To Theresa

[Guest guest]

Thanks Theresa,

I meant to commiserate with you last Friday when you posted a

message of support. I wish there was a way that I could help you

with situations like this. It is a double whammy when it involves

a medical school I think. But I really think that they are in trouble

all over the country. We were told 10-15 years ago that the HMOs

and other insurance plans were going to be hard on medical

schools. The school in Minnesota was the first to go I think and

seeing that they are our close neigbors, it rattled alot of our

deans. I think that this is the last step that they can take before

they too go under. Sad to think of the path to their decline. Not

30 - 40 years ago it was a big part of Marquette University - a well

known and respected school. Then they went off by themselves -

schoolwise, but affiliated with a County Hospital. That hospital

was bought out by a private one 10 years ago or so and most of

those employees lost their jobs. So we watched the cruel way

that the new hospital did this. Then the hospital labs were sold

to a for-profit company, which were then sold to a bigger for-profit

company. So again, massive lay-offs. Then the County hospital

was torn down and we all lost our physical places of

employment and had to scramble to find new space. During this

scramble is when I hurt myself and ended up in the hospital with

my first emergency surgery (which ended up with me having

CP...but that is another story). And now we watch as the medical

college sells out to this private hospital and goes though another

massive lay-off.

But looking back on the last couple of years, the signs were

there. We were just too naive or over confident or something, to

notice. But with re-imbursement so low....with most clinics

running in the red, it is not surprising that the college had to get

rid of 25% of the work force. Just seems like they cut off their

nose to spit their face though........

But as for me, I am getting from your post that partial disability is

only a worker's compensation term and offered only through that

insurance - not the social security disability one that has been

discussed recently. So that leaves me out....mine is not worker's

comp.

As far as the rest of the information......I guess we come from two

different backgrounds. Where I live, if you don't drive, you don't

have a job. We are 30 minutes to an hour away from any kinda

job market. I am lucky that I can car-pool now and if I have to find

another job not on campus, then I am restricted because of my

driving limitations (in the morning I am too hungover from my

drugs to even consider driving most days). As far as the medical

thing....I am confused there too because it seems that in one

breath you are saying that you do not have to tell anyone you are

taking drugs, but then in another you say you should tell the

doctor...which is the employer, in my situation. So I am not sure

how you get around not saying anything. or saying that they don't

have a right to know. That is why I asked about it.......how can you

keep it private, while at the same time being able to pass the

drug screen legally? This is that old conflict of interest inherent

when you work for the place that is responsible for your health

needs. Hopefully there are enlightened work places out there

that don't make you do those screens. Luckily, the college that I

work for now, doesn't do that.....they recognize how intrusive it is

and that there are other ways to detect a problem, if there is one.

Your point is well taken to not apply for jobs that don't suit my

physical limitations. But I think that most employers will not

condone my adaptations to work. My not doing anything that

needs a brain in the morning because of my hang-over to

needing to take short naps in the afternoon when I am having a

bad day. And of course, these are never predictable. The job I

have now is very flexible with that because they recognize that it

is better to have me at half capacity than not at all....and that there

is some guilt that I am the way I am because of them (a surgeon

who didn't know what she was doing) so there is some lee-way

given by them and taken by me. (Can you detect a note of whiny

baby attitude here? I know, and I am trying to get out of this funk).

However, I recognize how lucky I have been with my job situation

and how I cannot expect to find that anywhere else that I go to. I

guess that is where my childish selfishness is setting

in.........That, " you can't do this to me because you are the ones

who made me like this...unemployable! " " How dare you make

me unemployable then take away the only job that I am fit to do " .

It is a thought process that is killing me right now.

laurie