Hours before dawn on August 8, 2019, I reluctantly nudged my sleeping wife and asked her to take me to the hospital. My breathing had become more difficult and I knew I was in trouble. We had been down this path before, only this time, instead of driving me, she called 911. An ambulance and fire engine from the Cabin John Volunteer Fire Department arrived at our door in less than five minutes, with enough skilled staff to field two basketball teams. I thus received the first treatment while in the ambulance and avoided a potential delay in the waiting room.
I had been in Suburban Hospital’s emergency room for a flare-up of COPD more times than I care to remember. This time seemed different. As I was being wheeled through the door I was greeted by an African-American doctor who introduced himself and shook my hand. His warm smile instantly eased my anxiety. The first nurse who appeared at my side was a kindly woman of color. So was the young technician who drew my blood, a Middle Easterner, to judge from his nametag.
After the 7 a.m. change in shift, a pretty, young nurse took over. Like everyone else, she introduced herself and I soon learned that she was a refugee from Afghanistan. At the word “refugee” my ears perked up, for I, too, am a refugee (from Hitler’s Germany and subsequently from Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia). Her story of fleeing her native land and finding haven in Germany (presumably thanks to the humanitarian immigration policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel) before settling in the U.S. resonated with me. By now I was breathing more easily and able to exchange a few words with her in German. She, like all the others I came in contact with, including the first responders—none of whose ancestors I feel reasonably sure arrived on the Mayflower—acted with utmost compassion and professionalism.
Odd as it may sound, all I could think of as I lay there watching Suburban’s many-hued emergency room medical staff go about their business was Donald Trump and his racially tinged diatribes at people of color and immigrants. My eyes still well up when I recall the scene, and I ask myself where this country would be if he had his way and sent them back.
Mr. Ex-President, these people are part of the fabric that makes America great. No amount of shameful name-calling and ill-disguised white supremacism will ever change that. Some day you may find yourself in extremis and dependent on some of the very people you disparage daily to save your life.
Peter Philipps 8/2/2021