A New Bill Would Make Culturally Relevant Training Available to Colorado Health Care Professionals

By Sarah Vitak (she/they)

May 03, 2022

A few weeks ago, Bob Bongiovanni found himself at a local hospital when his husband needed emergency gallbladder surgery. After hours of waiting, a nurse finally wheeled his husband into the room where Bongiovanni and his family were and asked, “Who’s the wife in here?” All of his family members eyed Bongiovanni. He raised his hand and identified himself as the spouse. The nurse responded by laughing for about 15 seconds and then proceeded to adjust a blood pressure monitor while not making eye contact with anyone in the room. She left without saying another word. Bongiovanni’s husband’s blood pressure was disconcertingly high and soon a different nurse came in and said, “What on Earth has happened to this machine?” and subsequently had to reprogram the monitor.