09/27/2024
Did I ever tell you about the time I was hospitalized in Vietnam? I know it sounds like a joke, but it was a profound experience in my life. I’d been working as a social worker in the field of mental health and at the time, going to Vietnam and Cambodia by myself sounded like a vacation to me. The truth is funny 😄
I found myself in my hotel room bathroom floor in Hanoi with liquids coming out both ends. I crawled to the phone in the room to call the front desk. They called an ambulance.
I couldn’t lift my head to fill out the paperwork in the hospital and noticed… the hospital was essentially empty. Which honestly, scared me at the time.
In retrospect, I’m aware that I’ve never seen an empty hospital in all my years in the US - not even close. Every parking lot full. Most beds almost ALWAYS occupied here.
I’d worked in a hospital here before this. We were all encouraged to “Chart to the negative to prove medical necessity”. In other words, write out in the patient’s file why they need to be there so the insurance company will pay for their stay.
After having worked in a hospital for over a year, I had never realized that nurses were supposed to “nurse” you back to health.
I learned this in Vietnam 🇻🇳 from the care, loving presence, and careful touch that the nurses and doctors gave me. I remember feeling myself coming back to life. Staring into their compassionate eyes it hit me, “Ohhhh! Nursing!”, they were literally nursing me back to life. I could feel it in the cells of my body.
The US prides itself on medical science and technology and yet we are one of the SICKEST nations in the world. Medicine here is high tech and low “humanity”, low touch.
We have forgotten what really heals. It’s not machines or chemicals that make us whole. It is the WHOLENESS OF SELF and the quality of our connections (in every direction) that make us healthy and well.
That said, I know 2 people exactly now who are in the hospital for heart surgery and am soooo grateful they’ve both survived. It can be such a fine line this “medical necessity”.
All this to say, if it’s an emergency, ack. Idk. Trust yourselves and your connections people. I love you ✨😊❤️✨
