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Not to mention a lot of hospitals in the US are Catholic-owned or sponsored or whatever and won't even perform tubal ligations because Jesus
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Dec 9, 2015 22:46
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1. Do you have any funny stories? 2. Do you use bodycams or have considered using them? 3. What are the local police like? 4. Has this job gotten you laid?
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Dec 11, 2015 15:05
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In Sweden a nurse got fired recently because she said she couldn't perform abortions because of her faith. (she specialised in pregnancy and they are also required to assist in terminations) Anyway I think you're an awesome dude for working with this.
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Dec 12, 2015 13:06
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chunkles posted:Not to mention a lot of hospitals in the US are Catholic-owned or sponsored or whatever and won't even perform tubal ligations because Jesus Yeah it's loving ridiculous. My sister had a miscarriage last year and the hospital refused to actually take care of her because it was considered aborting even though in the same breath they said the baby was gone. In any case, to the OP, I've seen your threads before and I always really like reading them. A part of me has considered escorting but like so many others, I worry I would lose my cool. I definitely need to donate to PP though. As always thank you for doing what you do, especially in light of recent events.
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Dec 14, 2015 17:18
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Transmogrifier posted:Yeah it's loving ridiculous. My sister had a miscarriage last year and the hospital refused to actually take care of her because it was considered aborting even though in the same breath they said the baby was gone. How is that even legal?
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Dec 14, 2015 18:14
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Kopijeger posted:How is that even legal? Because America. Specifically Christian America.
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Dec 14, 2015 19:11
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Woof Blitzer fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Dec 14, 2015 22:48
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Teflon Don posted:I hope it doesn't seem like I'm hijacking ExplodingChef's thread (he has been working much longer than me so he knows more than I do!), but I also work at Planned Parenthood, only I am a full time security officer. We officers are authorized to carry a semiauto handgun, baton and OC spray, and I also wear body armor (of course), so pretty much the same stuff as your average cop. We have the authority to arrest and remove people from the premises as we see fit. Our facility also has no windows and sports ballistic glass throughout, as well as some other interesting security features I unfortunately cannot discuss. Hijack away. I'm gonna have some questions myself when I get home from work and am not phone posting.
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Dec 15, 2015 00:40
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Teflon Don posted:I hope it doesn't seem like I'm hijacking ExplodingChef's thread (he has been working much longer than me so he knows more than I do!), but I also work at Planned Parenthood, only I am a full time security officer. We officers are authorized to carry a semiauto handgun, baton and OC spray, and I also wear body armor (of course), so pretty much the same stuff as your average cop. We have the authority to arrest and remove people from the premises as we see fit. Our facility also has no windows and sports ballistic glass throughout, as well as some other interesting security features I unfortunately cannot discuss. 1. How long have you worked there? 2. Is there a reason the state has only one clinic? Unusually strict laws or something? 3. Have you ever had to arrest someone/kick them off the premises? 4. Does talking to the FBI happen often? 5. Any memorable experiences?
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Dec 15, 2015 04:48
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Woof Blitzer fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Dec 15, 2015 05:09
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There's been a lot of mergers of hospitals recently in the US. Many formerly secular hospitals are being absorbed by large religiously affiliated (often Catholic) hospital groups. As part of the terms of the merger, they may not provide a fairly wide range of reproductive care, including abortions and sterilizations. This is a huge problem, especially in rural areas where the only hospital in the entire region refuses to provide abortion or miscarriage care at all for any reason whatsoever. Find out if your local hospital will provide these services because you may need to travel a over a hundred miles in an emergency to find a facility that will treat you or a loved one. Unfortunately, situations like refusing to provide care for an active miscarriage and refusing to provide the morning after pill to a rape victim are becoming more and more common in hospitals. They totally throw out the life of the mother and the rape/incest exceptions; they really and truly do not care about women and families from a policy perspective. Thank you guys so much for doing what you do. Access to safe and legal abortion is so important, but unfortunately legislators and activists don't give any drat at all about lack of access leading to unsafe home abortion.
