© 2008
Bio of a HOH Nurse
by Jack Nichols
Hi, I'm Jack from the Southern Oregon area of the Great Northwest. I am 60-something and I work as a correctional nurse. I've been an RN for some 40 years now, with the bulk of my career with the Veterans Administration. I retired from the VA in 2001, and in 2003 went to work as a nurse for the Oregon Youth Authority in Grants Pass, Oregon.
I've been hard of hearing all my life, with profound deafness in the left ear, and a moderate loss in the right. For many years I didn't wear an aid. However, after age 55 I started to have a little more of a loss. With thehelp of an aid, I am able to understand conversations. My telephone has an amplifier, which is nice, as I can hear the conversation even if I don't have my aid in. That's about it for assistive devices to help me hear enough to get the job done.
My facility holds 100 juveniles, and the population doesn't vary much. For every one that goes out, another is waiting to come in. It's what we would call "job security." It's a sad fact of life, but that's the way it is. We have kids from 12 years of age to around 22. The 22-years-olds still may have time to serve, but they are usually sent to less restricted facilities that have more to offer in the way of job training, and blending back into the community. My place offers only a high school or GED. Some colleges offer just enough to get a foot into the door for the kids that want to continue their education.
We have offenders ranging from arsonists to sexual offenders. Kids being kids, the difference isn't really that great. I never look at what offence got them in here. I like to treat them like "regular" folks, while keeping my mind and eyes open to potential abuse by these kids. I've seen what kids with "criminal minds" can offer. It's probably good that the general public doesn't know. What you see on television is only about a tenth of what really happens. However, our employees are able to handle it without resorting to violence or bad language. They know that being bad themselves really doesn't help the kid, since most of them come from an abusive environment and will respond accordingly.
It's surprising to me how many kids are being raised by grandparents. Quite often the bond between a husband and wife is a broken one, and often I've seen the family members themselves are "criminals." I often hear, "Oh, my father is in jail," or "my mother is in jail," or both are doing time. The common denominator is drugs. Drugs play a huge part in these criminal minds. About 90 percent of the youth have drug issues, and that includes alcohol. The other 10 percent have sexual issues.
My job is to monitor their medications, set up and run weekly clinics, and deal with health issues that crop up. Some days are dull, but some days can really get exciting. I always am prepared for the best days, but I'm aware that things can change quickly.
In the five years that I've been here, I have never felt that I was in danger. In fact, knowing how these youths are handled and the way things are run, I feel safer here than I would in any major city, especially if I had to be out at night. Part of the reason is that these kids know that their sentence is either shorter or longer depending on their behavior. Courts don't sentence kids like they do adults. I've seen kids out in a month and some have been here longer than I have. It depends on them to a large extent. We of the Oregon Youth Authority want to send kids back to the community in a much better frame of mind than when they come in. Their health is part of what I do to assist in that goal.