A Nurse and an Orderly fired in a Quebec hospital after an incident of hurling insults to a dying woman - an Aboriginal woman (cause for reflection)

I just posted a poem I read this morning from a newsletter of one of my Associations. I don’t think they will mind. The author is unknown. It is the blog just before this one. I watched the news where a woman lay dying but managed to get her phone to post a nurse telling her that she was stupid I believe it was and that she had made bad choices in her life. Before I became a therapist I thought I had heard and seen everything. I have not. I am consistently learning, discovering and concerned. As you know I have worked as an intern in a hospital as a Chaplain. I worked with HIV, Cancer and Palliative Care. Not because I am a saint, but because no one else wanted to and we were told we were needed by the ward. That is the sole reason. Someone should do it, but no one wanted to. There was no obligation to do anything we did not want (perhaps there should be. How else does one grow?). I saw a life time of suffering as people talked to me about their lives, their regrets, their pain, their ………..At times I would go home and just look out and immerse myself in nature. I would look at my beautiful flowers and greenery and just stare off. I was suffering. I was also working seven days a week for too long, cramming two units in, the other pastoral counselling - Colpa mia. During this pandemic I have moved my private practice on line from seeing clients in my office. It is rare that I do and only under certain circumstances. Whenever I have been with the dying, I have considered it a privilege. There have been times when there was no one for the person dying. God help me, if I had ever witnessed anyone demeaning a dying person. I was fortunate to see the most amazing doctors and nurses and other hospital staff care for those who could not care for themselves. Often a doctor or nurse would ask me to see someone who was suffering. I did - always. I have attended more lecture series on line which allows me to attend more than if I had to pick and choose if it was in person. I am a very social person so I will always give priority to live sessions in person. Suddenly because of the political environment there is a concern for the aboriginal, the poor and black lives. I say suddenly because I haven’t heard too much of anything before. What I do say to my clients is to take advantage of this opportunity when something is not right, when there is discrimination. In one of my last series from York University there was a talk about how the poor, aboriginal and blacks are more prone to get COVID 19. Did I learn anything? Of course not because it is the same thing over and over again. Nothing is done. I remember in undergrad studying how we polluted lakes where our native community live and depend on. Ok, so I learned that nothing has been done to rectify that. Why should be the question? At a two day lecture course I attended several years ago there were counsellors from a native community. None of them were qualified. So, perhaps last year I mentioned that to a politician and asked why? The answer was that it is hard to get qualified people to go to these isolated areas. Do I believe that? There are incentives and there are also possibilities for students working under supervision who would be more qualified. Why has this not been done? I admire this Aboriginal woman, a mother of seven who had the insight to tape what was happening. However, I also suffer that this woman was not respected by those whose job it is to do so. Being with someone who is dying is a privilege. There are certain careers where something more is required than doing your job, it is a vocation. One that should never be taken lightly. More education is to take place about caring in these institutions. There is blame and it is systemic. Now is the right time for change. Let’s abolish prejudice. Let’s recognize hate for what it is. Let’s not use bandage solutions but get down and dirty and clean up what needs to be done. Speak up when you see something is wrong. What do you think?