End of an era
My mother may have to resign her job before she gets fired. She's been with a large hospital system for over 25 years, the last 13 of those as an educator teaching, among other things, Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (what most of us laypeople know as CPR). She's been a Training Site Coordinator for the American Heart Association, attended conferences, been available whenever the hospital needed instructors, even worked during a hurricane and from home when she was recovering from one of her many surgeries. She's basically put her heart and soul into her job; now it looks like she may not have it much longer.
Mom got an e-mail on Friday from the AHA telling her that her instructor status had been revoked. This is a major thing - it means that she cannot teach BLS and ACLS, and those are a huge part of her job. No reason was given as to why this was done, and the hospital's current Training Site Coordinator wouldn't return her phone calls and didn't say a word to her about it the day before. Technically there may be a reason for revoking her instructor credentials; since her shoulder replacement last year she can't demonstrate chest compressions, and that's a part of teaching AC/BLS. But if that is the reason it's a pretty flimsy one since she's been teaching with that restriction for over a year and is one of the hospital's best instructors, often being called upon to fix her fellow instructors' screw-ups and no-shows. No, Mom suspects that the main reason behind this is office politics - she's had some problems with the new (and incompetent) department manager, and the woman would probably not be sad to see Mom go. (Of course, the rest of the department probably wouldn't be sad to see the new manager go.)
Mom doesn't actually work full-time anymore; she's been semi-retired since 2009, working ten days a month and drawing retirement and Social Security since she's old enough to do so. But it still hurts her that she could be forced out of a job she (usually) enjoys because of a sleazy, underhanded power play. The loss of the extra income won't be huge but it will make a dent, and she may also lose the discounts on cable, phone service, and other things that she got through her job. And then there's health insurance - she's old enough for Medicare (she turned 70 this year), but she takes a lot of medications and uses a CPAP, and there's no telling how much of that Medicare will cover. Not to mention the simple fact that she liked just being able to get out of the house and work; if she loses her job she doesn't know what she'll do with herself all day.
I'd like to think this was all a mistake on AHA's part but I know better - this couldn't have happened without the Training Site Coordinator's knowledge and approval. Mom had been talking about leaving in a few years anyway after she'd finished paying off the mortgage, but that's probably not going to happen now. And I'm furious to think that the hospital could do this to her when they're already strapped for competent instructors. Maybe this will be a good thing. Maybe not. Looks like all we can do now is wait and see.
ETA: She's decided to resign and plans to turn in her resignation letter when she returns to work on Tuesday, to take effect in September. She's had enough of the politics, backstabbing, and incompetence and is going to retire fully - the department can go hang for all she cares now. She's already planning a scathing letter for her exit interview.
Mom got an e-mail on Friday from the AHA telling her that her instructor status had been revoked. This is a major thing - it means that she cannot teach BLS and ACLS, and those are a huge part of her job. No reason was given as to why this was done, and the hospital's current Training Site Coordinator wouldn't return her phone calls and didn't say a word to her about it the day before. Technically there may be a reason for revoking her instructor credentials; since her shoulder replacement last year she can't demonstrate chest compressions, and that's a part of teaching AC/BLS. But if that is the reason it's a pretty flimsy one since she's been teaching with that restriction for over a year and is one of the hospital's best instructors, often being called upon to fix her fellow instructors' screw-ups and no-shows. No, Mom suspects that the main reason behind this is office politics - she's had some problems with the new (and incompetent) department manager, and the woman would probably not be sad to see Mom go. (Of course, the rest of the department probably wouldn't be sad to see the new manager go.)
Mom doesn't actually work full-time anymore; she's been semi-retired since 2009, working ten days a month and drawing retirement and Social Security since she's old enough to do so. But it still hurts her that she could be forced out of a job she (usually) enjoys because of a sleazy, underhanded power play. The loss of the extra income won't be huge but it will make a dent, and she may also lose the discounts on cable, phone service, and other things that she got through her job. And then there's health insurance - she's old enough for Medicare (she turned 70 this year), but she takes a lot of medications and uses a CPAP, and there's no telling how much of that Medicare will cover. Not to mention the simple fact that she liked just being able to get out of the house and work; if she loses her job she doesn't know what she'll do with herself all day.
I'd like to think this was all a mistake on AHA's part but I know better - this couldn't have happened without the Training Site Coordinator's knowledge and approval. Mom had been talking about leaving in a few years anyway after she'd finished paying off the mortgage, but that's probably not going to happen now. And I'm furious to think that the hospital could do this to her when they're already strapped for competent instructors. Maybe this will be a good thing. Maybe not. Looks like all we can do now is wait and see.
ETA: She's decided to resign and plans to turn in her resignation letter when she returns to work on Tuesday, to take effect in September. She's had enough of the politics, backstabbing, and incompetence and is going to retire fully - the department can go hang for all she cares now. She's already planning a scathing letter for her exit interview.