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Dec 16, 2015 14:43
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Cythereal posted:Is it wrong that I burst out laughing at the graphic signs? It's always tickled me pink that the most outwardly devout Christians are the ones that are going to be consigned to hell because reading comprehension is completely beyond them.
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Dec 17, 2015 16:41
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NPR Fresh Air did a story on Wednesday about violence against abortion providers. You can listen to the full story and/or read the transcript here. They use the word 'terrorism' to describe the kinds of pressure placed on abortion providers and on women who may be seeking abortions. How do you feel about using such a loaded word to describe what's happening at clinics?
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Dec 18, 2015 19:50
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Don't meant to hijack the thread either, but if anyone has questions about abortion care itself I'd be happy to talk about what life is like inside the clinic! I'm an abortion care RN and used to be an abortion counselor as well as a surgical tech and all-around clinic assistant.Poop Cupcake posted:NPR Fresh Air did a story on Wednesday about violence against abortion providers. You can listen to the full story and/or read the transcript here. They use the word 'terrorism' to describe the kinds of pressure placed on abortion providers and on women who may be seeking abortions. How do you feel about using such a loaded word to describe what's happening at clinics? It is terrorism, plain and simple. Anti-abortion harassment and violence has always been about intimidating patients and staff alike, literally terrorizing us out of doing our jobs and patients out of seeking care.
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Dec 18, 2015 19:57
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boquiabierta posted:It is terrorism, plain and simple. Anti-abortion harassment and violence has always been about intimidating patients and staff alike, literally terrorizing us out of doing our jobs and patients out of seeking care. I'm fond of Dana Hunter's writings, such as Religious Terrorists Are Killing The Women They Can't Control (But They're Not Islamic) (in contrast to America freaking about islamic terrorists but giving white christian terrorists a pass and refusing to even use the word) quote:I’m not scared of Muslims when it’s the Christians who are doing the most to restrict my right to control what happens to my own body, and, when that fails, wind up the “lone wolves” and aim them at women’s health clinics. More writings: An Army of “Lone Wolves”: The American Right’s War on Women’s Reproductive Rights Also Dana Hunter The PP Shootings: How the System Is Designed by Captain Cassidy Evangelist Calls On Christians To Assassinate Abortion Providers by Michael Stone What's curious is that it's a relatively new argument. Feel free to take a peek at Fred Clark's article about abortion: The 'Biblical View' That's Younger Than The Happy Meal quote:In 1979, McDonald’s introduced the Happy Meal.
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Dec 18, 2015 20:13
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Woof Blitzer fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Dec 18, 2015 22:13
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Teflon Don posted:It is terrorism, and is treated as such by the government. I wish there could be greater security infrastructure to prevent it, like what's in place for sensitive military installations. The fact is that it is no different than Islamic terrorism, and the threat is just as great. And it's really stupid that all this security is in place for what is an extremely boring and mundane nonprofit healthcare organization. It shouldn't be necessary at all, but here we are. Women walking into Planned Parenthood are getting the same treatment as girls try to go to school in rural Pakistan. To be honest, I don't really think the US government is taking it very seriously at all, judging from the recent PP hearings and right-wing rhetoric surrounding the shooting. It's insane that a doctor's office has to have security guards like you and volunteers like OP to help patients get access to legal medical care. A government that was treating violence and threats against abortion providers and patients as domestic terrorism wouldn't let this happen. 
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Dec 18, 2015 22:27
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Woof Blitzer fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Dec 18, 2015 22:46
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Teflon Don posted:Law enforcement agencies both local, state and federal take threats very seriously. Unfortunately they can only enforce the law and attempt to prevent attacks ExplodingChef posted:Our relationship with the cops, like I've said before, is that we won't call them unless absolutely necessary because they're either under-effective, completely useless, or actively anti-choice. We once had a sergeant come down in response to a call spend most of his time shaking hands and taking pictures with the antis. And it's very, very odd that when the parking checker comes by, the anti's cars (which are usually plastered with pro-life bumper stickers) never get their tires marked.
