of the driving between patients, which I felt would just set me up for a relapse of my back ailment. I received email acknowledgements to my applications and resumes from some of the companies and others I got no response from at all. I went to all the nearby doctor’s offices and clinics. Many don’t have office nurses. They use medical techs and are not interested in hiring nurses due to the difference in pay.
During all this time, from my last day at work until my termination, and even now I have had to continue to keep up with my exercise program, traction, and physical therapy. I did not file a worker’s comp claim. My injuries are the result of a life of hard physical work compounded by injuries in an automobile accident. The nature of my work and the length of the work day do not favor anyone with my physical issues. Just as I’ve dealt with this for many years I know I will have to be vigilant for the rest of my life to stay upright and mobile. Surgery is not something I want to think about, but there are times when I get one of those twinges that stop me in my tracks and cause my legs to weaken momentarily. Then I wonder if that’s what it will come to, my having to come to grips with it.
I had not had a paycheck in three months so I filed for unemployment. Nowadays this is something you can do in the privacy of your home. I read all the rules and managed to get through the process and was informed that I would be contacted within the week. This is exactly what happened. However, the person calling me said I would be better off filing in my previous state so once again I waded through the process. At some point I had another telephone conversation with a charming young lady who commented on how long it had taken me to complete the application. Thanks! After another week of waiting I would be able to file a “certification” that would grant me a week of unemployment that equaled about a third of what my former pay was. I’m not complaining; now I had enough income to pay one of my mortgages!
Next blog: An Angel at the Department of Labor!
Monday, February 1, 2010
The challenge for me is to find a job utilizing the job skills I’ve learned over a lifetime in a venue consistent with my present physical limitations. The great thing about nursing is if one area doesn’t work for you another area will, and that is what I’ve been working on-finding another area that is interesting, rewarding, and that I can perform. This week was a breakthrough for me. After weeks of acute care postings, and medical coding and billing positions, several viable positions have emerged. The pay is not what I’ve been used to, but I’m reconciled to finding a job, the best job I can find, and work part-time so I can finally get my degree, a lifelong goal.
So, having said all that, what employment gems have risen to the surface? Well, on Craigslist I found four offerings with potential. The first one was a contract situation doing blood sugar testing at Walgreen’s. I can do this job and it pays almost $300 a shift, pretty close to hospital wages. How many times will I be able to do this job is unknown at this time. But there are numerous Walgreen’s in this area. Unfortunately, they did not need any one else when I called but I am submitting the application in the event someone cancels .
The other job, for which I interviewed, is an office position. I felt the interview went very well, but I’ve not heard back from them yet. I believe they will notify me one way or another about the job. It pays at least 30% less than my accustomed pay rate but it is part-time and would allow me to go to school two days a week. The job is very interesting because it’s working with two doctors who perform many in-office procedures. The patients are ambulatory, so no lifting! The only other RN in the office has been overworked with the aspects of the job requiring a nurse’s attention so another nurse, as opposed to a technician, would be a great relief to her. The office itself is gorgeous! It is a drive, 29 miles, but not much further than the hospital I was working at. She asked me why someone with my qualifications was applying for the job and I was very candid about my situation. I sure hope it works out.
To increase my hiring potential I’m also applying for another job with a home care agency to provide care on a shift basis to bedridden patients. I’m hoping that if this is what I end up taking it does not prove to be too much for me. The two patients described to me do not sound like too much of a physical challenge. There is also the potential for being able to do some school work as this is essentially a private duty situation. And believe it or not, I have another interview for an out-patient cardiac cath position. This job is potentially the highest paying one, but may require more in the area of physical abilities than I am capable of at this time.
So these are my possibilities. I am so encouraged that there seems to be a break in hiring for positions other than the acute care setting. Maybe the economy is really in an upturn situation! From my perspective it would appear so.
So, having said all that, what employment gems have risen to the surface? Well, on Craigslist I found four offerings with potential. The first one was a contract situation doing blood sugar testing at Walgreen’s. I can do this job and it pays almost $300 a shift, pretty close to hospital wages. How many times will I be able to do this job is unknown at this time. But there are numerous Walgreen’s in this area. Unfortunately, they did not need any one else when I called but I am submitting the application in the event someone cancels .
The other job, for which I interviewed, is an office position. I felt the interview went very well, but I’ve not heard back from them yet. I believe they will notify me one way or another about the job. It pays at least 30% less than my accustomed pay rate but it is part-time and would allow me to go to school two days a week. The job is very interesting because it’s working with two doctors who perform many in-office procedures. The patients are ambulatory, so no lifting! The only other RN in the office has been overworked with the aspects of the job requiring a nurse’s attention so another nurse, as opposed to a technician, would be a great relief to her. The office itself is gorgeous! It is a drive, 29 miles, but not much further than the hospital I was working at. She asked me why someone with my qualifications was applying for the job and I was very candid about my situation. I sure hope it works out.
To increase my hiring potential I’m also applying for another job with a home care agency to provide care on a shift basis to bedridden patients. I’m hoping that if this is what I end up taking it does not prove to be too much for me. The two patients described to me do not sound like too much of a physical challenge. There is also the potential for being able to do some school work as this is essentially a private duty situation. And believe it or not, I have another interview for an out-patient cardiac cath position. This job is potentially the highest paying one, but may require more in the area of physical abilities than I am capable of at this time.
So these are my possibilities. I am so encouraged that there seems to be a break in hiring for positions other than the acute care setting. Maybe the economy is really in an upturn situation! From my perspective it would appear so.
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