Memories and Unintentional Sexism
On 9/11, I was working at an inpatient psych facility in Rockville, MD. I remember hearing about the planes crashing into the Towers and the Pentagon, as well as numerous rumors about other planes crashing into who-knows-what. I remember watching some of the coverage on the TV in the Adult unit. Needless to say, many of our patients were NOT taking the events well. We had recently moved Aaron from the daycare center where he'd been since he was a couple of months old, which was right across the street from the hospital where I was working, to the DC JCC. The DC JCC is fairly close to Harold's office. When we filled out the contact information paperwork for the JCC, we said that they should contact Harold as the primary parent - he being only a few blocks away while I was close to 20 miles away. We had already had one issue with them - Aaron had fallen off a piece of playground equipment a week or so before and broken his wrist. They called me. I told them to call Harold, who would be picking him up. They said "ok" and did talk to Harold when he came to get Aaron. Fast-forward to 9/11. The DC JCC is frantically calling all the parents to come and pick up their kids as soon as possible. They call me AGAIN! I tell them to call Harold, and when they do, they have an ATTITUDE! Like, I'm not concerned about picking my baby up!
HELLO?!? I'M A HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL WORKING IN A HOSPITAL, 20 MILES AWAY! Even if I COULD get into DC (all of the roads have been converted into evacuation routes leading OUT of DC), I'm the ONLY PHARMACIST in the hospital where I work (and was already busy dispensing large quantities of haldol and other antipsychotics to a VERY AGITATED patient population) and if we started getting actual casualties, they probably would have floated me over to the large med/surge hospital next door. Oh, yeah... and his FATHER is WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE!!!!! But they called me first because I'm his mother.
GRMPH!
HELLO?!? I'M A HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL WORKING IN A HOSPITAL, 20 MILES AWAY! Even if I COULD get into DC (all of the roads have been converted into evacuation routes leading OUT of DC), I'm the ONLY PHARMACIST in the hospital where I work (and was already busy dispensing large quantities of haldol and other antipsychotics to a VERY AGITATED patient population) and if we started getting actual casualties, they probably would have floated me over to the large med/surge hospital next door. Oh, yeah... and his FATHER is WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE!!!!! But they called me first because I'm his mother.
GRMPH!