05/17/2009

Last night, as I was going to sleep, I looked at a piece of paper with the name of our villa, "Casa Cares," written on it. Sleepily, I thought, "Oh, isn't that nice, the castle cares. Hmm... we're in a caring profession, how appropriate to be here. Castle+home=family, we're one big professional family." My disjointed thought process would certainly be borne out today!
This morning, in tai chi, I drew the tarot card for schizophrenia- a disconnect in life; I believe proven in the events of the day.

IIn diversity, we learn to "step outside our own boxes" and "walk in the shoes of another". I had that experience today, and have a deeper empathy for non-English speaking people in America. We went to Pisa; a (relatively) small city, famous for architectural mishaps (ever hear of the Leaning Tower)? /the buildings were beautiful, the photo ops were great, and we got to do our first bit of souvenir shopping. Just a typical touristy day, right? Not quite. We got back to the stop for the bus, and I got sick. (I learned later that Rhiannon and Adrian, another student here, really took over caring for me while I was on the ground.) We transfered back to our other bus, I was still weak; and ended up going to the hospital. The medic who first spoke with me was fluent in English; a comfort to hear her talk to me and tell me what was happening. They took me to the hospital; Dr. Krieg & Dr. Tyson followed (I found out later). In the ER, I was lost (at least, until Dr. Krieg told me he & Dr. Tyson were there). The doctor came in, speaking Italian to me. All I could do was look confused and say "no Italian". Finally, they got Dr. Krieg in to translate. While the two men talked, I kept wondering, "What's going on? What are they saying?" They released me, and I caught up (with Dr.'s Krieg and Tyson) to the rest of the group in Lucca.
This experience brought home to me the experience of fear, being lost, frightened that I strongly suspect non-English-speaking people in the US experience when they need health care. As providers, it is incumbent upon us to be aware of our clients, andd where they are.
This blog is the longest I have done so far, partially because this experience taught me, in a way that no classroom experience could (sorry, Dr. Brooks; although you did an excellent job of steering me in this direction!), empathy.