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Dec 18, 2015 22:57
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i like nice words
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Woof Blitzer fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Dec 18, 2015 23:10
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boquiabierta posted:Don't meant to hijack the thread either, but if anyone has questions about abortion care itself I'd be happy to talk about what life is like inside the clinic! I'm an abortion care RN and used to be an abortion counselor as well as a surgical tech and all-around clinic assistant.
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Dec 19, 2015 18:09
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Ravenfood posted:I would. I'm a nurse that just signed up for volunteer work at a PP near me. I knew I wouldn't be able to volunteer in a licensed capacity, but I wouldn't mind more information on clinic nursing care. I'd be interested in working there as a casual/on-call/temp/whatever nurse if that's possible, so any information on what your job is like would be cool. Thanks for the thread, y'all. Sure. Anything in particular you want to know about? I mostly do PACU care, which is pretty technical and simple work compared to what I do in the hospital (postpartum) -- if you're coming from a hospital or acute care setting you might find abortion care honestly a little boring. Mostly I'm just taking vital signs, monitoring pain, giving birth control, going over discharge instructions. Surgical abortion is an incredibly simple procedure with a complication rate less than 1%. I'm a counselor at heart, though, and I love talking to patients, hearing their stories and trying to do my part to ease the shame and stigma they feel about seeking this care.
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Dec 20, 2015 00:13
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Honestly, I don't know enough about in-clinic abortion, surgical or otherwise, to even know what to start asking. I guess how often are you doing surgical abortions? What kind of anesthesia? General scope? Shift time? ...yeah, I'm kind of clueless about all of it, really. My background is medical ICU and I did my OB rotation at a Catholic hospital, so I'm kind of blind about all of it. I could do pacu though. Never have but it seems okay, if interestingly different from my norm.
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Dec 20, 2015 00:53
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Ravenfood posted:how often are you doing surgical abortions? What kind of anesthesia? General scope? Shift time? Surgical abortions happen all the time, most facilities have like 1-3 days/week when they do the procedure and there will consistently be, god, anywhere from 10-40ish patients on the schedule. I can't even imagine what it's like in a place like Mississippi which has one abortion clinic in the entire STATE -- I'm in a tiny northeastern state where abortion access isn't anything I'd call fantastic, but it's gotta be among the best in the country. Anesthesia options vary; I've worked for clinics that offered "general" (deep sedation by propofol) and ones that offer only conscious sedation, usually with fentanyl and versed; sometimes patients will take Ativan, sometimes just local anesthesia (a paracervical block, which helps with the pain of cervical dilation but does nothing for the uterine cramping/contracting during the procedure). Scope is pretty narrow, honestly -- like described above, I kind of feel like a glorified tech a lot of the time. I mean, an abortion clinic usually needs one doctor, one CRNA, one or two RNs/APRNs and a bunch of support staff. 99% of cases are very routine, and anything not routine is going to be mostly assessed and handled by the people who rank me, you know? I take vitals and administer some meds and monitor for surgical and anesthetic complications, which almost never happen. That doesn't make it not interesting, though, just that the stuff that's interesting isn't really the medical aspect. Shift time just depends on the clinic. A clinic usually only takes a few hours (I'd say my longest clinics lasted maybe 8-9 hours) and abortion appointments tend to be early morning so they can run however long into the afternoon they need to. I've worked for places that would offer an afternoon clinic too, and maybe we'd be there til 8 or 10 pm. It's hard to predict because there are a lot of no-shows and people who get turned away or rescheduled for various reasons.
