So my wife gets home from work last night, sees me and bursts into tears

[yonder]

She's professionally well-regarded as a critical care nurse and has been for over 40 years.....in Idaho.

Close to retirement, she feels yesterday's announcement of our statewide implementation of 'crisis standards of care' pretty much torpedoed her hopes of leaving her patients, colleagues, institution and profession better off than when she first began.

As we all are in some way or other, she is yet another victim of our collective failure to come together while using science and work positively towards doing what needs to be done.

[Moostache]

1. My sympathy to your wife and this ordeal she must live through...

But I am done giving a single fuck about ANYONE unvaccinated at this point - unless they simply cannot vaccinate for medical reasons (not the phony bullshit religious ones).

I want these people who refuse to proactively seek mitigations to go into holding tanks - open air, fenced offed and tarped - and WAIT THEIR TURN for everyone else to get care first. They are choosing, in my mind, to go to the back of the line. Their fucking "freedumb" does not come with a "skip-the-line" pass and it should significantly increase the likelihood that THEY die waiting for treatment and not other people having heart attacks or scheduled cancer surgery or fixing a hernia.

Enough is enough. Get vaccinated or get the fuck out of the hospital system until there is down time to see if you can be saved - NOT THE GODDAMN OTHER WAY AROUND.

[louslobbs]

25. Thank you, I'll let your anger and frustration speak

for my own.

[MiHale]

29. Amen, amen, amen, amen...

[BobTheSubgenius]

58. A bandwagon well worth jumping on!

[Cracklin Charlie]

2. Your wife has not failed.

I’ll bet money her patients don’t feel like she failed them.

She sounds like a wonderful person. Give her a big hug from me.

[dutch777]

10. Ditto!!!

[sarchasm]

14. x 1,000,000!!

[SergeStorms]

23. It was republicans who failed...

for politicizing the pandemic and down playing the seriousness of this horrible virus.

Your wife sounds like she did everything a human being could have possibly done to leave her profession better than she found it.

She has absolutely no reason to hang her head in sadness. Think of how bad things would have been if she wasn't there. That should be the measure of her success. She kept the train from going completely off the rails.

Please thank her for all of us for her dedication to duty, and her compassion in a time of complete chaos. Others would have run from such a terrible time (and many did) but she sacrificed so much to aid complete strangers in their time of need. She's a champion.

[spooky3]

3. I'm so sorry. Nt

[bottomofthehill]

4. Please give your wife a DU group hug from all of us.

In 40 years she has helped thousands of people. You just can’t fix stupid you can try to help them, work to save them, but you just can’t fix stupid. 40 years a nurse, you married an amazing woman.

[blm]

28. ✔️

[Clash City Rocker]

5. Tell her that a lot of us see her as a hero

I’m sorry she’s been put through the ringer like this.

[Dorian Gray]

6. Ooof

I am so sorry. This must be a trying time for her, and so difficult for all of her colleagues, too.

Hope you can give her comfort away from the job, and I hope her retirement comes soon. Her own physical and mental health are important, so she should do what she needs to to maintain them.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. It's not her fault, not from lack of trying or skill. You said it: "she is a victim" . . . . nt

[Evolve Dammit]

8. I share her feeling that we are not anywhere near where we could/ should be

[bluecollar2]

9. I don't know your wife but I'm sure

That the world is a better place because of her work.

[Retired Engineer Bob]

11. Let your wife know that she has my support

That her career helping others is appreciated. I recently spoke with my infectious disease specialist, he had over 10 folks currently in the ICU on ventilators, none of whom were vaccinated. He has given up arguing with the anti-vax nut jobs, they just refuse to listen. Their Facebook “research” trumps his medical knowledge. He is so PO’d he will be taking an early retirement as soon as this is over.

[Irish_Dem]

12. It is a societal failure, not your wife's.

She bears no responsibility at all for what is happening.

With such a stellar professional record, she deserves accolades.

[sarge43]

13. Deepest admiration and thanks

The courage and dedication given by her and others like her should humble us.

She saves lives, no higher duty.

A virtual

[Roc2020]

15. The pandemic was horrific, but

Trump and the GOP politicizing it has caused suffering to heroes like your wife and untold deaths that frankly it's almost unforgivable

[Rural_Progressive]

16. My dear wife was a critical care burn nurse for almost 40 years

She retired almost three years ago and I am so grateful she has not been involved in this.

Both our hearts have been breaking for months thinking about what her colleagues have had to endure for this past year and a half.

Please let her know there many of us who have either been in the field or have loved and supported someone doing that so very difficult work that are with her, and you, in thought and spirit.

[DFW]

17. Since my wife was in somewhat the same boat, please let her know that she is the hero, not a failure

My wife was not a nurse, but a social worker, and that was here in Germany, which has a somewhat more extensive social safety net than the USA, although nowhere near the phony legends spread about it in some circles for (apparently) propaganda purposes.

