Jumbled Pleas

“I have emergency.” It’s a Saturday night and the E.R. at St. John’s hospital is flooded with interesting people from all walks of life; each with their own emergency. By simply sitting in one of the dingy, uncomfortable chairs in the near claustrophobic waiting room, one can observe the various ways people deal with their own specific need for urgent care. A Chinese family sits in the corner of the room, holding their young daughter who is flushed and looking as though she’s had better days. The father is attempting to fill out the excessive amount of forms that one has to endure in a hospital but seems to be struggling with the technical English terms. He leans over and asks “What is prescrip-ons?”. “Medications. Is you daughter taking any medicine currently?”. He looks puzzled and tries to form an answer that could be understood. “Oh, she take… she take…Mitron” “Motrin?” “Yes, yes Motrin but she get hot, and not stop. And she cry lot and, and she lose food. Not stay in stomach. And insurance, I have insurance!” From his explanation, two things are clear: one, his daughter is obviously quite ill and two, somewhere along the line, the Chinese man came to the sad realization that most American’s have to accept eventually: without insurance, a lot of things are not possible. He asks several more questions about the forms he is filling out including “what are wopping cough” (whooping cough) and “how long I wait to see doctor for my daughter”. Unfortunately, explaining whooping cough is much easier then estimating how long their wait will be because emergency rooms are not exactly known from their promptness. They wait several hours before anyone calls their name. During this time the mother tries to find the word for “vending machine” but resorts to rough gestures and the repetition of the word “snack” over and over until someone realizes that she is indeed not asking for a sack but for a place to get a something to eat for her family. In the face of an emergency, waiting is quite unbearable, but when there is also a language barrier, things get even stickier. At least they got their forms filled out.