"No nurses of color....." - Page 8

Obviously you didn't live in the south in the 60's, or was not alive to see it on the nightly news. Watch a documentary and see just how close we were to eliminating racism.

I would be relieved not to have to care for such an ignorant person.

have a rather ecumenical set of friends who happen to be rns in the nyc area and run the gamut of ages, genders, races and sexual orientations and am here to tell you they've heard it all. one guy calls such requests "there for the grace of god go i" requests after the old disco song. by that he means patients who make requests for "no blacks, no jews, and no gays" nurses.

also know of a transgender nurse whose life was made absolute heck. she ended up leaving hospital work and going over to a gay health network. my filipino nurse friends also report requests for "another" nurse or their favourite "a nurse who speaks english". and so it goes.

point is one knows we are supposed to be living in modern times where things like race or sexual orientation but to paraphrasing mammy from gwtw, what people say and what they think are often two different things. this usually comes out when they are ill and naturally feel vunerable and or afraid.

If by "we" you mean the United States, no we weren't and still aren't by a long measure.

My parents and other adults were young during the 1960's and 1970's and tell stories of how things were even in NYC. Yes, Congress passed all sorts of laws and acts but you cannot legislate how people feel/think.

Right up and through the 1970's or so there was a serious racial problem in the United States, it was just sometimes a bit less blantant, but never the less it exsisted. You only have to watch "All In The Family" to hear Archie Bunker's often racially tinged statements reflect upon society as it was. Yes, people laughed but underneath most everyone knew that is how many people felt. Blacks faced uphill battles to get into construction or longshoremen's unions, and often their attempts were met with baseball bats. Certain sections of civil service weren't much better either.

One of the most damaging things however was often the wholesale white flight out of cities and urban areas in favour of the suburbs/countryside. Today we are still seeing effects of this in that urban school districts are mostly poor with minority children, whereas the opposite is true in the suburbs. Indeed this country is probably more divided down racial lines today than it ever was during the 1950's or 1960's.

We had a reverse issue at our facility a few years ago. A patient said she would not alllow anyone taking care of her unless they were black. Well... I live in a small Midwestern town. Sorry honey - it just wasn't happening here. Not that we are racist, we just don't have a lot of diversity in this area!

Cause we all are of some color, are we not? (and not to dis any nurses who do have a melanin deficency, but god bless them if they have to take care of EVERY ignoramous on the floor)

So if I refuse to be taken care of by someone with a deficiency in the use of proper capitalization and grammar, does that make a bigot of some sort?

So stupid that this us even an issue in this day and age, but it seems like most people realize the ones making these requests are just idiots.

I had a young, black female refuse for me to care for her. I am white and the place I worked at was in a predominantly black area. Problem was that I was the only nurse on the floor. I called my nurse manager, who was black, and she spoke to the patient. Honestly, I felt uncomfortable caring for her but I didn't have much choice.

I hate that these issues even exist. I don't care what color you are as long as you take good care of me. Unless you are jaundiced or green tinted, in which case I'll suggest you get checked out too.

I believe the requests should be honored if possible. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, you can't fix stupid. Why put the staff in that position?