[Viva] STIGMA and JUDGMENT by HEALTHCARE WORKERS

Sat Jan 5 12:28:03 PST 2019

Hello Denise ,
     Recently I was in a lab to get bloodwork. I could see two nurses
speaking with each other intensely .  They were both looking at me  the one
had my chart and as they were talking she was shaking her head no then the
other nurse took my chart got some gloves on to take my blood . What that
suggested to me was that one absolutely did not want to take my blood
because I was HIV HEP C pos. Some may think I was reading too much into
this. I've had so many of these experiences over the years and am not .

On Sat, Jan 5, 2019, 8:49 AM Charlene Anderson <pickles4 at shaw.ca wrote:

> Hi Denise. Last year I was waiting for a cardiac CT scan and I saw that
> very clearly marked on my chart it said that I was HIV positive, I could
> read it on the counter from the bed I was laying in. The nurse felt the
> need to yell across the room to make sure the tech doing the test knew I
> was”HIV”. I said excuse me but there was no reason to yell my health issues
> across the room as I’m sure everyone who needed to know knew I had HIV, I
> also said I had HIV and that I wasn’t HIV.
> Char
> Over the years I have told various health care people when that have asked
> “how I became positive” that if it doesn’t have anything to do with what’s
> wrong with me then it’s irrelevant.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 4, 2019, at 12:15 PM, Denise Wozniak <deniseswozniak at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Oh my gosh.. that is so so sad and terrible Anne. Total BS.
>
> Thanks for replying.
>
> Denise
>
> On Fri, 4 Jan 2019, 12:13 pm anne bonner <thewoodbuffalo at gmail.com wrote:
>
>> I once was in for a LEEP procedure (cone biopsy on my cervix) at the
>> Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. I had my appointment at a certain time but
>> was waiting for a very long time. I finally asked the receptionist what was
>> happening and why I had been waiting so long. She dutifully informed me (in
>> front of other people) that because I was HIV positive, that I was to go
>> last "because of the vaginal juices". There was a big post-it note on top
>> of my file that said HIV+. They expected me to wait all afternoon. I was
>> mortified/horrified/angry and had to interrupt her from speaking or else
>> she would have just gone on. I told her to please stop talking. I waited a
>> bit longer, steaming, and then told her I was leaving, that they should use
>> universal precautions, and if there was a chance of infecting other people
>> through the hospital then they had a real problem. Also that this was total
>> bullshit, and that she was an asshole. I should have reported her AND that
>> clinic to the hospital.
>> This was more than 5 years ago so it's kind of an old story. Maybe things
>> have changed?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 12:37 PM Denise Wozniak <deniseswozniak at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi everyone:
>>>
>>> This talk is not until April and so anything you can give me in the next
>>> two months would be great and I can start working on the talk.  Perhaps
>>> think of what you would like to be treated like and how you were treated or
>>> talked to.
>>>
>>> As an example, when I went to see a new doctor I was told "i don't know
>>> anything about HIV, you will be getting that care down at St. Paul's" - I
>>> had to wonder how many cancer patients he said that to!!!
>>> Another case was a nurse who was in pre-op asking me if the surgeon knew
>>> I had HIV. I had disclosed to the surgeon but was horrified she felt she
>>> had to defend him!
>>>
>>> Denise
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 12:21 PM berta vezina <bertavezina333 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>      Happy new year everyone!
>>>>
>>>>     Hello Denise,
>>>>       How much time do I have to forward some experiences to you? The
>>>> reason I'm asking is I dont have time right now and wanted to know when is
>>>> your deadline is for input .
>>>>       Thanks,  Roberta.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2019, 11:35 AM Denise Wozniak <deniseswozniak at gmail.com
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Ladies:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> What do we want when we go to a healthcare provider? To be treated
>>>>> with caring and interest, whether it's a doctor, a homeopath, a hospital, a
>>>>> psychiatrist, a clinic.  We don't need  aggressive and inconsiderate
>>>>> comments. we just want to be treated like any other patient who has come
>>>>> for treatment.. not asked a bunch of inappropriate questions or receive
>>>>> rude comments.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have an upcoming speech to healthcare workers on stigma and
>>>>> discrimination. Most of us have  faced it and it makes it incredibly
>>>>> difficult to feel confident in going for care.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have a few incidents I've run into myself but does anyone have any
>>>>> healthcare examples they would like to share that I would keep as anonymous
>>>>> and that I could use as examples of how we need change?  I'm looking
>>>>> specifically for incidents in the last 5 years.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for taking the time to do this for me.
>>>>>
>>>>> Denise
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> Viva at lists.resist.ca
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>>>>>
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