HOW WE MET
But how had I met Dr. Rolle? Our paths coincided one morning near 8 a.m. It was a medical situation that had started a little after midnight and of which I was made aware 4 hours later. My brain was moving at knots per second trying to figure out what to wear (the morning was chilly), what to take, and where to go. Was there enough credit on my phone? Was it fully charged? Why didn’t I have an emergency bag packed?
There was a 24-hour medical facility about 15 minutes away, and though it had been years since I first discovered it, I just figured it was still in operation; but when we got there, it was sealed shut! So, with hazard lights blinking, the full focus was on the Kingston Public Hospital which was a 40-minute drive.
The pain was intensifying.
The porters jumped into action the moment we arrived and took the patient out in a wheelchair. “Park over there,” a security officer directed me to the nearby parking lot.
The guard on duty would have none of it and dismissed my explanation, “You need to exit the compounds and go across the road to the public parking lot.” Knowing that was an unsafe area at that time of the morning, and likely to be unoccupied, I was about to protest when the Holy Spirit said, “Hush! Speak with Master Controller.” So, I returned to ‘base’ where the first security was still standing, looking at me quizzically – “What’s happening? Why aren’t you parked?”
When I explained, he pointed me along the curb that ran the full length of the entrance to the hospital. “Twelve feet down, leave the car there. Do not block the wheelchair ramp.”
THE A&E LACKED A FEW ESSENTIALS, LIKE DOCTORS, NURSES, TISSUE…
It was now 5:30. The A&E area had been renovated – very clean and modern-looking.
Registration was a breeze, and we settled into a corner to “listen for” our name. There were about 11 persons waiting, all looking fairly calm. “So why are they here?” I wondered. “They don’t seem to be in distress.”
I needed to use a bathroom and was glad to locate some tissue in my handbag, for although the bathroom too had been upgraded, there was no tissue or hand towel in sight. I later found out that such commodities could only be obtained by going to a station “down the passage and around the bend, inquire at the desk on the right, etcetera, etcetera” – such was the security protocol governing these items.
As we waited and the pain came more frequently and intensely, I began tuning in to what the people around us were muttering: “Look how long mi de yah: from midnight an all now! If mi neva sick, mi wouldn’ deh ya so. A no like seh mi no have one bed a mi yard!” (I’ve been here for a long time, since midnight and I still haven’t gotten through. If I wasn’t sick, I wouldn’t have come here. It’s not like I don’t have a bed at home.”
A lady on her phone was updating someone who had called, “No, Puncie, mi deh yah same way! No doctor still no come! An mi fraid fi leave coz mi no waan drop down. Yes, man, it look like a de pressure; mi know when it sky- high.” (No, Puncie, I’m still here. I’m afraid to leave because I don’t want to collapse. Yes, it does seem to be my [high blood] pressure [that is the problem]; I know when it is sky high [highly elevated.]”
I had a flashback re a medical emergency in the middle of the morning about three years ago (why does sickness love to strike at night?) The health facility in my community, unable to assist any further, had instructed an immediate transfer to KPH. Upon arrival there, once registration was done, remedial action was completed in no time at all.
JAMAICA’S HOSPITALS ARE SICK AND NEED DOCTORS
However, when I started to now listen to the patients in the A&E, I realized that since my last visit three years prior; it wasn’t only toilet paper that had gone missing in action – there were no doctors or nurses available either that morning.
I sprang into action.
The pleasant admin staff who was programmed to say all the right things right off the bat, began cracking under the weight of my more direct questions: “We are having a shortage,” she admitted. “A&E was very full all night…Yes, I know there are persons waiting since midnight. The doctor just hasn’t been able to see everyone…No, there’s no doctor or nurse at all on duty to advise you what to do…the next shift will start soon.”
Then she glanced at her watch. It was just about 5:45 a.m. “Actually, you’re correct, the nurse won’t be here until 7:30 and the doctor around 8:30, 9. You’ll get through soon after…Yes, you’re quite right, there ARE 11 persons before you, and each person may require 20-30 minutes of attention!”
With that, I quietly told her we would be leaving. The sun had already started rising and the pain was not diminishing.
“Master Controller” (the kind security) was nowhere to be seen as we sped away, heading for another medical facility.
