ER Memories

 

1977 was a tough year for anyone in the Real Estate business in or around Poughkeepsie, NY. IBM relocated to North Carolina and that left thousands of houses to sell and no one to buy. My husband closed down our small real estate business and followed IBM. He had been offered a job as General Manager for a building contractor and decided to take that (the one and only time in his life that he worked for anyone else) while I stayed put and tried to sell our house.

Fast forward to 1978 and you'll see that our house has sold (practically given away) and the children and I have joined my husband in North Carolina. I started desperately looking for work but everywhere I went I came up against the same “problem”. I was 45, a “yankee” and when asked to give my qualifications I would proudly state that for the past 15 years I had worked along side my husband. He had attained his Real Estate license and we had opened a small “mom and pop” Real Estate agency where I worked as his general manager and salesperson. I soon found out that this answer ALWAYS got the same reaction from these sweet talking Southern belles ...  "Awww. how sweet.  You worked for your hubby.  Sorry, no place for you here !"

Luckily my husband had made friends with some of the locals and even joined their Rescue Squad. They nicknamed him the “Southern Yankee” and he told them how he and I and two other couples had started a Rescue Squad in our county up north. (They were amazed that females were part of it but it came to be the factor that got me a job). One Saturday he and I were at a barbecue when one of the wives arrived late and exhausted. She was a nurse in the ER of the large hospital where we lived and said that one of the secretaries had quit in mid shift and they were overwhelmed. Evidently Dr. J., the head doc in the ER had put out the word to find someone to replace her … “AND DO IT NOW!”

As you can imagine I was thrilled and, sure enough, one call to Dr. J. and all the restraints were lifted. I started the next morning and not only did it give us the medical insurance that we needed but it gave me a treasure trove of memories from that day until July of 2001 when I retired. I plan to share those memories with you and start with this very short one …

On my first day the head nurse in the ER showed me where the large styrofoam cups were stored. She explained that they were for the staff and we needed to put our initials on the cup with a permanent marker so that no one else would use that cup. I thought it a great idea and I can proudly say that no one EVER touched my cup.    My initials are VD !