Wednesday, November 7, 2001

Nursing Professor Fired for Leaving Job to Help Terrorism Victims By SCOTT SMALLWOOD A nursing professor in Illinois has been fired after leaving her job for three weeks to assist victims of the terrorist attacks in New York City. Deborah Adelman, 47, says that as soon as the attacks occurred, she began talking with her supervisors at St. John's College in Springfield, Ill., about taking time off. Ms. Adelman has been a Red Cross volunteer for 20 years and is a trained disaster nurse. An assistant professor, she has taught at St. John's for two years. College administrators, however, told her she needed to stay on the job. Ms. Adelman didn't let that stop her; she arranged for other instructors to handle her responsibilities, and she took term papers to grade while in New York. "I didn't take that training with the thought that if I was needed, then I wouldn't go," she says. From October 2 to 21, Ms. Adelman worked in the New York area as part of a team of American Red Cross volunteers who visited the homes of victims and their families, assessed their financial needs, and provided mental and physical health care. When she returned home to Springfield, she found a letter waiting for her from the college: She had been suspended for two weeks without pay. Then on Saturday, she received a certified letter telling her that she had been fired for "job abandonment." "I hardly feel I abandoned the job," Ms. Adelman says. "I took papers to grade, got coverage, and gave them three weeks' notice." Despite the loss of her job, Ms. Adelman says she doesn't regret her decision to volunteer. "I knew coming back from New York that I would be disciplined, because I left without permission," she says. "I'm not fighting the suspension. But I resent having to choose between my livelihood and my moral responsibility as a nurse." Aggie Hayner, the director of community relations for St. John's, declined to comment directly on the firing, saying the college's policy was to refrain from discussing personnel matters. "I can say that the employee handbook clearly spells out the policies of requesting leaves of absences and the disciplinary action that follows," she says. Ms. Adelman says she is filing a grievance and may consider other legal options. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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