Mon Travail...

Assalaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatahu

Well.. March 15th is coming soon! I am excited...and not even nervous a bit ! I am a born working girl..not a stay at home mom..being a stay at home mom is the hardest job ever. Morally ,intellectually, physically and especially emotionally. I would prefer to work 3 days a week and have 2 at home.. however, I chose to go back 4 days instead of 5. I should be getting pretty much the same pay as if I was working 5 days. I need the money!! am the sole supporter at the moment and been getting 55% of my salary since July on my mat leave. From February till then I was actually getting more than my salary...cause I was getting 75% from the Quebec parental place..(QPIP, whatever that stands for ! )and the rest up to 97 % was covered by the hospital I work at. We get a year off with pay and Canada allows up to 2 years off ( 1 paid, 1 not) but since I work at the hospital I can actually take up to 3 off... of course the last two will not be paid. Still..I know we are so blessed. I cannot understand how a mother can only get 6 weeks or less off and nurture her new born. It's really sad and for a country like USA. you'd think they would have something better than Canada... nope. ( I pray they get health care soon! ) Oh and did I mention the father can get time off paid too!! its a few weeks at least.I cannot remember..and he gets paid as well. Which is awesome!

I am going off track a little bit..forgive me :) Itto...commented the other day that she was curious as to what I do...and I realized there are some newer people to my blog that do not know.

I really do love my job and I worked very hard over the years to get the position I have. Al hamdullilah it is a blessing. I am a medical secretary at the Montreal Children's Hospital. here is a link... http://www.thechildren.com/en/
and a picture...



I am blessed to be part of such a wonderful team here and work with a bunch of very talented doctors and nurses. Al hamdullilah.

here are a few that I could find on the net and some info about them;

Dr Sam Daniel , is actually the same age as I and we both went to the same high school. His research and his known true care of patients is well-known and has saved many little lives, Al hamdullilah.

http://www.thechildren.com/en/research/mch.aspx?myID=106



There is also..the head of my department, Dr. Hema Patel, who has a deaf child of her own , contributed greatly to the coalition of getting newborns hearing screened, which will be starting very soon in Quebec as a routine exam for newborns.

http://www.thechildren.com/en/research/mch.aspx?myID=43

Anyway there are quit a few.. Dr. Louise Auger.. who is the head of the Multicultural department. here. they welcome new immigrants or refugees who do not yet have health care. it's a very important program which is necessary to update vaccinations...help the children to adapt. some even lose so much weight. Some have psychological problems if they come from a war torn country. We have a lot of children that have AIDS arrive with no care. We also have interpreters that are arranged by the hospital for those families that cannot speak French or English. She goes out of her way to help these people. I even know that she will go see where they are living to make sure they have what they need. She is an extraordinary woman.

there are so many more talented and caring people I work with. You can browse the site and visit all that we do.

I have worked pretty much with everyone there. I started out as a temp. Someone who is there to fill in when people are sick or on leave, or when they need extra work done. They could only promise me 2-3 days a week of work. But I worked full time right from the beginning. It is very difficult to find support staff that have an idea about medical stuff, like I do. I did this for about 5 years before I got a permanent position. I went through about 2 other permanent positions before this one I am in now became available. I did my "time" ;)

Some of you know that I have a daughter with a chronic disease. Sarah, who is now 13 has been followed there since she was 13 mths old for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Because of the Rheumatology team at this hospital, and of course, My hard work and care as a mother, my big baby girl can now walk and she pretty much lives pain free. At the moment she is in remission. Al hamdullilah.

Alos, My son, Nicholas, who is soon to be 16 this July,had also spent some time admitted there. When he was born, it was pretty dramatic. They had to use a ventouse to get him out and it made some trauma on his head. He was admitted to the Montreal Children's neonatal Intensive care unit hours after he was born. This wonderful team...have an ambulance in which they will travel far... where I was .. was almost 1 and a half hour drive.( COwansville) a team will come to the hospital and take ur baby safely to the Children's. They saved his life. Masha'Allah. he has some bleeding between his brain and skull which cleared up after a while.. and he is perfect now :) Al hamdullilah. Almost 6 feet tall and honor student ;) ( Sarah is as well :))

you can Imagine why I am working where I do. Right from the time in 1994 when Nicholas was born, I wanted to be part of a team like this and help families.. I say families because (this is the great part of where I work) the staff not only treats and cares for the child, they take care of all the family. When a child is sick... the whole family suffers and it's essential that these families are supported in order for their children to heal.

So now.. to explain what I DO ;) I work in the Intensive Ambulatory Care Service. lovingly known as the home care department. :)
here is the link: http://www.thechildren.com/en/departments/index.aspx?myDep=I&ID=56
(sorry folks the link thingy on here doesn't seem to work sooo. )

My job is to coordinate appointments...run clinics...triage calls to respective nurses and to greet patients,get results, type letters..and usual stuff. All this for these chronically ill patients. There are even adults. which is fun...Some of these patients need 24 hour nursing care. I try to coordinate all their appointments in one day...in one visit if I can. Sometimes its in different hospitals. Or coordinate and arrange for a bed if they need to be admitted. maybe some follow up care once they have been discharged. I often escort my patients to their tests so they do not have to wait. Can you imagine waiting an hour or two for blood tests with a new born on oxygen? no ehn?( ya I say "ehn" a lot..I am Canadian :P ) I make sure they don't have to. I feel my job is so important, because without me...the nurses and doctors cannot help their patients..and the patients might get worse...
I miss everyone so much too!!
Kinda form a close bond when u do this kinda work ;)

What I am looking forward too , as well, is having some time OF MY OWN. This place is downtown Montreal and can visit cool restaurant...shopping..and neat things.I can LIVE again! yippie !

so I will leave u on that note and get back to work at home.. lots to do today!!

Fi Amenallah