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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2007 - January 2008Hospital vs. gay familyBrenda and Wanda Henson are the founders of Camp Sister Spirit, a feminist resource center and folk school in Ovett, Miss. that addresses progressive social issues and hosts the yearly Gulf Coast Womyn's Festival. They also have a food pantry program and coordinate food and resource distribution in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Their daughter, Andie Gibbs-Henson, and her partner, Terri Valenti, have been running the camp in recent years. Andie relates that in October, Brenda was admitted to Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Pine Bluff, Ark., when she became critically ill from stage four colon cancer. She came out of kidney failure and congestive heart failure to have a pulmonary embolism when they tried to move her out of ICU. "They have treated us horribly as a gay family," Andie said, "We have had to fight for Wanda, Brenda's life partner, to have spousal privileges and for her to see Mom's chart. The other night she was 'gone,' and we said our goodbyes to her. The next morning they said her kidneys had kicked in and she was awake! We did not know if she was 'awake' for five minutes or what. They would not let Wanda or me in to see her! They called security and I was told to calm down, that my mom was not alone, 'Jesus was with her.'" In addition to the staff treating the family "like a circus sideshow," Dr. Yunas at Pine Bluff refused to allow them to air vac Brenda to the St. Vincent Doctors Hospital in Little Rock, Ark. They had to hire an ambulance, which transported her 40 miles to Little Rock. However, Dr. Yunas had removed her second IV line, and if she had blown her line on the trip, there would have been no way to administer emergency drugs. "This new hospital is great," Andie said, "and we have a team of doctors and nurses that are wonderful. Even they are amazed at how Mom's care was 'not given' at Pine Bluff. The cardiologist was flabbergasted that there was no EKG in her chart and that they never gave her one after the pulmonary embolism." Brenda still has "a multitude of health problems," but she is back home with Wanda in Dumas, Ark. She enjoys receiving cards and phone calls, but Andie asks that activists not discuss the Pine Bluff hospital situation with Brenda, only with herself and Wanda. She also asks for activists to send complaints to the Pine Bluff Hospital and contributions to Camp Sister Spirit. --Friend of Camp Sister Spirit |
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