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Whenever I think of the incident that transpired on that particular Thursday afternoon, I get a nasty feeling about the challenges of working as a respiratory therapist. Is it that all the health care practitioners should have a calling to their work or should work as a profession? As a respiratory therapist, I usually work in the intensive care and the operating rooms, but I also engage in the outpatient activities. I am a specialist and an educator in the fields of cardiology and pulmonology. Most of the patients I attend to are in the ICU and the emergency departments struggling for their lives. At times, I manage the pre-hospital and the hospital to hospital patient transport by air or by mobile road ambulance. Most of the patients have illnesses ranging from asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema. Other have a heart attack and sleep disorders. On a certain Thursday afternoon late last year, I had one of the many challenges in my line of service.

I reported to work as usual and said a prayer before the start of my daily chores. I attended to several patients having varying illnesses, and most of them had a hope of getting well in due time. I decided to take a short rest during lunch hour after realizing that there were no more patients to attend. However, after few minutes, I received a call from the hospital superintendent that there was an emergency case I required to attend. The details clarified that I had to travel with several nurses to a nearby village to seek what we could do to save the situation. There was a man in his later forties who lived with asthma for a long time. I looked at him in desperation knowing that I could do my best to save the situation though he was in a life-threatening stage. He could not talk, had flared nostrils, his skin was bluish tint from the mouth region and under the fingernails. The man lacked adequate oxygen circulation in the blood stream.

My professional’s values require that I serve to the best of my ability to save lives and restore health. We teamed up with the nurses to address the condition, but our attempts seemed futile. All our first aid attempts failed to change the situation. I instructed the nurses to lay him in the ambulance and rush to the hospital for further treatment. I think that it was a rough day for me since every other attempt to save the man failed. He lost his life as we worked tirelessly to save it. I felt discouraged, guilty, and emotionally disturbed and could not attend to other patients that day. I questioned my work as a respiratory therapist and whether it was a calling or out of influence to study the particular discipline. According to my understanding, such occurrences were inevitable, but some could be saved regardless of their severity. I did not understand why the man could lose his life in the hands of professionals and experts in the field.

It was sad news to the close family members and very challenging to break the same news to the wife who was also ill of another health condition. In some instances, the experiences of healthcare practitioners are hard to relate with though they form part of the daily life. The work of a respiratory therapist is challenging, but the desire to continue improving the quality of life compels me to serve wholeheartedly.

Question 1
The shift of welfare rhetoric from inept mothers to calculating parasites was with the use of imageries such as race and gender images including matriarch and mammy. The imageries helped in the development of the perception that the family formation of the black community comprised of a bad black mother. Black women who relied on welfare were presented as bad mothers who engaged in irresponsible behavior. The women were presented as women who failed in their efforts to protect their offspring. The perception ignited the desire to control and regulate childbearing. The public got the impression that the single mothers were calculating parasites who strived to raise their children alone so that they can enjoy welfare support at the expense of other hard working citizens (Jordan-Zachery, 2009).

It was brought to the attention of the public that the majority of women enjoying the welfare benefits are not widowed women but young unmarried women. The term urban teen mother was coined to define the women enjoying welfare support. It emerged that the single mother had to get married so that their husbands can take their rightful position as breadwinners of the family thus unburdening the government the role of providing welfare services. Members of Congress, as well as some presidents, have been known to give black women under welfare titles such as the Jezebel, the matriarch, and the Sapphire. The titles give the impression that the black woman has manipulated and controlled the government so that they can continue to bear children and the government continues to offer support (Jordan-Zachery, 2009). The black woman was thus not a good woman unless she was married and did not depend on welfare support.

Question 2
The perception of the “black family” as deviant can be traced back to the era of slavery where the slaves were not allowed to have families. The denial arose from the perception that the black people were lesser beings than the whites. The perception of the “black family” continues to be perceived as deviant in several ways. Most black families are headed by single women. Unfortunately, the black female-headed household is perceived as wrong and the justification of the high poverty rates among black families. Unending and increasing levels of poverty increase the number of families that are homeless as well as the rate of social ills in society. Society perceives the ideal family as one that is headed by the man. The black family is deviant as the black woman is perceived as having refused to conform to the patriarchal family formation (Jordan-Zachery, 2009). The black woman is thus perceived as the cause of damage to the black man and the black community.

There have also been efforts at establishing policies that will promote fatherhood. The efforts are tied to the assumption that families headed by fathers result to healthy marriages and stable families. The black family is deviant as it is largely female-headed thus promoting fragile families. The policies are based on the patriarchal ideology that centers men as dominant individuals in a family unit. There has also been increased emphasis on controlling the sexuality and morality of black women (Jordan-Zachery, 2009). The requirement that black women must disclose their sexual history to receive public assistance is an example of efforts to control the sexuality and morality of the black woman. There have also been instances where substance-abusing black women have received money in exchange for sterilization.