Breathe Me

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Catherine

The day was only two hours spent, and I was ready to rip my hair out. There were six of us sitting in the hospital conference room and no one had any idea why. The knot of dread sat in my stomach like a brick, and I tapped my foot in a nervous twitch, over and over. Even Teresa, who was sitting next to me, had started throwing me nasty looks mixed with nervousness. I was sure it wasn't helping that I was so agitated, but it doesn't help when the CEO has the entire Liaison and Social Worker staff sitting in a conference room at nine a.m. without a clue about what was going to happen.

Shifting in my seat and uncrossing my legs to keep them from twitching, I studied the white cardboard cup, half empty of the morning's coffee. The others were whispering their predictions about what was going on, but from the sound of it, the CEO, Thomas Richter, never called in a meeting with an entire department without someone getting axed. I prayed it wouldn't me this time and tried to mentally find something recent that might've pissed upper management off. There were always issues-we were the "red tape" department-but nothing had happened which warranted anyone getting sacked.

As the clock ticked loudly, cutting through the whispering coworkers, Thomas strode in followed by his anorexic secretary who appeared so frazzled all the time. I was sure she'd already overdosed on caffeine that morning. Gulping, I straightened in my chair and tried to remember to breathe. My heart was already in overdrive, and I wasn't sure I could take any more suspense. "Good morning everyone. I apologize for calling you here unannounced so early in the morning, but I must address some issues with several members of this department before further issues are made."

That was not what I wanted to hear."Miss Caroline, a very rich debutante from Texas, was recently treated here for emphysema exacerbation and pneumonia. While she was here, she acquired an additional infection and had to remain for further treatment. Well, she did recover as best as someone with terminal lung cancer can, but the equipment she needed for her at-home care never arrived when it was supposed to, and repeated calls from her staff for her medication routine, nursing visits and further instruction on the machines that were eventually brought to her home for her use, were deflected and never answered or took too long to resolve. After having my internal investigation team and risk management putter through her file and other records, I have come to the determination that we have to reorganize this department." "Reorganize" was a fancy word for laying off, firing or demoting everyone in the department. I flinched at his words, and my straight back slowly melted into a defeated slouch.

"Will there be more investigating on this? None of us were interviewed or even notified there was a problem," Renee, the head social worker, said. She was a short, plump woman with startling, ice-blue eyes. She'd been the head of the department for ten years, and from the rage on her face, this was not going over well at all. "No further interviews will be done, but each one of you will now be answering to Marianne Furlow, the new head of Social Work and Patient Liaison." A tight faced, raven-haired woman stepped forward, a stack of workbooks in her arms. She passed them out and informed us what the new structure was and who was in charge of what.

"Also, I will need to speak to the following people privately: Renee Taylor, Ann Calvin, Roy Vickers and Cathy Sandervale." With that, they all left the room, leaving us all with our mouths hanging open. One by one, we left for Marianne's office and waited in the chairs outside of it like we were sitting outside the principal's office. The stress of it made me want to run to the toilet. We sat there, stunned and nervous, as the moments ticked by.

Finally, Renee emerged and, without even throwing us a second glance, rushed by. Her face red and her eyes swollen from crying, she ran past us and around the corner without even a farewell.

The rest of us exchanged grim looks as Ann stood up and entered Marianne's office. No matter what, I wasn't going down without a fight. I wasn't going to let this crazy Hitler woman tell me I did something wrong when I knew darn well I hadn't. Ann left the same way Renee had, and then Roy walked into the office and I was left alone. I knew that after today, my life would be vastly different from the plan I'd had so painstakingly laid out for myself.