u/PerspectiveOk6348

I'm from Marion, VA so I'm semi-local. My parents and husband and I made a day trip to see the Green Bank Telescope. Did the tour, which was so awesome. I have never been to this part of the state and I'm absolutely enamored! On the way there, we hopped off of I64 in White Sulphur Springs and stayed on highway 92 the whole way to the GBT. That drive might be the most beautiful drive I've ever taken! That highway just travels along this enormous wide valley with luscious, green grassy fields as far as the eye can see with barns, cows and picturesque old farm houses the entire way. Much of the road was covered by tree canopies. Ugh! It was unbelievably beautiful. The GBT is no exception.

On the way back, we went through Cass, ate at Shay's diner there and headed up the mountain to Snowshoe. And wow was that a treat. Just a small town on the top of a mountain. Those views up there are something unreal!!

On the way back we traveled highway 219 to Lewisburg before hopping back on I64. That is, again, such a beautiful drive. It crosses over several mountain passes, which I think are fun and obviously beautiful.

Beware - if you aren't screeching tires at near-rollover speeds on every curve, you're going too slow and you'll be aggressively tailgated. And I'm a pretty spirited driver, but a RAV4 is a RAV4. Highway 92 was absolutely dead but highway 219 was awful for intimidating tailgaters.

Anyways - the entire area was beautiful every single inch of the way. It was not as enjoyable on the way back due to the tailgaters, but it was so very beautiful nonetheless. Truly an amazing part of the state.

I think I'm gonna come back that way soon and spend the night somewhere that way the trip isn't so rushed (was 7 hours round trip). Probably bring my Infiniti that way I can outrun the butt chewers on the curves and hit some of the multiple state parks on highway 219.

Beautiful, beautiful area with postcard scenery everywhere ya look. I was thoroughly shocked with how gorgeous it all was.

And the VERY FIRST thing I need to say is that I see and hear all of you that are psychiatric nurses, techs, NP's, docs, managers, risk managers, the entire crew!!! Cause what the absolute f***!!

I have been a nurse for 21 years. Mostly ER, but also a few years of case management and workers comp and some ortho thrown in there. Big and small volume ER's. I took a job at a local state operated psychiatric facility in April. I'm on the geriatric ward. The final straw was last Friday when I had to provide oral and written statements for an abuse investigation re: my "work wife" - who, to be fair, is both equally amazing and terrible at the same time. I'm not the accused but I'm squarely in the middle of this nasty, awful mess. In 21 years of nursing, I've never even come close to an abuse investigation. Like....not even a whisper. I do my job well and try to establish a rapport with my patients and give mutual respect to everyone. The accused put us in so many dicey situations because of her behavior. And now, it's gonna be reported to the BON and her career may be over. No actual harm came to anyone. The worst part is she was on a 90 day probation when I first started for roughing up a patient and the facility allowed this to persist, despite knowing what she was doing. The facility was aware long before this incident.

Not to mention that the risk of harm is very real. The state facility is the LAST call after EVERYONE else has refused the admission. We got a woman from 6 hours away a couple weeks ago who had been in the ER for 6 weeks waiting on a bed to open up. She was fun. Talk about being pissed off!

I have started Prozac because of this job. Literally ramping up from 10 to 20 to 40mg and now quitting because the side effects are too awful. Because of the damn job. I got kicked square in the nuts a week ago. Grandpa was trying to lay down in his roommate's bed. A bed that was covered in feces btw. Dementia. Getting him up out of his roommate's bed....ouch! I've not been in that much pain in a hot minute. The ACTUAL risk of harm is serious. It's not a joke. We have one patient that has given so many nurses and aides concussions. Forensic patients everywhere that just don't give a shit who they hurt or why and are mean as a striped snake!

I hate it. I have never worked in a worse setting.

All this to say that I have SOOOOOOO much more respect and admiration for psychiatric nurses now. My heart goes out to you and I seriously thank you for the time you have given and dedicated to this. It's truly the worst job I've ever had and some people love it.

"When you can't see the bright side, I'll come sit with you in the dark".

Ugh! This place is so awful and emotionally challenging. Nurses talk about how often we are assaulted doing our job. I'm sure that's true. But my husband and I have actually never been assaulted in 20 years each of nursing. On the psych ward, that is the norm.

I've applied for other jobs. Wish me luck. I have so much more respect for psych nurses now and I'm sorry for what y'all deal with. I'm not that caliber of nurse or person.

Trip to Green Bank - a land of paradise

At the ripe tenure of 4 months, I'm ending it with psych nursing