Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, but for dogs and cats, it can be a time of stress, strangers, and danger.
According to the Metro Animal Control, a large number of pets disappear during the holidays.
According to Director, Judy Ladebauche, there a number of reasons why.
1) A large number of guests coming and going, continually opening the door allows pets a chance to escape.
2) New faces and voices in the house can upset an animal not use to so many strangers.
Laudebauche says last year, the first business day after Thanksgiving saw a flood of anxious phone calls from people who had lost their pets.
“Everyone loves their pets,” she says. “But they don’t realize the pet is vulnerable during those times. If your pet is an inside pet, then put it in a secure place, like a bedroom. Leave the TV on. Separate the animal from the festivities.”
Ladebauche says care should also be given if you are having a pet sitter come to your house, or if you plan to board your animals.
“Check references. A pet can be confused, thinking mom and dad left the house and now there is a stranger is in the house and they might dart out because of that.”
For a list of other holiday do’s and don’ts check out these web sites:
Earlier this month, a Southern California immigrant rights group asked a major retailer to pull a Halloween costume from the shelves.
The costume depicted a spaceman type mask, an orange jump suit, a green card, and a sign that read “illegal alien”
The group claimed it furthered negative stereotypes for Hispanics.
There’s another popular costume generating similar negative views, of all places, in the nursing profession.
The costume is the Naughty Nurse. Arguably one of the best selling costumes of its type.
Colleen Conway-Welch is the Dean of the Vanderbilt Nursing School for the last 25 years.
Conway-Welch says the Halloween image of the naughty nurse is denigrating, especially at time when, she says, there is a national nursing shortage.
“The nurse is the glue that holds the fragmented and somewhat deteriorated health care system together. We would not have a health care system without nurses, and they work hard 24/7 to help us keep it together. It is important to recognize, they are well educated people, men and women, working for your best interest and it frankly drives me crazy, when I see TV shows, and you have a wonderful nurse who is a drug addict, or Halloween comes along and you see these ads for naughty nurse costumes.”
The dean’s office sends me this note detailing the nursing crisis.
- In the July/August 2009 Health Affairs, Dr. Peter Buerhaus and coauthors found that despite the current easing of the nursing shortage due to the recession, the U.S. nursing shortage is projected to grow to 260,000 registered nurses by 2025. A shortage of this magnitude would be twice as large as any nursing shortage experienced in this country since the mid-1960s. In the article titled The Recent Surge In Nurse Employment: Causes And Implications, the researchers point to a rapidly aging workforce as a primary contributor to the projected shortage. On July 2, 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the healthcare sector of the economy is continuing to grow, despite significant job losses in nearly all major industries. Hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other ambulatory care settings added 21,000 new jobs in June 2009, a month when 467,000 jobs were eliminated across the country. As the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, RNs likely will be recruited to fill many of these new positions. In September 2009, the BLS confirmed that 544,000 jobs have been added in the healthcare sector since the recession began.
- In the November 26, 2008 Journal of the American Medical Association, workforce analystDr. Peter Buerhaus stated: “Over the next 20 years, the average age of the RN will increase and the size of the workforce will plateau as large numbers of RNs retire. Because demand for RNs is expected to increase during this time, a large and prolonged shortage of nurses is expected to hit the US in the latter half of the next decade.”
Over at Performance Studios, where every day is Halloween, the mood is much different.
Gary Broadrick, co-owner, tells me that the naughty nurse started the trend for sexy women’s costumes and is clearly the best seller each year.
Broadrick says he has the utmost respect for nurses, calling them the unsung heroes of the medical profession, but he says it’s one night, and the naughty nurse image should be treated as fun, not demeaning.
“We do sexy construction workers, and sexy judges and we do sexy cops, and military. It is a fun thing. I would find it flattering, if someone would do a sexy version of a retail clerk. I would say someone thinks I am appealing. I am sorry she feels that is demeaning to make any woman feel more appealing and sexy. But the way they feel about themselves, obviously the women feel attractive, they are buying these things.”
Loading …
by