But even so, her success stories often came from her skirting the system than from her working within it. Some of her "clients" needed to be shepherded through the maze of German bureaucracy, and often around it. But she fought for her unemployed charges like a wounded badger defending her cubs, getting them debt relief, cheap housing, and food, even when they would have preferred liquor. When some of them still preferred to live under a bridge, and the system was perfectly happy to let them, it crushed her, but she kept on until her very last day, when she dragged some Russian immigrant to some office that granted him some money and a job application where he never would have survived the battle himself.

The system is often uncaring. The ones who keep caring despite that are the true heroes of society, even if the burden is so crushing at times as to drive them to tears. My wife shed enough of her own, so I know what it means.

[LittleGirl]

48. Amazing woman, she is

I admire from afar. All the best.

[DFW]

49. Thanks!

She instilled the same values in our two daughters, though they went into different lines of work. During the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the one that lives in the USA volunteered to help clean out houses in the New York area that had been wasted by water and mud. The younger one, the one that now lives back here in Europe, volunteered (and was half of the two out of 200 applicants selected) for the UN War Crimes Tribunal in Sierra Leone in West Africa. Apples and trees................

[peacefreak2.0]

18. She sounds like she's the best of her profession

dealing with a devastating circumstances. It is not her failure to bear. Wishing you both peace.

[joetheman]

19. Thanking your wife for her service to humanity.

[Hortensis]

20. I don't believe in collective failure. We were never one.

Some have always believed in a nation of equal people free to pursue their happiness and others have always opposed that. The majority on whom civilization has always depended has failed in this era, though, to contain those who'd destroy it.

I'm very grateful to your wife and others like her for their extra special contributions to everyone's wellbeing and to what we can be proud of. We couldn't do without them.

[DENVERPOPS]

21. It took me a long time to realize

that you can't help someone that doesn't want to help themselves.........

The nation's health care workers should rise up and consider, in masse, refusing to take care of individuals who refused to be vaccinated. Tough love, but I can't understand why someone should be forced to wear themselves out, physically and emotionally and risk death themselves to help the ones that won't get vaccinated for no real reason......

[OldBaldy1701E]

59. I agree

I understand their oath, but in desperate times... We need consequences for those idiots who choose to not protect their fellow American and themselves. Personally, I would suggest making another Andersonville and tossing them all into it. But that is just me.

[AllaN01Bear]

22. i hope when and if i have to go to the er there is room for me as i am afib.

rates normaly 140-150. bpm.

[summer_in_TX]

24. That is so disappointing, I know.

What is happening now in America (with COVID and the damage Trump has done to our country) is devastating.

[louslobbs]

26. Your wife did not fail, she is a hero!

n/t

[mudstump]

27. Please thank your wife....

for all the hard work she is putting into her care of others. My son is a nurse as well, and I am in awe of the medical professionals who are giving everything they have to their patients. Please let her know that she has tremendous support from so many people who want to lift her spirits and support her and her colleagues in this dire time.

[llashram]

30. ++

your wife has my undying respect...

[jimfields33]

31. Your wife has done a remarkable job for Idaho.

It’s at the bottom in terms of deaths over the last almost two years and really an overall small amount of positives compared to the rest of the country. Remind her that she’s doing Idaho proud.

[greblach]

39. She is a Hero!

While she is doing great work, Idaho hospitals are now rationing care (death panels anyone?) due to the state government's lackadaisical attitude to reasonable public health precautions...And so now they are sending many patients across the border to Washington (who has for the most part managed it responsibly, and is not happy with this)...Healthcare staff burnout is a real thing... We will never get through this without a more concerted effort by everybody...we are not over it by a long shot yet...

[MLAA]

32. Please give these extra hugs to your wife and thank her all she does on the front line.

I can’t imagine her angst and pain. She is a true heroine.

[usaf-vet]

33. I completely empathize with your wife and her feelings. When I left my last duty station....

...... in the deep south in 1969. As a human, I thought I had seen the last of racial hated. As a military medic, I thought I had seen the last of wars and deciding who lives and dies based on triage in an overwhelming mass casualty.

Today I woke up to two stories on DU that saddened me because the country doesn't seem to have moved forward. In fact, it appears to be willfully moving in backward.

Tell your wife the country needs more folks like her in all professions.

And as to the second referenced DU OP of the day here is my comments.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1017&pid=681876

[panader0]

34. Your wife is a hero.

Her job is made much more difficult by guys like this Idaho doctor, now on a health board, that
thinks vaccines are fake.
https://democraticunderground.com/100215864682

[SleeplessinSoCal]

35. Another tragic result of being lockstep with stupid.

This is so well said:

"As we all are in some way or other, she is yet another victim of our collective failure to come together while using science and work positively towards doing what needs to be done."

The idea that we are the "United" States of America is pathetic. A cruel joke. And cruel jokes are going to destroy what's left of us. Or with any luck wake us up.

