Going to the Doctor

Hey folks, this post comes from a truly real spot.  The fact that we take it for granted so many times whenever we visit a doctor in our own country.  

Last year I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) at a community college in the town where I was living.  On the first day of every English class I would ask my students why did they want to learn English.  I did this with the goal with trying to tailor the courses to their needs.  One of the common reasons I always heard was going to the doctor.  I showed sympathy because I thought I understood what it would be like to see a doctor who does not speak your maternal tongue.  With this need in mind, I would have the students do role-play with me being the pretend-doctor. But it wasn’t until recently that I was truly able to empathize with these students.

About two weeks ago, I had my first experience going to a doctor in Spain.  This doctor did not speak English and my visit was completely in Spanish.  It was truly one of the first times I felt like I stood out as a foreigner.  I walked into the clinic and spoke to the woman at the check-in desk.  When I walked in the woman said something to me that I did not understand.  I asked her to kindly repeat a few times and afterward I handed her my cards so that she could write down my pertinent details.   She walked me down the hall to a waiting area, where I started to begin contemplating my verbal tenses in my head.  “Me duele la garganta desde ….” (My throat has been hurting since….) I felt nervous and anxious at the same time because I had no idea how the next part of the visit was going to go. 

The doctor calls me into his examination room which is the same room as his office.  Then he begins to ask me questions about what is hurting.  I try to explain several things, but then I became frustrated because I realize I don’t have the vocabulary to tell him everything I want.  He then starts saying several things to me and I only understand a few of the commands.  In my mind, I think  “This must be what my English students meant when they wanted to talk about ‘going to the doctor’”.   We leave the room to do an X-ray and afterward the doctor tells me to do something several times before I finally understand him.   Once I understand I go back and wait in his office for a few minutes, pondering whether or not I followed his commands correctly or if he wanted me to go somewhere else before returning to his examination room.  After a few more minutes the doctor returns and writes my prescription and I am on my way out the door.

This experience though has opened my eyes to a series of the feelings that non-native English speakers must feel in the US.  As a teacher I was trying to prepare them for the vocabulary they would need to have a basic visit.  But as a person, trying to help them break into my culture, I failed.  I overlooked this cultural point because I did not understand its value.   I did not think about the importance of teaching students what to expect when they go into a doctor’s office, the set-up of most doctor offices, or how doctors in the US may be culturally different than the doctors in their home countries. Now I understand the frustrations, the nervousness, the fear, of visiting a doctor who does not speak your native tongue.  The one language in which you can best express yourselves when you are at your weakest moments.  The one language you cling to when you feel most vulnerable.   It is truly one of the most infuriating things.  It feels as if someone has shot your legs from underneath you.   Or as if someone has cut your tongue out of your mouth and asks you to speak.  

  However in my case, I have health insurance, I have been speaking Spanish for 7 years, and I have a college degree in the language. I imagine in the case of a person who does not have health insurance, hasn’t been speaking English for 7 years, and does not have a college degree in the language that their experience would be much worse.  Because of this experience, I believe I can empathize much better with my past students.  I have used this experience to help me modify my teaching and slowly start incorporating more culture into my classes to help prepare my students for their future “doctor’s visit”.