Welcome back! This week’s post is by Jennette Morgan.
“The soul, being stronger than we think, can survive all mutilations and the marks upon it make it perfect and complete.”
This week’s episode of Call the Midwife delved into several issues, many of which, we as health care providers deal with often. I just want to focus on a few of them. This episode is set in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis; we get to see how different characters react on the brink of possible world war. Fred went into survival mode and strategized ways to prevent the spread of heat from the bombs while Trixie threw caution to the wind and stepped out with a handsome dentist. The midwives struggle to understand cultural practices from Somaliland and are set straight by a fearless mother standing up for her culture and ‘what is usual’ in her homeland.
We get to experience the aftershocks of Electroconvulsive therapy with Sister Mary Cynthia as the nuns try to navigate the proper care for their forever changed sister. With the limited knowledge of psychological conditions in the 1960’s, the nuns turn to uplifting the heart and soul with love and prayer as only Nonnatans know how to do and eventually find her a spot at Northfield Hospital which provides gentle compassionate care.
In every situation on Call the Midwife, the midwives strive to meet the patient where she is, without judgment or disdain clouding the treatment. As a new midwife, I try to make this one of my goals in every patient interaction. Midwives are always in the thick of it; we slug through 24-hour shifts, seeing dozens of patients – listening, holding a hand, making critical decisions and meeting our patients eye-to-eye in the wild throes of labor. In this episode, even the marks made upon the midwives needed time and understanding to start the healing process. Although each character is suffering in a different way, each patient and each midwife has survived the marks and mutilations in her own way and are stronger for it.
Jennette Morgan is a new midwife who was born and raised in New York, now living in NYC. She is a recent graduate of Frontier Nursing University and is currently job hunting.