[AngryOldDem]

37. We're basically in a second Civil War at this point...

…on so many levels. As if the first one ever really ended.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

50. I totally agree. How does this one end?

I just watched a bit of "Other People's Money". A very real life look at free enterprise and abuse of the system in a moment in time of 1991. Abuse became mainstream as more and more we lack real acknowledgement of "promoting the general welfare" as stated in the preamble of our Constitution.

"The concern of the government for the health, peace, morality, and safety of its citizens. Providing for the welfare of the general public is a basic goal of government. Promotion of the general welfare is also a stated purpose in state constitutions and statutes."

We really must make this an issue and use a bullhorn when stressing its importance.

Sidebar: A supposedly funny line in the 1991 movie referenced the people abusing the system either behind bars like Milkin for racketeering or "Trump is waiting tables".

The movie gets it right in that the abuser prevails. I do think the people manipulated to hate libs have been thoroughly brainwashed if they aren't out there abusing our system of government. The response to being called "libtard" should be "You're nothing but a tool of the greediest people in the world".

[AngryOldDem]

36. I am tired of this.

It is time to treat adults who have selfishly, ignorantly, and stupidly refused to get vaccinated as lepers when they inevitably get sick. They do not get priority for any medical care, especially in an emergency setting. They should not complicate the jobs of health care workers, nor jeopardize the lives of those who seek care for other dire medical issues.

They made their choice by listening to Fox, Trump, the voices in their heads, whatever. Let them now live with that choice. Or not. They are the ones holding us all hostage with this disease.

I’m sick of this bullshit. And I’m so sorry for your wife.

[MontanaMama]

38. I wish I could hug your dear hero of a wife...

But since I cannot, please hug her for me. She absolutely did not fail. She is operating in a system stacked against competent caring people. I am sick and sad she and others are going through this.

[roamer65]

40. It is a war.

In war, there are casualties.

You cannot save everyone.

All she can do is her best.

[ancianita]

42. She did her part for humanity. Humanity is lucky to have her. She is a great spirit.

We are all better off for her work, skill, empathy, heart and commitment to doing her best.

We all hug and thank her and you, too.

[bronxiteforever]

43. She is a hero, a saint, an angel. She stands for healing

in a dark time. A light in the darkness. Her life is a life well lived. After the chaos, may she recharge in her retirement and experience the peaceful beauty of this world as her reward for she deserves this.
☮️

[appleannie1]

44. My daughter is getting more disillusioned by the day.

She told me today that even if she can get a couple days off for Thanksgiving, she is not going to be part of the family gathering this year. She would not be able to sit at a table where her unvaccinated brother and my brother, a Republican, are talking about crap they know nothing about. The hospital where she is working has started putting patients in the parking garage because all the rooms are full. It is their new triage center. So she does not want to hear s**t. As she put it, she doesn't have the energy to keep her mouth shut let alone enough to argue.

[wnylib]

47. Regardless of what her brother and uncle say,

who would even WANT to attend an indoor gathering and dinner with unvaccinated people?

[wryter2000]

45. Please give her our love

It won't help much, but it's all I can do as well as making calls to support Dem candidates.

[Joinfortmill]

46. She's a hero

[Texaswitchy]

51. Bless your wife.

She can only do what she can.

She is not wonder woman.

[KatK]

52. Sending her empathy and respect. Incomprehensibly awful what health care workers are enduring... n/t

[susanr516]

53. Health care employees are true heroes

They have spent the last 18 months in a virtual war zone. They're burned out. They have PTSD from what they've experienced. We're in TX and every health care professional I know have told me the sickest patients they have are all unvaccinated. They're frustrated and every one of them has said, "This was preventable," when they talk about the current wave of infections here.

[NH Ethylene]

54. I just can't imagine how hard it is for her, and others like her, during this Covid surge.

I don't even know how they do it. They really are the heroes of our day.

[calimary]

55. Please thank her for us here.

We understand the pressure and the heartbreak that goes with a really hard job and essential like hers.

Please thank her for her bravery, strength, and whatever stamina she has left.

[tavernier]

56. It's time for nurses to say, Bullshit! You abandoned us!

We are here, have always been. And will be.

Yes a lot of nurses and other healthcare workers are leaving because they have their own families to consider, and that is as it should be. But enough will stay so that you can get vaccinated.

Well… hopefully…

[brewens]

57. I'm in Lewiston. Tomorrow there is a terrorist sympathizer, COVIDiot, flag humpin' hootenanny

at Pioneer Park. That's about two blocks from our slammed hospital, St. Joe's. Gonna show us how patriotic they are again.

[keithbvadu2]

60. Republicans are now creating their death panels.

Republicans are now creating their death panels.

GOP used to claim they were against them.

[Takket]

61. She's a hero and her patriot for her service to the public.

Please send her my love. She should feel nothing but ride in a fantastic career!