OMG!! 
Posted on 08/08/2004 10:01:58 AM PDT by SheLion
PORTLAND, Maine -- Everyone who has been hospitalized or has undergone an outpatient procedure knows -- and probably loathes -- the skimpy, ill-fitting, one-size-fits-none hospital gown.
Maine Medical Center finally decided to do something about it upon discovering that Muslim women accustomed to being fully covered were skipping appointments to avoid the immodest garments.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
i think they say 'the holy book' because some people might not immediately know what the quran is?
its probably actually more indicative of the acceptance of the bible in the society in which ap is based that they might just say 'the bible'.
Then they should call it "the Muslim holy book," or something similar.
Somali women are genitally mutilated. If they're avoiding appointments, it's not because of the gowns.
I believe it. The US State Department originally was not going to let any Somalis in the country who had been mutilated. Then they reneged under pressure from Colin Powell, and let them in. (Probably because that would have ruled out most of the women.)
If they catch any of these people mutilating their daughters, they ought to lose parental rights *immediately,* and should be deported right back to the refugee camp pesthole where they came from.
You may be ON to something here! I think your right.........
But Maine jumped through the hoops and in SIX weeks had a newly redesigned gown. NOW what will their excuse be!
I never thought I'd be on the side of Family Services here, but what these women have done to them is monstrous, and our government is *severely* remiss in not doing more to stop it.
There is one fly in the ointment: this mutation (as horrifying as it is to us), is apart of their religion.
It is done to the young girl as soon as she turns 12 or 13. It is done by the eldest male in the home. Probably the father or grandfather. If there is no father or grandfather, then the eldest son. It is done in the privacy of their homes with all the family sitting around watching.
I never thought I'd be on the side of Family Services here, but what these women have done to them is monstrous, and our government is *severely* remiss in not doing more to stop it. (It isn't the women. It's the men of the Muslim/Islam Religion).
The government brought them all over here lock stock and barrel. Being apart of their religion, there is nothing that can be done, short of forcing them to turn to a Christian religion or Jewish religion or some religion that does not practice this barbaric monstrosity. And we all know that will never happen.
Thank you Somalis!
Now if the idea spread …
But why won't the hospitals listen to American's complaints?
Exactly. And that is where the priorities lie.........
This is too ironic. Had to go to emergency last nite. Asthma attack.
I was given a gown to put on, and as I was holding the gown together in the back with one arm and bending over to pick up something I dropped with the other, part of my, shall we say, bosom, was exposed just as the doctor walked in! How embarrassing, LOL.
Polygamy, Suicide Bombing, Jihad, Slavery, and Female Mutilation are merely Islamic religio-cultural artifacts and just as worthy of acceptance to the fair-minded EEO Affirmative Action citizen as the differences between Methodists, Lutherans, and even Unitarians. Look it up and forget about Federal employment in the meantime.
Oh don't be embarrassed. Doctor's are used to seeing everything. hehe!
But those gowns sure leave a lot to be desired, don't they? Better come to Maine. I hear that those gowns have been redesigned to fit better now. LOL!
Hope your feeling better Lijahsbubbe.
As they once said about Lady Godiva:
Maybe we should be lookimg up the last guy who ran Somalia for Mussolini and the King?
Just wait until they find out how to get half.....
What fries me is that many modest women including Christian nuns were not important enough for a redesign.
Each time I've had to wear the hospital gown, I never even bothered to tie the back as I happily wandered around the hospital with my ass hanging out.
I hate those gowns, but not as much as they hated looking at my toned and tanned ass!
OMG!!
(Another guy revived this thread and I found your post).
And I know it. Most aggravating that they didn't think enough of us to help us out in a redesign.
Bring over the immigrants and they HOP TO IT! :(
I can see where THIS is heading. :(
By DAVID SHARP, Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Maine - Whether its blue or spotted or stripped, the standard issue hospital gown is drafty and revealing. It's embarrassing for just about anyone who's spent a night in a medical center.
But for modest Muslim women, it's an unthinkable indignity.
"I have witnessed their misery and how bad they feel about it. They don't like it. They feel ashamed. It's very embarrassing," said Asha Abdulleh, a native of Kenya and a medical interpreter.
When officials at Maine Medical Center discovered many Muslim women were so ashamed they were canceling doctor visits, the hospital took action, redesigning the standard gown to provide extra coverage for patients who want it. The new hospital gowns have been available for several weeks.
"This is a great example of a challenge raised by a specific community that can ultimately benefit all patients," said Dana Farris Gaya, the hospital's manager of interpreter and cross-cultural services.
The problem was acute for Maine Medical because 2,000 Somali refugees have come to Portland over the past few years and most of them are treated at the hospital's international clinic. As many as three out of 10 women were skipping their appointments, said Osman Hersi, a medical interpreter at the hospital.
Tracked down at home, the women whose religion and culture require them to be covered, described to interpreters the horror of being asked to wear the revealing gowns during outpatient procedures.
Furthermore, they were publicly humiliated when they had to wait in a hallway in the radiology department.
On a recent morning after the new patient gowns were provided, Shamso Abdi appeared for her first hospital visit since arriving in Portland.
She and her husband, Aden Ali, came to the United States from Mogadishu, Somalia. They lived in a small town in Kentucky, and then Columbus, Ohio, before coming to Portland.
Abdi, who was clothed in a dress, a sarong and a hijab, a scarf wrapped around her head, said she had canceled appointments in Columbus when she had to see male doctors and wear the standard drafty gown.
The gown created by the Portland hospital is long enough to provide more coverage of a patient's legs and has extra material to ensure that a patient's backside remains covered. Underneath, there's a wraparound sarong for even more coverage.
Abdi said she was grateful to see that Maine Medical had created a patient gown with her principles in mind.
"I'm so happy they made the change. I'm so happy that they considered us," she said, speaking through an interpreter.
Other hospitals are responding to the needs of Muslims. In southeastern Michigan, home to 300,000 Arab-Americans, the University of Michigan Medical Center is also addressing the issue of modesty.
The hospital is thinking of posting signs on the rooms of Muslim women warning male visitors and staff to check with a nurse's station before entering, said spokeswoman Krista Hopson in Ann Arbor, Mich.
As for the gown itself, Maine Medical isn't the only hospital to try to create a more acceptable version.
Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey introduced vibrant colors and funky patterns five years ago. Other hospitals and garment producers have tweaked the traditional design with snaps, Velcro and other changes.
Still, the standard-issue gown will never go away entirely. In some situations, in emergency rooms for example, it's more important to put the interests of doctors and nurses ahead of the interests of patients.
But for many situations, it makes sense to keep patients happy.
Asks Dr. Nat James of the hospital's international clinic: "Why didn't we think of this so long ago?"
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