Monday, March 30, 2009

Wonderful News!

So I have spoken with the CEO of IHC's urban central region about employees being allowed to take the sacrament. He explained to me both sides of the issue and was very understanding. I can definitely see some of his points about why taking the sacrament on the floor could be a problem for non-LDS as well as LDS employees. It can be very uncomfortable for a non-LDS person or someone who is unable to take the sacrament if other employees are asking them. LDS employees at all facilities will now be allowed to take the sacrament on another floor (the room isn't decided yet) between the hours of 6:30 and 1:00. Elders will be in the specified room this entire time so that employees can take a quick break when it is not busy. Also it is provided early so day employees can take it before their shift or after they get off. The LDS branch will be the ones to announce this and just by word of mouth; not IHC, so work will not be sending out an email. I'm so grateful to IHC for taking such good care of its employees and listening to everyone's concerns. I'm grateful that I heard the other reasons behind the decision to stop giving sacrament on the floor and I think that this is the perfect solution for both sides!

I have been praying so hard this past week that I was doing the right thing that be sensitive to both sides of the issue and be professional and say the right things. I'm so thankful for the CEO helping to find a solution that works for everyone and I'm so grateful that I'll be able to continue to take the sacrament at work, it is such a wonderful blessing and I'm so happy that it all worked out!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Discrimination

So, I work at LDS Hospital and therefore am forced to work every other Sunday, it's required of everyone, LDS or not. One of the wonderful things that has helped me be more ok with having to work on Sunday is the fact that I am allowed to take the sacrament. It really has been a wonderful comfort to me and makes me feel so good. There is an LDS branch up there and they go to the patients' rooms that are unable to go down to the service they have, and after they are done passing to the patients, they go into the report room and give it to the staff. A few weeks ago, an email was sent out at work saying that we are no longer allowed to take the sacrament at work. The staff can't take it with patients or anywhere on the floor or even go to the service, nada. Wha??? Their rationale is that they cannot have staff off the floor and also that it is not fair to other religions that the sacrament is offered to us:



1. I understand it takes too much time to have staff going off the floor to the service on another floor, but taking the sacrament on the floor takes 5 minutes, tops. This is not enough time for us to be leaving the whole medical floor to go to ruin and also, half of the staff aren't even LDS, so they're still on the floor. And it can count as our morning break, which we should be allowed to use it to take the sacrament if we want.

2. The excuse that it is unfair to other religions for us to take the sacrament makes absolutely no sense. If other religions wanted to have their sacrament brought up, all they would have to do is call the chaplain. Us taking the sacrament doesn't hinder them from being able to practice their religion.

3. According to my understanding of the constitution, I am allowed freedom to practice my religion. Taking the sacrament is very important to me and a fundamental part of my religion. Muslim employees at Wal Mart are allowed extra breaks to pray because of their religion, if they weren't allowed to, it would be discrimination. I feel the situation is the same here. The workplace should not be allowed to dictate whether or not I am allowed to participate in a religious service that is offered. This does not force my religion onto my patients or onto other employees. In fact, all of the non-LDS employees I work with have agreed that they could care less if LDS employees take the sacrament and that it isn't right for it to not be allowed.



The email stated that this is not just at LDS hospitals and that all IHC hospitals are going to have the same thing. I feel very strongly that this is so wrong and a violation of our rights. It is sad to me that there is a small number of people that complained about something that they don't want another person to be able to do, it makes no sense. I came to work today and the LDS elders came up but did not offer us the sacrament because they received a letter from the hospital telling them they were not allowed to. I love working for IHC and at LDS, it has been a great place to work for, but I am not going to just accept this, I believe if enough of us stand up for what we believe in, they will have to recognize that it is wrong. Sorry this is so long, but I feel very strongly about this, and am starting a petition, so even if you don't work there but you agree, please sign at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ldsihcemployees and add your signature! Also, it does ask for your email, but you just click you don't want to be emailed about other petitions and they won't send you anything. Thanks!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Grandpa


Tom Manuel 1922 ~ 2009 Passed peacefully at home on February 24, 2009 after a long and difficult illness.Born March 13, 1922 in Havre, MT to David and Cora Leeds Manuel. He was the oldest of 11 children. He served four years in the Air Force during World War II. He graduated from Colorado School of Mines in Petroleum Engineering. He married the love of his life, Lenora Jayne Snyder, September 12, 1953. They were blessed with three children, Liesa Jayne, Thomas William and Mary Susan, whom he loved dearly. He worked many years for Christensen Diamond Products. His job had him travel the world extensively, with his wife Jayne and children. Tom spent most of his married life in Australia. He considered it his true home, and happiest memories with his wife and children. He was also blessed with three beautiful grandchildren, Christina Fullmer, Andrew and Dillon Embreus. They gave him great joy. His beloved Jayne died March 12, 1985. He married again in 1993. We love and miss you terribly, but know you are at peace now with your sweet Jaynie. Survived by wife Marva, his three children, three grandchildren, brothers Alfred, Charles, Donald and sister Della Gotlieb. Viewing will be held 10:00 a.m. and funeral service 11:00 a.m. February 27th at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary 4760 S. State, Murray, UT. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the
American Cancer Society.

My grandpa passed away last month, and I've been wanting to write some of my favorite memories of my grandpa so I won't forget:
-He has a library down in his basement, and he would always let me and my brothers pick out a book every time we came to visit. I think that is one of the biggest reasons I love reading as much as I do is because of that.
-He loved taking us somewhere to play and just watched us with that smile on his face.
-The way he always called me Sue (my mom's name) and then told me "it's just because you look like your mother."
-The way he loved for us kids to give him a kiss on the cheek.
-He always would say "hey pretty girl" when he saw me, even the last time I saw him.
-The way he smiled at me and held my hand when he woke up and saw me the last time I visited him.
-How much he loved his family, even though he was so quiet, we all knew.

It has been a sad but good experience for our family and I'm so grateful because it has brought me closer to my mom. Another thing was I got to meet my great aunt Marge, my grandma's sister and learn more about my grandma (that's her picture), which actually made me feel closer to my grandpa. I'm so thankful for the plan of salvation and that I know he's with her again and that I'll get to see him again.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Playing Catch Up

So life has been crazy, which is the case for most people. Here are some fun pictures from our little Fullmer lives as of late. This plane and helicopter are from Life Flight, our nursing class got to go out to their hanger and they taught us all about what life flight does and we got to go inside the plane and look in the helicopter. The copter was really too small to get in and try out, it's crazy people save other peoples' lives in that little thing! To sum it up, life flight nurses are amazing!
This is from our date night last week, we went to the Church History Museum. Fun and free! Tanner is standing next to an angel Moroni statue that used to be on top of a stake center in D.C., crazy eh? And the one on the Salt Lake temple is 12 feet tall, 3 feet more than this one!

Tanner was so excited about this exhibit, it's a tiny part of the tabernacle roof and Mr. Engineer thought it was the coolest thing ever and started going on about physics and how it was all put together. He's so cute, I love him.
This is us in front of a pretty stained glass window of the Savior with the apostles, it was so fun actually and there is so much neat stuff in there! If you haven't been in a while, go! I wished I had kids cause they have the I Am a Child of God exhibit and it's all for kids and they can color and dress up in bible clothes and sit in the nativity scene, so cute.

This is Noelle, she is absolutely darling and getting to be a little chub, 13 pounds! She is so much fun to play with and I love watching Tanner interact with her. He is the cutest uncle ever, I love his face.
She is so smiley now!
It is so funny, lately she just always gives us the crazy eyes and I just love it, her parents took most of these pictures, but she does this a lot.

This is my favorite, we were all laughing and she didn't take it long, she knew we were laughing at her little conehead bunny hat and she was not happy about it. We have so much fun with her, I love being an aunt!
And last of all, this is Molly, my parents cute, fat, lazy dog. She just lays around sleeping like this ALL the time. Her hing legs make me laugh the hardest cause they remind me of a turkey.
All in all, we are doing great right now. Tanner is having a really good semester and doing great. I'm still going strong in school, and though I'm counting down until when it's over, I'm having a blast and can't wait to be a nurse.



Sunday, March 8, 2009

OB Clinicals

So this week and the last I've had OB clinicals-also known as labor and delivery. It was awesome! I don't ever want to be an OB nurse for various reasons, but watching births and c-sections was so cool! Those poor little heads after they come out from a regular birth are just hilarious, I'm sorry but brand new newborns look like aliens covered in cream cheese, but they're still adorable. Only babies could pull that off. I loved watching the daddies face as they saw their new baby for the first time, a couple of them cried and I got a little misty eyed myself I must admit. It's also got me reconsidering waiting to have kids, but not really, just wanting to. And it doesn't help that Tanner is so cute talking about it all the time. It was a lot of fun though and Thursday I was in the nursery just holding babies all day, loved it!! It also made me realize that I am taking a shower before I come to the hospital cause birth isn't exactly the best-smelling event and I would like to minimize that (especially ever since Tanner told me all the moms he has to draw blood on at the hospital right after they're had their babies smell like butt, I've already told him he better never say that after I just had a baby). There is also a lot more gushing/stretching-in-ways-I-never-thought-possible than I ever realized. It really is a miracle though and was such a fun experience!