Scene: A hallway in Johns Hopkins Hospital
Dramatis personae: A white figure wearing a lime-green vest, like the kind a highway worker might wear, carrying a clipboard; an African-American woman pushing a custodial cart
Vest: You have to wear a mask in the hospital!
Cart: I can take a few second break.
Vest: CORONA DOESN’T TAKE A BREAK.
Cart: Just a break.
***
Scene: an elevator in the same hospital.
Me and a janitor enter. Me, white. She, black.
Her: Can I ask you a question, doc?
Me: Sure
Her: Can it really get on your skin?
Me: It sure can. But if you wash, and clean surfaces, you can really protect yourself.
Her: It's scary.
Me: It sure is. Are you getting overtime?
Her: Every other day.
Me: Every other day? That's some bullshit.
Her [laughs]: It is.
Me: And your union?
Her: They're trying to get us hazard pay.
[We keep holding the elevator doors from closing, though we are both at our destination. As if we are loath to finish.]
Her: You stay healthy and take care of yourself.
Me: You too.
Zackary Berger, MD, ACP Member, is a primary care doctor and general internist in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins. His research interests include doctor-patient communication, bioethics, and systematic reviews. He is also a poet, journalist and translator in Yiddish and English. This post originally appeared at his blog.
