DRFseven

Wow; after spending four months in New York University Medical Center, where my daughter was a patient, I have to say that I heard much more God-talk, and especially much more Jesus-talk there than I have ever heard here or in any hospital in the southern U.S. The whole medical center was awash in religion, with church ladies bustling into rooms Sunday mornings and urging people to attend mass; with nursing assistants seriously advising patients to pray in order to get well; chaplains, priests, and rabbis popping in uninvited to bestow blessings, and even elevators programmed to stop at each floor automatically on Saturdays so certain Jews needn't risk offending God by violating the no-working-on-the-Sabbath rule and actually pushing a button. The hospital even requested that the families of patients fill out surveys stating whether the patient received adequate religious services. I'm not complaining, because I think the majority of the patients and their families really do want it; I'm just surprised.

Ronin

~ Welcome to Planet Earth, where Belief masquerades as Knowledge!

Philosoft

You must be joking.

Philosoft

BTW, welcome back DRF. How is your daughter?

DRFseven

It does sound unbelievable, but it's true. If they have to ride one of the other elevators on the Sabbath, one that doesn't stop automatically, they are allowed to suggest to other elevator passengers that they would be pleased if the elevator were to stop on a specific floor, but they can't come out and ask someone to, say, push the button for the eleventh floor. It seems to be the Hasidic Jews who practice this, though I don't know if all practicing Hasidics go by the same rules. Because of our last name, we were constantly being mistaken for Jews, and one Rabbi told my daughter she was on the "Jew list."

Thanks for the welcome-back and for asking about my daughter. I've brought her home for Christmas in a wheelchair, but she may experience near-full recovery within a year from a series of horrific problems that resulted from what was supposed to be relatively minor day-surgery in mid-August. It's been a real nightmare with three surgeries and a lot of rehab. I return with her to NYC and more rehab in January, where she will attempt to rebuild her life. There were times we didn't think she'd make it out of there, so we're very happy to have made it this far; it's been a good Christmas.