I was once rushed into hospital, severely ill and should have already been dead. I was initially treated by a black nurse, on a table in a small storage room off a corridor, surrounded by junk, because there were no beds available. The light bulb was gone, and so the door had to be wide open, whilst she stuck drips into my arms, people just walking passed.
After a few hours, I was moved to a bed, where the two main people who saved my life and looked after me, was a Japanese man, and an Indian man.
When I came out of the danger zone, those two men had a little celebration with me, stood at the end of my bed, genuinely happy and relieved.
I remember noting at the time, that if they had an attitude of only people of their own "race" being worthy of medical attention, …
I was once rushed into hospital, severely ill and should have already been dead. I was initially treated by a black nurse, on a table in a small storage room off a corridor, surrounded by junk, because there were no beds available. The light bulb was gone, and so the door had to be wide open, whilst she stuck drips into my arms, people just walking passed.
After a few hours, I was moved to a bed, where the two main people who saved my life and looked after me, was a Japanese man, and an Indian man.
When I came out of the danger zone, those two men had a little celebration with me, stood at the end of my bed, genuinely happy and relieved.
I remember noting at the time, that if they had an attitude of only people of their own "race" being worthy of medical attention, or that diversity was not allowed, then I would be dead.
This was emthasised by the fact that the white doctor took three days to get around to seeing me, looked through some paperwork, and told me that I should have died and was lucky to be alive, before moving on and was never seen again.
At one point, I could hear the black nurse receiving the most disgusting racist abuse by a patient she was trying to help. Then the nurse came to me, and actually apologised to me, for me having to hear it, bringing me headphones to block sound.
I refused them though, and said it wasn't right for me to block out something that she couldn't. I briefly touched her hand, looked up at her with a smile, and thanked her for helping to save my life.
#diversity #inclusion #racism #lifeexperiences #randomhospitalstory
