When nurses go, pain follows

At some time in our lives, we or a family member will need a nurse in a hospital. It’s not an easy job dealing with the sick and dying and their families, but nurses do. They meld compassion and training. They must be attentive, cheerful, tactful always despite their own fatigue.

One nurse said, quizzically, “The patience of Job? He never worked the night shift.” It is no surprise nurses burn out and leave their profession. Nationwide, 100,000 have given up in the last few years.

In Iowa, there are about1,500 jobs vacant and that number will grow. I care about that and so should you. You’re going to get older. There is inevitably a nurse in your future.

I’m a very senior citizen and live in Coralville in a posh facility for almost 200 people. Many of us, maybe most, have seen a nurse this year.

Often, when I’m sitting on my balcony, an ambulance pulls up below. Someone is soon off to the hospital, often from a fall, and the need for immediate care of a nurse. She (or he) is there when you arrive, and a nurse will likely be at your side when you leave.

Once settled in your room, if you need help, maybe a pain killer pill, maybe just a bedpan, you push a button calling for help. You need a nurse and he or she is soon there. Almost always when I talk to someone coming home, they speak well of a nurse who helped at a tough time. They may complain about a doctor’s absence or the food or ambient noise, but not one has spoken negatively about a nurse. We are well served here. What worries me is, in the current “balance the budget at any cost’ domination of our government, from county to state to Congress, will use an ax to trim budgets.

We’re fortunate to have excellent schools of nursing in Linn and Johnson counties. Both two-year and four-year programs graduate Iowans almost all of whom stay here

The governor and the Legislature must not balance the budget on your care or mine. There ought to be money for scholarships, facilities, and faculty.

We should not be cutting the budget, but increasing our caregivers through scholarships, facilities, and faculty to match the need.

Across the country, nurses are leaving their profession, and we need to be concerned in Iowa. Many nurses just burned out with COVID burdens. It is hard to avoid even in normal times. One creative solution came from my state representative, Dave Jacoby. He suggested that cutting the workweek to 32 hours might significantly lessen burnout and departure. That may not be easy, but certainly well worth pursuing.

Even in ideal conditions, nurses are there to help the sick and dying. It is never a walk in the park, never without emotional draining events.

I write now because of my fear that conservative compulsion to cut social programs could damage nursing training and, thus, the lives of thousands of us, walking around today, but certain to need help tomorrow.

The Legislature ought to provide funds that make it easier for qualified men (they now make up 12% of nurses) and women to study here and become registered nurses.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary.