!Polecat
 --- 
agk's phlog 
3 July 2021 @ 2042
 --- 
written on X61 after work
at the kitchen table
 --- 

Got home, shucked out of my scrubs, and started the
washer with them and Evy's. The skin stings on my 
upper arms and forearms where that polecat clawed me
bloody today during the hold. He screamed and tried 
to bite. He spit, clawed, and cussed even after the 
shot. 

Not long after we released him, he attacked a peer
again and I had to take him down again.

My muscles are sore and skin scabby, but I'm not mad 
at him. All our kids right now are the same story: 
Mom died of gunshot wound, pt witnessed, all siblings 
murdered, physically and sexually abused by foster 
family. Mom fatally overdosed, dad in prison, was 
living with grandmother til she died of COVID.

After I started the washer I blended a banana, frozen 
blueberries and strawberries from the Save-a-Lot, 
chia and hemp seeds, whole milk, and a raw duck egg 
into a rich purple smoothie.

After I post this entry, I'll fire up an old Dell 
laptop with Windows 10 on it and use Respondus Lock-
down browser to take the unit exam for class (I'm 
back in school). I can't be mad, my life is good.

We tell the state, these kids, and their guardians
we can help. When we get one like the polecat and 
don't have the staff to do better, days like today 
happen. 

At the manditory town hall meeting I drove to last 
week, the CEO said we're getting new staff this 
month. We have an 80% turnover of new staff, though.
She gave us a raise. She said soon no one will have 
to work 14 days in a row anymore. Management wants 
to abolish seclusion. I'm all for it.

Today on the unit one of my coworkers said, "I wish 
she (the CEO) would work one full shift down here. 
Not a fly-by; an honest-to-God shift. I wonder if 
they would manage any different if they got out from 
behind their desks?"

My brother would say, "There's no way to know for 
sure." What I do know is the polecat wouldn't have 
smeared his feces on the walls if he hadn't been 
locked in seclusion for two hours. God bless him and 
give him a better life than what he's got now.