Today we were supposed to depart our hotel in the taxis at 7:15. I woke up at 7:15. Thankfully Lillie and I were able to get dressed and rush downstairs in time to catch the last taxi at 7:20! The hits just kept coming when my outfit was compared to a meme of fanny-pack-wearing Dwayne the rock Johnson.
We headed over to Neville William’s House, a geriatric care home. The first thing I noticed was how nice the facility was. There were multiple lounge areas, an outdoor garden, a salon, a dining room, and even a pub where residents can get a drink. On our first look around, we saw that several activities we scheduled for the day. Residents can participate in arts and crafts, one on one conversations with staff, games, etc. I have worked at a nursing home during high school, and the Neville William’s House is a lot more cheerful. There are a lot more activities and common areas for residents. The staff was also very nice, and everyone seemed very happy to be there. This is the opposite environment I’ve experienced at nursing homes in the US, where staff always seem tired and irritated. I also learned that nursing homes are only partially funded by the NHS, and most of it was covered out of pocket. Its very interesting what the NHS covers and what it doesn’t. The woman showing us around also mentioned that a lot of nursing homes have gone private, and public homes like this one actually struggle to fill beds.
After this tour, we were able to speak to a third year nursing student who’s currently on a five week placement at the care home. We talked about the differences between our schooling systems. For example, they begin placements their first year, and will have multiple placements a semester. In the US, we being placements in our second, third, or even forth year of nursing school depending on the program. We also stay in the same clinical placement with the same group for the entirety of the semester. In the UK, students are able to complete skills they haven’t covered in the classroom as long as they are supervised. In our program, we have to have skills checked off in simulation lab before we can preform them in the hospital. The student also told us that they do not have to pass a national exam to be licensed. They need to accumulate 2,300 hours of placement experience, then they can get their pin and practice unsupervised. In the US, we don’t have as many clinical hours, but we do have to pass the NCLEX exam to be licensed. Their licensing is similar to ours in that, for a nurse to practice in another country within the UK, they must renew their license in that country. In the US, this is the same for nurses who wish to practice in another state.
We were then able to speak with some residents in the dementia wing of the care home. I talked to a wonderful woman about her interests and about our trip! We used some cards with conversation starters on them. The bright colors on the cards helped to engage the residents. The woman I spoke with shared that she was an A-level philosophy major, and every question I asked her, she would. poke holes in the reasoning! We did have a few conversations multiple times in a row, since she struggled to remember what we had been talking about. She was able to recall a lot of long term memories. For example, I asked her about places she’s traveled. She told me about her visit to the Mulan Cathedral in Italy, and she was fascinated that elephants were used for its construction. She was a joy to talk with. Some of the residents were very vocal, but some were less able to hold conversation. The activities instructor brought around some games and fidgets for them, which helped these residents to become more interactive. For example, one man was not able to engage in conversation, but was very interactive and emotive when we played table-top corn hole together. These games also helped residents to engage with one another.
After the nursing home, we headed to BCU for our final lectures! We spoke with Annalise, a medical feminist anthropologist, who works specifically with gendered experiences in menstrual health. We talked about endometriosis, which affects 6-10% of the female population and 1.5 million people in the UK. This is a very common disease, but we hear very little about it. Early definitions of this disease are very sexist, and are defined by marriage status, race, and whether or not the woman has children. These definitions were completely biased, and are rooted in unfair ideas rather than research. The myth that pregnancy relieves symptoms of endometriosis is still prevalent today, and over half of women with the disease have been told this lie by medical professionals. Young people are also dismissed from being diagnosed with this disease. This is due to assumptions that endometriosis only happens in your thirties and/or when you struggle to have a child. This is just not true, and many young people experience symptoms during their first periods. These early symptoms are often dismissed as simple period cramps without accounting for other factors. Due to the assumptions, many women are dismissed and go undiagnosed.
Endometriosis is due to excess tissues growing on fallopian tubes, ovaries, or other areas of the abdomen. Some common symptoms are pelvic pain, infertility, bloating, painful or heavy periods, and pain in legs, knees, and back. It can also lead to fatigue and depression. Endometriosis is classified as a gynecological disease, but new definitions have classified it as a chronic systemic (whole body) inflammatory disease. It’s also been found that endometriosis has genetic links to other inflammatory diseases. This helps to recognize the branching effects of the disease to increase chances of diagnosis, and helps to destigmatize the disease. We still don’t have a cure for endometriosis; laparoscopic surgery can be used, but most times it only provides temporary disease. Annalise feels we have not had breakthroughs in treatment because we are not funding endometriosis research. In sociology, this disease is referred to as a contested disease, because there is not enough research to truly define the condition and its impacts.
Annalise realized that trauma stories were not resulting in action, so she turned to the medical professionals diagnosing these females. She realized that the biomedical model of menstruation does not reflect what women experience in endometriosis, so oftentimes doctors don’t believe women who report symptoms. Many doctors confirmed that endometriosis is not seen as a “priority diagnosis” because it affects life quality not life expectancy. She concluded that we need to push for both education of healthcare staff and continued research.
We also talked about inclusive period dignity, which is their way of reframing the term “period poverty”. At BCU’s campus, which is majority women, there was only one place on campus where they could buy period products. Based on her research, students at BCU were missing classes because they did not have/could not afford period products. Annalise’s research focuses on destigmatizing shame around menstrual health and helping students to access materials. She also wants to include people who don’t menstruate in the conversation to make it more diverse. After their research, they were able to implement free period products in most bathrooms at BCU, which we did notice during our time at the school!
After this we had a lecture from Dr. Jama Egal, a midwifery lecturer at BCU. She talked about FGM, or female genital mutilation. This was incredibly informative, because I had not heard of this before, but 5% of women world wide experience FGM. She informed us that many cultures celebrate female genial mutilation. These practices result in countless physical and psychological traumas, especially during birth. She explained the four different types of FGM, and its prevalence in middle eastern countries as well as certain central and south American ethnic groups. We also talked about how difficult this is for people to report because the abuse is generationally from parent to child. In Birmingham, their is a high prevalence of FGM, and there are specialist clinics for pregnant women with FGM.
I can’t believe this is our last day at BCU! Kal, who organized a lot of our events, was nice enough to get us some BCU shirt (you can see me and Liv modeling them in the cover photo). Tomorrow we’re headed for London- see you then!