I wanted and needed to share this with the list. Like the line from the Joe Jackson tune: "cause we think it's getting better but nobody's really sure."
A couple of weeks ago the daughter of one of our patients insisted upon her mother having physical therapy. I called the Dr. and set it up. We were in a state of flux at that time because the physical therapy company we had been using had been sold and therefore, we had no one for a little while. The new company came aboard. They were starkly different from the exiting company. Those who had left were rarely there when they were supposed to be and even when they did come, they were very lackluster in what they did. With a couple of exceptions, they were not interested in working with the patients and Rosalie and I were very unhappy with them because of it. That company had worked with this patient and the daughter knew them. The new company is an entirely different story. They are prompt, always there when promised, and work the patients in the way that one would expect. Already the results have been great. Today, the daughter came to me and told me she wanted the therapy, that she had insisted upon, halted. She said it was too hard on her mother and painful. I reminded her that it was her idea in the first place, that therapy could be painful but would be beneficial in the long run, and that her mother needed it. She went on to make comments that went all over me but I had to bite my tongue. "Mama doesn't like that Filipino girl working with her and she is uncomfortable with that black man, too." I wondered if it was mama (though I knew that it was probably true) alone or if she felt the same way. She went on to say that the therapy was not working and her mother didn't need it. The exiting company were all white women. The people that I have seen from this company are not all Caucasian. Darn, they do a good job. So very frustrating. This area is not only homophobic to a major degree but racism is even worse. If they had to choose between the two, they would pick the homosexuals. The next county over is notorious, famous, or infamous, depending on how you look at it. They used to have a sign, a billboard, outside the city limits that warned black people to not be inside the county when the sun went down. This place is so backward, it is frightening. I read a post the last couple of days that said we must continue to be vigilant and to speak out whenever we could and that is so true. I was taught racism my entire life and though I have not completely dispelled all of those feelings, I continue to fight to rid myself of all of it. Like a fungus it hangs around and continues to try to grow. When will we be rid of the ignorance that is racism? Mack