“Oh, but we don’t see patients like that anymore,” the guard there informed. “Everything changed since Covid. There’s a private medical centre on the compounds now but the doctor won’t be in till around 8:30, 9.”
The next closest private hospital was some 10 minutes away. Upon arrival, a porter ran to us with a wheelchair – a bathroom was needed.
In the interim, I was brought up to speed. The speaker sounded astonished at my query, “No, Miss, there is no doctor on duty in the night like that! You’ll have to wait until 8:30 before one comes.”
My heart sank. It was almost 7:30 by this. I was thinking about KPH and that we probably should’ve just remained there.
THERE’S ALWAYS A DOCTOR ON DUTY
The Holy Spirit instructed, “Call Medical Associates.” The phone was speedily answered. “Yes, we’re open. You may come right away. What?” The receptionist sounded stunned at my query. “Of course there’s a doctor on duty! Most certainly. Always.”
And that was how we met Dr. Bradley Rolle a few minutes after his shift started at 8 that morning.
We were actually all “just in time” to meet each other.
The waiting lobby of the private hospital was empty.
We got through in no time, paid a fee of less than $10,000 (which I was expecting would have been at least 5 times that amount). There were 3 other persons standing in line in the collections section talking about their high school; the animated gentleman from Kingston College dominated the conversation.
Before we sat to speak with the doctor about his findings, I visited the bathroom and there observed that the two rolls of tissue were not even secured to a dispenser. Hand towel was likewise available.
THE UNEXPECTED QUESTION
The doctor calmly gave us further instructions and as we stood to leave, the question was asked, “Dr. Rolle, are you a Believer?”
We could tell he never saw that one coming, but like a true soldier, ever ready for battle, he glanced at his watch., “Yes, I am,” he replied.
In less than 2 minutes, he shared his conversion experience and when we asked if we could pray for him, he nodded. Afterwards, he explained to us a dream he had had just a few hours before arriving at work that day.
He said he was using his GPS to drive to a town, but after a while, he got to a point where he had to exit the vehicle and walk. He entered a two-story house, which was like a shortcut to his destination, and in the house was a couple who jovially asked, “What are YOU doing in here?”
When he explained that he was trying to get to the town, they gave him directions, which he was following until he eventually awoke.
“What is the Holy Spirit trying to tell me?” he pondered.
Then, as we sat across from him and asked him if he was a Believer, the Holy Spirit brought back to his memory the dream of the night before and he began to make some connections. We were the couple in his dream and our paths were ordained by God to cross for a reason that morning.
PAIN IN THE NIGHT BUT JOY IN THE MORNING…
What had started as a painful and troubling quest to deal with a medical emergency had now turned into a pleasant and seasoned conversation of faith, prayer, and encouragement. The palpable presence of the Holy Spirit could be felt in each exchange.
As we explained our own journey in the night to Dr. Rolle, he was filled with awe. “God is really something else enuh,” he chuckled. “There is obviously a reason He made us meet in such a dramatic fashion, and just in case you thought it was a coincidence, He made you go to three different hospitals before receiving treatment.”
There is an extravagance to which God does His thing. Sometimes in our season of pain, we ask ourselves “God, why You have to make me go through so much before You make me get through?” But He is seeing the end from the beginning. It pleases Him to write the story in a way that will bring Him the most glory, not so that He can “look good”, but so we can see that indeed, He is trustworthy.
WHEN DOCTOR JESUS DOCTORS YOU
The doctor confessed difficulties he had encountered in his own life and how the Lord had brought him through them one day at a time. “God gave me not what I wanted but what I needed for each day.” He recalled a season of pain and severe brokenness before the Lord, but then joy came!
Dr. Rolle concluded, “Sometimes I sit and want to ask God why so much drama, but just like your emergency, He saw mine and rescued me in His best way.”
Reader, some might see these lessons or encounters as inconsequential, coincidental, but we sought to unearth God’s plans and purposes for our encounter.
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter but the glory of kings to search it out.” (Proverbs 25:2)
Next week, we will wrap up this 3-part series by looking at Dr. Bradley Rolle beyond the white coat: Bradley – the intercessor, counsellor, and musician, and how he cleared up a spiritual mystery for me.