Just the Way Things Are

Yeeks! Now it seems, we’ve been busted by our J-community! Just finished looking at our last comments. 

First off. We better explain "days off." Well ... can’t really do this too good, cuz well ... I do have time off! I have Sundays! AND, usually I have the first Saturday of the month off cuz the Sisters go on retreat ... just this last one ... well, we’re coming up to inspection from the State like February 25th and we’ll be inspected by our accreditation service middle of April.

We are very, very behind. I had double a normal load of work, but then my within 7 months time last year, my father, step-mother, and Godfather died. Then I ended up in the hospital diagnosed with diabetes, then we were hospitalized two separate times for depression, then for a couple of months we worked only half days trying to recover. It was like I was "in" for appearance only.  (And, we're past the point of wanting sympathy here.  We really are ok.)

Sister and the staff worked together to cover my end of the immediate client concerns, but I had 24 clients and none of their monthly one-page summaries were done during that period. The big deal was CARF - the accreditation stuff wasn’t touched either (Sister had decided this was "our" job) and that is a very long can-we-get-it-done-in-one-year-project?

To add to that mess ... is the problem with my need for order and detail. After I’d gotten better, we were still taking a long time to get through the work. Everything had to be figured out. I’ve got a pretty good figurer, but it requires time.  We're not the "Super Ann" that she'd needed.

There isn’t much time left. Sister was back in her office yesterday. She’s angry at me for having put the Center at risk. I know that she’s now a little behind, and the two others on the Administration Team are way behind in their work as well, but I am the worst, cuz there was more on my regular plate due to CARF. 

I know theoretically, there wasn’t much that could be done to have avoided the problems of last year and they should have covered my position better, but the nature of my field is that EVERYONE is overworked and underfunded. Immediate needs are cared for and secondary needs, like documentation is put on back burner.  So, the best thing to do is make do the best you can. And, at least I know we’re tryin. If Sister wasn't sick and worried, she'd know that too.