PULSE: Just the facts on the H1N1 virus
By Laura Raines , Pulse editor
“Georgia is overachieving when it comes to the H1N1 virus — and that’s not a good thing. It’s truly a pandemic here, because of the widespread outbreaks,” said Dr. Rhonda Medows, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH).
Dr. Rhonda Medows, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health, calls the outbreak of the H1N1 virus a “pandemic.” Behind her is a projected image of the virus. Photo by Barry Williams AJC Special.
This year, Georgia’s flu season started at the beginning of the school year instead of its normal October time frame. Because the H1N1 virus is a new mutation, nobody is immune to it, so it’s transmitted much faster than normal flu strains.
“Most of our schools started on Aug. 10,” Medows said. “By the first week, we were starting to see absenteeism of students with flu-like symptoms, and by the second and third weeks, the percentages were really starting to pick …
PULSE: Portrait of a nursing family
By Laura Raines , Pulse editor
He was from South Dakota. She was raised in Atlanta. They met in 1997 at the University of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham, where she was a trauma nurse and he was a nurse in the open heart intensive care unit.
Nurses Shalice and Chad Pickering have their hands full with Gracie and Matthew. Photo by Barry Williams, AJC Special.
Today, they’re married and the proud parents of 18-month-old twins. Like any two-career couple, they’re struggling with achieving a good work/life balance.
Chad Pickering knew there was a good possibility he would marry a nurse.
“Working with so many young women at the hospital, there seemed to be a high likelihood of it happening. It didn’t matter to me either way, but when I met Shalice, I knew,” he said.
The two started dating in 1997.
“It was actually nice that we understood what each other went through in a day. We became best friends,” Shalice Nicholson Pickering said.
“It’s good to have …
Why I Love My Job: Sally Vandenbos, RN, MPH, NCSN
By Laura Raines, Pulse editor
• Job: Consulting nurse, Cobb County public schools
Sally Vandenbos is a consulting nurse with Cobb County public schools. Barry Williams/AJC Special.
• What I do: “I oversee the licensed school nurses in 18 to 20 schools in Cobb County. A good part of my week is spent visiting schools and training new nurses, teachers and staff.
“Teachers have a lot on their plates, so when I schedule training about diabetes or asthma, the reaction is often, ‘Oh, not another training.’
“Later they say, ‘I didn’t know that.’ It gets them thinking about how to help their students in other ways.
“School nurses handle the day-to-day illnesses and emergencies. I’m here as another pair of eyes, a backup, and I put systems in place to help their jobs go smoother.”
• What got me interested in this: “I was an ICU hospital nurse in New Jersey [and] found that a school nurse schedule worked better after I had children. I discovered I …
Continue reading Why I Love My Job: Sally Vandenbos, RN, MPH, NCSN »
PULSE: Fighting the flood
By Laura Raines , Pulse editor
On a typical day, school nurse Sherry Farmer sees about 40 children in her clinic at Clarkdale Elementary School in Austell. She dispenses daily medications for chronic conditions, patches up scrapes, checks temperatures and doles out tender loving care to her young patients.
When torrential rains caused extensive flooding in more than 15 metro Atlanta counties in late September, normalcy was washed away. All 442 of her students were at risk and needed the calm presence and compassion of their school nurse, whose emergency-preparedness training kicked in.
Flood waters nearly reach the roof Clarkdale Elementary School in Austell. PHIL SKINNER, pskinner@ajc.com
“Monday [Sept. 21] started as a normal school day, only it was raining again,” said Farmer, RN, BSN.
When staff members noticed water under the trailers in back of the school, they brought the children, equipment and books into the main building where they thought it was safe.
…
PULSE: Continuing Education
By Pulse staff
Nov. 20
Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville will host its annual stroke conference from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the GMC Resource Center. Doctors and nurses from around the country will discuss advances in stroke care. Topics will include the pros and cons of interventional devices used for acute stroke; neuroimaging as the future of patient selection in stroke treatment options; and the future of rehabilitation research. The cost is $75 and includes breakfast and lunch. To register, call 678-442-5000.
