#things i can't answer

[scriptsocialwork]

Announcement!

Hello Scriptaroos! I’m going through my inbox and I’m seeing a certain pattern in questions that I can’ answer. 

Things that are not in my scope of practice:

Foster Care

Adoption

Legal Questions

I don’t have enough knowledge to be able to answer them for you and I don’t have enough time to put into researching them at the moment as Real Life is busy. (I graduate college in December so I have almost zero free time, plus putting in hours at my internship). 

If you have sent me a question about one of the things I mentioned above I’m sorry but I can’t answer them and they have been deleted. 

Things that are in my scope of practice:

Child Abuse

Homelessness (Master posts are being worked on for this)

Case Management

The Counseling Side of Social Work 

Suicide

If you have sent me a question about any of these five and I haven’t already answered them then I will be as soon as I get a chance. 

(My current semester has 3-4 weeks left and then I have a three week break before my final semester starts so please understand that I am extremely busy but I am doing the best I can to answer your questions.)

[jewish-education]

I know the ultimate answer is "ask your rabbi" but until I can I'm curious. I use a cpap machine because I have sleep apnea. It has to be turned on every night and turned off every morning (it can't be left on when not in use). Would it be ok to use it on Shabbat or not? It's medically necessary but not by any means life threatening if I don't use it, I just get exhausted and lack of regular use of the cpap can cause heart complications down the line (or so I'm told).

Ask a rabbi (after talking to your doctor about risks – a rabbi would need to factor those in). If you don’t have a local rabbi, you could try the ask a rabbi resources here. 

Personally, heart complications down the line sound life-threatening to me. I’ve heard similar(ish) halacha cases where the answer has been “do the thing!” but each individual case is different. Definitely don’t (!!) stop using it as prescribed without looping in a doctor.

If you (or anyone else) is interested in the process a rabbi might use to make decisions about medical equipment you could read this article by Star-K (Orthodox, but I don’t know what flavor) about CPAP machines in general on Shabbat. It certainly isn’t detailed enough for individuals’ decisions, but it shows what factors into decisions regarding medical equipment use on Shabbat/Yom Tov.

[mclovinnnnnn]

some days i’m like, why do I even try to pursue a long distance relationship? and most days i’m like, I finally found someone who cares about me a lot, so I should try harder to make it work. i’m only 20 years old though, should I really be putting so much effort into someone I only get to see once every 6 months? is it even really worth it?