C…A…R…E for your patients!
JESUS! JESUS! JEEESUUUS!
As I write this, my heart is in so much pain. Pain from losing my brother, Cleon Rodgers, on May 26 because of two sick hospitals in Jamaica—Falmouth and Cornwall Regional. Pain from seeing how he suffered in the health facilities that should have provided him with care.
What does it mean to care? It is “to feel concern or show interest; to attach importance to something or someone; it is to look after and provide for those in need.” Surely that is the main purpose of a hospital—to provide the highest level of health care to all, regardless of colour or status. And surely, the staff of hospitals, the porters, nurses, and doctors should treat each patient as they would like to be treated. For ALL LIVES MATTER! Right?!
Well, maybe my brother’s life did not matter much. Maybe his treatment was the exception, or was it the norm?
SCARRED AND SCARED
Is it the norm for someone with a severe head wound to not be admitted for further observation and tests to ensure there is NO internal bleeding, before being released from the first hospital that treats him?
Is it the norm for a patient suffering from a major stroke to wait hours for a bed, and hours for lifesaving tests and medications?
Is attending a public hospital a potential death sentence?
Needless to say, my recent experience has left me traumatised, scarred, and scared. I am scared for myself, my family, and all who will need to seek ‘care’ from our public hospitals. I cry for Cleon, even as I wonder how many other ‘Cleons’ have met the same fate as my brother. How many more will have to suffer? How many more will have to die?
Have we lost our humanity? Have we become desensitised to the cries of the most vulnerable among us? If so, then let us cry out to the only One Who can truly change our hearts. Let us cry to God to “teach us true respect for all” and stir us to respond to duty’s call. Let us weep for God to “strengthen us the weak to cherish” and “give us vision, lest we perish.”
Let us cry that God will “give us knowledge” and “grant true wisdom from above;” that JUSTICE WILL BE OURS, FOREVER AND EVER, FOR EVERY JAMAICAN LIFE MATTERS!
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Lisa Dillon is pastor of a church in Montego Bay, Jamaica
