Today, I will admit with no chagrin that I have been working as a librarian (aka information professional, consultant, researcher, etc - depending on the position) for 10 years. I worked part-time for a few months as I finished up graduate school and then took on full-time hours.
Health care professionals and students in health professional programs work really hard. As someone, who supports them, we feel in no small way the pressure they face. Why, you say, when we just support not complete the work? Simple - body language, facial expressions, how they walk, talk, and (key here) react to the smallest of things are indicators of just how much pressure they are feeling. It is pretty impossible not to notice all of this and remain immune. Some do, but I cannot. My goal then, when I can, is to find ways to make what should not be a challenge easy for them.
Here are some examples of things my colleagues and I have done or plan to do:
Therapy Dogs during finals week - last year we had 3 days of dogs visiting and it was a bit much. This year, we just had one day and the students loved it. We advertised it, contained it to a room, and many enjoyed the dogs or chose to avoid it, depending on how they felt about it.
Community Wellness Activities - I am leading a team of folks and we are going to do something with wellness (nutrition, fitness, stress relief techniques, etc) the week prior to Saint Patrick's Day. Students do not always realize what they have available to them and our goal is to do this and also to promote the public libraries in our area. We are still working out the details.
Why am I going on a rant? Simple - when we are told "not to say" words, it gets extremely challenging to provide equal care to everyone. Sure, terms maybe changed and updated over the years (i.e. Sexually transmitted disease goes to sexually transmitted infection) or maybe 5 words are necessary to describe something such as a Statin drug.
What I cannot stomach is having a list of words that someone says cannot be used. More sickening, yet, is that necessary language and programs are being removed from government websites, reports, and agencies, whose entire mission is to provide health information. Up until yesterday, I could state that government websites provided us with the least biased health information.
Two years of working in Downtown DC, 18 months of attending graduate school and working in the suburbs of DC, then 18 months again of working in DC suburbs - all told, I lived and worked in the area for 6 years and this is the worst reaction I have ever witnessed.
I am upset and I am not sure how to respond to this. One thing I can tell you for sure, however, is that this is not the reaction I expected the government health agencies to take and I am sorry they followed the rules instead of battling against the verdict.
Hiding programs, banning language, and other actions will not make the issues go away, but it will spur people into action.
To all those health care providers and students in health professional programs, thank you for choosing this career. It is not easy, but you keep us healthy and constantly look for ways to improve the care you provide.
In one week, I will go spend time with relatives and I will be keeping my mouth shut about this. Just how I will respond to this latest news, I am not sure, but I will definitely be taking action.
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