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Dec 20, 2015 02:46
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I am really thankful for those of you coming to this thread and sharing your work in the field. I'm in a different one (pharmacy) but next year will be able to seek work in a hospital for the first time and never thought "researching if this organization provides genuine care as related to abortion" never crossed my mind before as related to job searches. vvv thanks for this too! SUPERMAN'S GAL PAL fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Dec 20, 2015 |
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Dec 20, 2015 14:43
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Abortions aren't usually done in hospitals for reasons outlined earlier in the thread; it's kind of how abortion care evolved post-Roe v. Wade to be almost exclusively performed in freestanding dedicated facilities. I'd prioritize knowing if the hospital refers for abortion care and provides emergency contraception for rape victims.
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Dec 20, 2015 15:44
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Woof Blitzer fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Dec 24, 2015 05:45
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Are there not violent protesters on the other side of the fence. If this had happened here, hardcore fundamental right wing protesters messing with women's rights I honestly believe they'd be bricked. I cognizant that things are different with you, but historically? Where are the counter protestors? Where are the violent clashes?
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Dec 24, 2015 15:18
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No. Historically there are not counterprotesters. It's not balanced whatsoever in that way. There have been no murders of anti-choicers in the US either, only 11 people associated with abortion care and/or Planned Parenthood. People do occasionally counterprotest but not in any violent way and clinics tend to discourage it because it just creates more of a circus outside the clinic and makes it that much more frightening for patients.Teflon Don posted:lots of stuff about PP's security systems Admittedly I've never worked on the security side of PP or any clinic, but this seems like maybe a bit too much information to be publicizing, no?
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Dec 24, 2015 16:14
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It's like if we allowed nazis to demonstrate on our streets without protesting about it.
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Dec 24, 2015 17:01
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Teflon Don posted:There have been a few tries at breaking the extremely thick and heavy doors with crowbars and heavy gauge chain, but no successful breaches or attacks yet. Well that's hosed up. Can you elaborate on this more? Was this something that happened at night when no one was around, or like a mob rushing the door type scenario? You mentioned that you're in contact with and work with the police, but are the police helpful and responsive, or do you run into police apathy problems sometimes? Does that differ for the different levels of law enforcement you work with?
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Dec 24, 2015 17:36
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Woof Blitzer fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Dec 24, 2015 19:02
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Teflon Don posted:Also the local police will not arrest anyone unless we have already done so, probably because of ~liability~. Not being from the US and hence unfamiliar with the legal framework what kind of arrest powers do you have anyway? For that matter do you have any powers any standard person doesn't have? [edit] What liability issues might the police be facing?
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Jan 2, 2016 07:10
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Woof Blitzer fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 08:36
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I don't exactly have the strength to defend someone if they were to be assaulted, but I would like to volunteer... I doubt escorts are needed in my area anyway, but is size/strength a priority in hiring volunteers?
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Apr 13, 2016 18:38
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timefly posted:I don't exactly have the strength to defend someone if they were to be assaulted, but I would like to volunteer... I doubt escorts are needed in my area anyway, but is size/strength a priority in hiring volunteers? Absolutely not in my experience. I'm whip-thin at 5'10 / 150 and the escorts I've worked with run the gamut, just like what ExplodingChef says in his OP. It's all about mental game, bruh. If someone is actually being assaulted you are way past being through the looking glass.
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Apr 14, 2016 02:36
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timefly posted:I don't exactly have the strength to defend someone if they were to be assaulted, but I would like to volunteer... I doubt escorts are needed in my area anyway, but is size/strength a priority in hiring volunteers? Yeah, we run the gamut from 6' 250lbs to tiny grandmothers in their 70s. It rarely gets physical, but when it does the first thing to do is de-escalate the situation, rather than throwing a punch. I had an anti (about half my size and twice my age) a few months ago decide to get stupid and grab my coat and try to shove me around. My response, as much as I'd have liked to punch him, was "Take your hands off me or we will have you arrested for assault." Which worked. Like I've said, even we'd be in the clear legally as defending ourselves, the "brutish deathscort beats up peaceful sidewalk counselor" narrative would just get them all riled up.
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Apr 14, 2016 16:32
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