By Claudia Torres ’20
During the fall of 2018, I was fortunate enough to be a volunteer at Milton’s Adult Day Care center for elderly people in South Bend with neurodegenerative diseases. It was a wonderful opportunity to give back, as dementia runs in my family and I have had to help care for some of my elderly relatives like my great-grandmother in the past. At the same time, I also volunteered at Our Lady of the Road, helping make and serve breakfast to South Bend’s homeless population. This was also an opportunity made personal, as I have been volunteering at soup kitchens and homeless shelters since I was in middle school and I truly enjoy working with the homeless population.
These two populations are often defined by one component of their lives; for example, “that lady has dementia” or “those guys are homeless,” just as patients are defined by their illnesses like “the patient with the leg infection” or “the patient with the pneumonia.” What I have realized from my experiences is that in order to “be with” people and to treat people compassionately, one must first view people as people.
It may seem simple to “treat people as people,” but oftentimes unconscious judgment and stereotyping sway our thoughts and actions. Moreover, as a doctor or healthcare professional, the sick and the injured are not referred to as people but as patients. In using the word “patient,” there is a dissociation between the physician and the person being treated. A way of thinking about it is to use the “Us versus Them” theory - by grouping people as alike or different from oneself, one also determines how people are treated. People similar to oneself are placed in the “Us” category and are thus treated how one would expect to be treated. The people that are different from oneself are placed in the “Them” category, and because they are not like oneself, one can argue that they do not have to be treated like the “Us” group. That different treatment can be inhumane, cruel, or unkind because those people are not viewed as people - they are viewed as other. In the medical field, a doctor may place nurses, fellow physicians, technicians, and other healthcare professionals in the “Us” category, treating them with a certain level of respect and professionalism. Injured or sick people, however, come to be treated by doctors, and so they are different. They are in the “Them” category, also known as the “patient” category. This unconscious separation leads to justification of impersonal care and an indifference to another person’s suffering.
When one acknowledges the “Us versus Them” system and consciously works to see people as people, compassion and the ability to “be with” others is made possible. In my volunteerism, I knew the people at Our Lady of the Road were homeless, but I did not define them as “the homeless.” This distinction allowed me to sit down while they ate breakfast and hold a regular conversation with them as people. Moreover, it allowed them to be comfortable enough with me that they would just start talking, getting things off their chest or sharing what was going on with their lives. Meanwhile, I sat there silently, and it was appreciated because even though I did not say a word, they knew I was listening to them and that I was taking their words just as seriously as I would take anyone else's. The soup kitchen patrons being homeless did not separate me from them. If anything, those people being homeless and me volunteering allowed us to come together as two people and exchange knowledge and thoughts. Similarly, at the Milton’s Adult Day Care center, I did not define the people there as “the elderly” or “those dementia people.” Instead, I did the same thing I did at Our Lady of the Road and just let them talk. I asked them about themselves, about their lives, and I appreciated what they decided to tell me. I showed them there was value in their words by listening and letting them steer the conversation, I showed them that they had control of the situation just like any other person.
Overall, treating people like people can only occur if you see people as people. This is what makes the patient-healthcare provider interaction special. From the beginning, a patient is first and foremost a person. In first recognizing this, compassionate communication can then commence because they are being regarded as nothing less than a human being or less than deserving of human dignity just because they are hurt.
There are news stories in which healthcare providers (nurses, physician assistants, doctors, technicians, etc.) gain attention for an act of kindness to a patient or their family. But why? Why is it a big deal even though in society in general, asking to touch someone and giving someone space are labeled as common sense? It is a big deal because it is not something that happens often in medicine as it is common for the distance to be maintained between a healthcare professional and their patient. Consequently, the opportunity for compassionate care is never given, as there is never an acknowledgement of a human being interacting with a fellow human being, both of whom are deserving the same amount of human dignity regardless of their roles in society.
During the fall of 2018, I was fortunate enough to be a volunteer at Milton’s Adult Day Care center for elderly people in South Bend with neurodegenerative diseases. It was a wonderful opportunity to give back, as dementia runs in my family and I have had to help care for some of my elderly relatives like my great-grandmother in the past. At the same time, I also volunteered at Our Lady of the Road, helping make and serve breakfast to South Bend’s homeless population. This was also an opportunity made personal, as I have been volunteering at soup kitchens and homeless shelters since I was in middle school and I truly enjoy working with the homeless population.
These two populations are often defined by one component of their lives; for example, “that lady has dementia” or “those guys are homeless,” just as patients are defined by their illnesses like “the patient with the leg infection” or “the patient with the pneumonia.” What I have realized from my experiences is that in order to “be with” people and to treat people compassionately, one must first view people as people.
It may seem simple to “treat people as people,” but oftentimes unconscious judgment and stereotyping sway our thoughts and actions. Moreover, as a doctor or healthcare professional, the sick and the injured are not referred to as people but as patients. In using the word “patient,” there is a dissociation between the physician and the person being treated. A way of thinking about it is to use the “Us versus Them” theory - by grouping people as alike or different from oneself, one also determines how people are treated. People similar to oneself are placed in the “Us” category and are thus treated how one would expect to be treated. The people that are different from oneself are placed in the “Them” category, and because they are not like oneself, one can argue that they do not have to be treated like the “Us” group. That different treatment can be inhumane, cruel, or unkind because those people are not viewed as people - they are viewed as other. In the medical field, a doctor may place nurses, fellow physicians, technicians, and other healthcare professionals in the “Us” category, treating them with a certain level of respect and professionalism. Injured or sick people, however, come to be treated by doctors, and so they are different. They are in the “Them” category, also known as the “patient” category. This unconscious separation leads to justification of impersonal care and an indifference to another person’s suffering.
When one acknowledges the “Us versus Them” system and consciously works to see people as people, compassion and the ability to “be with” others is made possible. In my volunteerism, I knew the people at Our Lady of the Road were homeless, but I did not define them as “the homeless.” This distinction allowed me to sit down while they ate breakfast and hold a regular conversation with them as people. Moreover, it allowed them to be comfortable enough with me that they would just start talking, getting things off their chest or sharing what was going on with their lives. Meanwhile, I sat there silently, and it was appreciated because even though I did not say a word, they knew I was listening to them and that I was taking their words just as seriously as I would take anyone else's. The soup kitchen patrons being homeless did not separate me from them. If anything, those people being homeless and me volunteering allowed us to come together as two people and exchange knowledge and thoughts. Similarly, at the Milton’s Adult Day Care center, I did not define the people there as “the elderly” or “those dementia people.” Instead, I did the same thing I did at Our Lady of the Road and just let them talk. I asked them about themselves, about their lives, and I appreciated what they decided to tell me. I showed them there was value in their words by listening and letting them steer the conversation, I showed them that they had control of the situation just like any other person.
Overall, treating people like people can only occur if you see people as people. This is what makes the patient-healthcare provider interaction special. From the beginning, a patient is first and foremost a person. In first recognizing this, compassionate communication can then commence because they are being regarded as nothing less than a human being or less than deserving of human dignity just because they are hurt.
There are news stories in which healthcare providers (nurses, physician assistants, doctors, technicians, etc.) gain attention for an act of kindness to a patient or their family. But why? Why is it a big deal even though in society in general, asking to touch someone and giving someone space are labeled as common sense? It is a big deal because it is not something that happens often in medicine as it is common for the distance to be maintained between a healthcare professional and their patient. Consequently, the opportunity for compassionate care is never given, as there is never an acknowledgement of a human being interacting with a fellow human being, both of whom are deserving the same amount of human dignity regardless of their roles in society.