More Bloggy Goodness...Updates

I feel like it has been forever since I've really poured my heart and feelings into this blog. I am aware that feelings are the true ingredient for making this blog readable and enjoyable. Boy do I have some feelings for you. Prior to going home to Austin at the beginning of July, I had come to the decision that I was ready to move back home. I was disappointed in my job, I was disappointed in the progress I was making in my work and I was suffering through one of the hottest summers imaginable. Unfortunately, the summer has only gotten hotter and we're looking at temps in the triple digits this week. But my other concerns have begun to relieve themselves.

An update on my job: For the last several months I have been straddling Hospice, Palliative Care and working my tail off to get my new pilot program started. The Hospice program is short-staffed, the Palliative Care program is incredibly short-staffed, with a summer intern maintaining a huge caseload (she leaves next week). And the new pilot program is still getting a slow start because my nurse has also been straddling all three programs. As of two weeks ago, I have reduced my Hospice caseload to 1!! It was heartbreaking to have to give away my Hospice patients to another social worker. I had great transition visits and felt I was leaving my babies in good hands. The Palliative Care program is growing steadily and we are having to stretch ourselves thin with the loss of our nurse practitioner and our intern. I have taken on the bulk of the patients, caring for more than half of the program. Luckily, Palliative Care patients are as critical as Hospice patients and can be managed with monthly visits rather than bi-weekly visits.

But the best part is the progress being made on the pilot program. My partner in crime, Nurse Sue and I hit the pavement last week, knocking on the doors of the potential patients. Of the 15 doors that we knocked on in one day, two patients said yes to our program. You may be thinking that this isn't a very good turnout, but to be honest, we only were able to make contact with four patients and one was moving out of our catchment area and the other had disenrolled from the managed Medicaid program, which left her ineligible. My superiors were so proud of us and we'll be completing our very first assessments this week!!! This gives me so much hope and makes me feel like I doing the work that I was born to do!

As of today, I love my job again! I feel like I'm doing important work and I am pleased that I am the senior social worker in the Palliative Care program and the lone social worker on the new program. Basically, this is a pro and a con - I can either rock balls and make everyone proud or I can royally fuck it up! I'm hoping for the former!

So, now that I'm not crazy busy anymore and working 10-hour days, I feel like I can spend more time creating bloggy goodness.

Stay tuned for an exciting post in the next couple of days documenting our first trip in the Red Rocket!