Hospital Blues

Hospitals are not my favorite place to be.

Yet here I am, currently inside one, looking after my half-sibling from my father's side who has been hospitalized for the past two days. Since then, I've been by their side, making the most of the Wi-Fi connection and air-conditioning available.

This act of staying with patients is a distinctive characteristic of Filipinos. Whenever a relative or loved one is admitted to the hospital, it is customary for someone to accompany and stay with the patient. In many Hollywood films, you often see patients left alone with only the nurses attending to them. While visitors are allowed, they must adhere to strict visiting hours. However, here in the Philippines, it is standard operating procedure for a family member or friend to provide constant company for the patient. This practice reflects the deep-rooted value Filipinos place on close family ties. I'm not implying that other cultures do not value their families, but they may have different ways of expressing it.

I have my own theory as to why we Filipinos tend to stay with our patients. What do hospital companions typically do? They run errands. They purchase medications, collect test results, buy food, assist with feeding, help with personal care tasks like using the restroom or bathing, and meticulously recount every detail of what transpired before and during the hospitalization to visitors who have an overwhelming curiosity about the patient's condition. These visitors, in turn, share the story with others who weren't fortunate enough to visit.

With the hospital companion handling most tasks, you may wonder: what do the nurses do then? Well, let me answer that with a jest. They simply tell the hospital companion what to do. Just kidding, of course. Nurses have their own duties and responsibilities. They regularly monitor the patient's blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate (which they do every hour, making it nearly impossible for you to get some sleep—snoring would be far too embarrassing, especially when you have to pass by the nurses' station on your way out, leaving you paranoid that they might secretly chuckle at you). Nurses also administer medications. If a particular medicine is not available in the hospital's pharmacy, the nurse will instruct the hospital companion to purchase it from a nearby drugstore, which, thanks to Filipinos' penchant for establishing businesses in strategic locations, can surely be found within a half-kilometer radius of the hospital.

Damn, I truly dislike hospitals.