5 - Black Voices in Healthcare: Pandemic
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Why does the pandemic feel endless for families in Texas?
You're listening to The Doctrinist, Black Voices in Healthcare. I'm Ashley McMullen. I just did a weekly call with my fam in Houston. We talked a lot about COVID-19, how the cases continue to surge in Texas. When is this shit gonna end, y'all? When can I go back and hug my grandparents? How do we ensure a safe plan for my niece and nephews this fall? There's so much noise, and I'm tired. We asked you this week to share your experience of COVID nineteen. Not only inside the hospital or the clinic. But in all the ways that it's crept into our lives and transformed us. See, pandemics don't just wreak havoc on bodies, they create shockwaves that sooner or later touch every corner of our being. Here it is, episode 5, pandemic.
Вік ва. Hey Sakina, this is Kimberly. Hey girl, um just checking on you and making sure that you got some hand sanitizer and make sure you go get some toilet paper and paper towels, cause uh Girl, this Rona is ramping up. Week two. Hey Sakina, this is Kimberly. Girl, you know they closed the schools, so um I'm just checking on you, making sure you don't need anything, that you're doing okay over there and that your family's okay. Stuff is getting kinda crazy, so hit me up if you need anything. Week four. Hey, uh Sakina. I'm hopefully you're doing okay. Um Yeah, when you get a minute we gotta talk 'cause I need some instruction on what I'm gonna do with this hair. I have seen my hairstylist every two weeks since two thousand one.
And I am missing the hair salon. You know, in the hair salon, we yuck it up, we kiki, we talk about music, we dance like Beyonce. We laugh together, we celebrate births, we grieve deaths.
How did the loss of regular hair‑salon visits affect Black women’s self‑care?
It's just a been a part of my world that is now gone because of the pandemic. And Sakina is really somebody that has been more to me. I think I fully appreciate it before this pandemic hit. Іно, і вас виформма. And it was Sakina who woke up at zero dark thirty. To do my hair on my wedding day. And who stood with me just moments before I will walk in on my daddy's arm. Fix my Veil on my head. It was Sikina who put her hands in my head one day and looked at me and said, Girl, you need to take a pregnancy test because your hair feels different. And I know pregnant hair when I feel it, and she was right. And it was Sakina.
Who offered to come to my home? To do my hair. When my sister died of a sudden cardiac death in two thousand twelve, because she knew that getting my hair done would make me feel better. And she was right.
Uh. It was Sakina. Who looked at me one day and said, Girl, you going gray. And it's just time for you to stop coloring and embrace it. And because I trust her. That is exactly what I did. So my every two week experience of going to see Sikina has been rudely interrupted by this pandemic. But like she always does, you know, she avails herself to me. In ways that go above and beyond. So I called her up and I was like, Girl, you gotta help me. And so we get on FaceTime. As she tries to talk me through. doing what she does as a professional. And I am woefully, woefully inept at doing so. So we just laugh and laugh. But She said, you know, really the key is that you just got to own it, whatever the look is. She said, Why don't you just wear your African hair wraps, Kim?
You have those. And I do wear African head wraps on weekends and when I'm around black people, but it had never occurred to me To wear it into the hospital. But it also never occurred to me to let my hair go grey.
What challenges did a Black nurse face on night shifts during COVID‑19?
Or to do a lot of the things Sakina has given me the courage to do. And so with the help of Sakina and YouTube videos and My bathroom mirror. I mastered a few more ways to tie my African head wraps. I still remember the day that I walked into the resident conference with this multicolored. Африкан хитрап да I had gotten from Zimbabwe the summer before. And I had my head held high, my chin up, and I remembered. What Sakina told me. Just own it. That's what I did. I leaned into that podium. And without apology, without feeling self conscious, I said, Hello everyone, welcome to Resident Conference.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why does the pandemic feel endless for families in Texas?
0:00–2:12
2
How did the loss of regular hair‑salon visits affect Black women’s self‑care?
2:12–4:55
3
What challenges did a Black nurse face on night shifts during COVID‑19?
4:55–7:24
4
How did an ICU doctor navigate end‑of‑life decisions for a prison patient?
7:24–9:38
5
What emotional toll did a frontline caregiver experience caring for a dying father?
9:38–12:29
6
How did a third‑year medical student cope with remote learning and isolation?
12:29–14:45
7
What creative “collateral” connections helped the host survive quarantine?
14:45–16:31
8
How does the episode close with reflections on Black health and community?
16:31–42:26