Jan. 29, 2010
“Critical Thinking at its Best 2010: Jack & Jill of all Trades,” a medical-surgical conference, will address clinical practice issues to promote excellence in patient care. The event will be at the Richard H. Rich Auditorium, which is on level M of the 77 building at Piedmont Hospital (1968 Peachtree Road in Atlanta). The cost for the conference is $60 before Jan. 15. The fee will include a light breakfast and a light lunch. Contact hours …
PULSE News Briefs: Nurse scholar earns $350,000 grant
By Pulse staff
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded Tami Thomas, Ph.D., CPNP, RNC, a three-year, $350,000 Nurse Faculty Scholar grant for her research. Thomas, an assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia’s School of Nursing, is one of 15 nurse educators around the country to receive the award.
Thomas studies strategies to slow the spread of viral sexually transmitted infections in rural communities. Her research explores barriers preventing girls from being vaccinated for HPV (human papillomavirus), which can cause warts and cervical cancer. She hopes to develop culturally sensitive interventions to increase the vaccination rate for HPV in rural areas.
• Best workplaces for mothers: Wellstar Health System and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta were named two of Working Mother magazine’s 100 Best Companies for 2009.
WellStar Health System was cited for expanding its family-friendly benefits — educational assistance, backup child care and …
Continue reading PULSE News Briefs: Nurse scholar earns $350,000 grant »
Working Strategies: Six steps to securing holiday employment
If you’d like a holiday job this year, you need to get hopping. For all the reasons you already know — bad economy, weak retailers, excess labor — there are fewer jobs available and more people seeking them.
Is it worth the effort? That depends.
Working Strategies by Amy Lindgren
There’s the potential benefit of making contacts or opening the door to a permanent job.
The trick is to nail down the holiday job quickly, to keep from diverting too much energy from the main employment effort. Here are some tips:
1. Pinpoint your likely targets and the skills you want to use. Are you strong and healthy? Maybe your target will involve transporting packages or stocking shelves. If your strength is customer service, retail or catalog sales might be the right fit.
2. Go beyond the big-name places. If you follow Tip 4 on this list and avoid online applications, you won’t have much luck in these places anyway, as they generally require electronic apps. Also, they are …
Continue reading Working Strategies: Six steps to securing holiday employment »
Negotiate carefully in today’s market
By Laura Raines, for the AJC
“There’s no harm in asking,” Mom always said.
But in today’s economic climate, employees and job candidates are thinking twice about negotiating for more money, benefits and perks.
“In tough times, many companies tighten their belts. Managers aren’t going to offer workers more out of hand. If you don’t ask, they aren’t going give it to you,” said Erin Wolf, managing partner of Suite-Track, an Atlanta leadership development firm for female professionals.
Erin Wolf is owner and managing partner of SuiteTrack, LLC, a company that “focuses on leadership development for women.” Photo by Leita Cowart, for the AJC.
“The first step is to assess the timing. If jobs are being eliminated and no one is getting raises in your company, this isn’t the time to ask, but if others are being compensated better for similar work or getting the best projects, you should go for it.”
In the booming ’90s, employees held the upper …
Are you celebrating National Bosses Day?
It’s been a rough year for America’s workforce. How has your relationship with your boss fared during this difficult time? If you have a good relationship with your boss, today is the day to honor him/her. It’s National Bosses Day.
So did you get a gift or card for your boss today? Do you sincerely like your boss or were you just trying to earn brownie points?
Businesses hiring again – in a new way
By Laura Raines, for the AJC
Hiring — that’s the practice of employing a person for a wage or fee, in case you haven’t heard the term lately — is making a comeback.
“Clients who have been on hiatus for more than a year have started calling us in the last month,” said Randy Hain, managing partner of Bell Oaks Executive Search, a 40-year-old Atlanta search firm. “The most common thing we hear is, ‘We cut way too many people, and now we need some back.’ ”
Randy Hains – managing partner of Bell Oaks Executive Search, an Atlanta search firm – said companies are adding more consultants to the payroll. Photo by Leita Cowart, for the AJC.
Sustainable manufacturing, wireless, software and innovative technology are a few industries that are adding workers. Many companies are upgrading new sales teams.
As you might suspect, post-economic-disaster hiring is not business as usual. There are new trends in the marketplace. Savvy job seekers will take note and …
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