Blog Post # 10 "Culture Competence"

I wanted this last blog post challenge to be about something I experienced while working as a rehab tech, in relation to cultural competence. As a Christian, I’ve always made it a point to treat everyone the same, no matter their religion, background, status, etc. Often at the rehabilitative hospital I worked at, we would welcome clients from all different cultures and upbringings. I’ll never forget one patient who I believe was of a Muslim background, and could not really speak any English at all, he could say “no”, but that was about it. I remember he rarely smiled, and just never seemed comfortable. He was max assist the first time he stayed at our hospital, and about a month later had returned a required a Hoyer lift whenever he was to be transferred. I remember often feeling bad, because I really had no way of knowing if he was truly comfortable or not. I don’t want to say as a hospital staff that we ever neglected him, but often it felt like there was more that could be doing to make him feel comfortable. I’ll never forget the feeling of conviction that I felt one afternoon when his family came to visit. You see his sons and daughters came often, and were quite friendly, and I enjoyed the small amount of conversations that I had with them. But it wasn’t until this afternoon that they had brought another visitor, I’m not sure if it was the patient’s wife or sister, but I’ll never forget her reaction after she saw him for the first time in a while, if I had to guess. To my surprise right when she walked in, she broke down and began to cry heavily for the state that her loved one was in, (not from neglect, but from the exacerbated state of his health). I remember having a heavy heart that day. I knew there was more I could have been doing for that man. From that day forward I would spend an extra 15 minutes every day in his room, just trying to get him comfortable in his bed. Every day I would adjust him until he gave me the thumbs up, (maybe he was just tired of seeing me lol). I believe as therapist, or just anyone in the health field, it’s important to remember that we should never let a different culture, or language barrier ever give us an excuse to treat a client different. Every client is loved by someone. Towards the end of my teching days, I really tried to pretend like every patient was my grandparent. When you go in with that mindset, yiu truly give patients the care and respect they deserve. If my grandfather was at a rehabilitation hospital, where there was a language barrier, I would at least want to know that one person was showing authentic love to him. I want to be that one person!