I'm not sure if the point has been made that, in respect of the public
services, we are employed to 'serve' the diverse communities. Forming a good
rapport and winning trust of our diverse communities is crucial to providing
a quality service. Service needs to be ACCESSIBLE, ACCEPTABLE and
APPROPRIATE. The service needs to be 'patient / person' led. Hence the need
for service deliverers to be guided by the diverse communities (removing
shoes or not). Making the service provision skewed more towards staff needs
(sometimes unjustified) is not what the diverse communities are paying their
taxes for.
-----Original Message-----
From: James Stephen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 27 July 2005 11:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Removing of shoes
How painful! I expect patients will be understanding of these concerns and
suggest a solution, visit by visit. For example, they might keep their dog
in another room.
A general shoe-wearing policy would seem to be a very blunt instrument for
managing the risk of being attacked by patients. Presumably in community
nursing there are a few high-risk patients and very many low-risk, so the
strategy should be to identify as far as possible the high-risk patients and
applying appropriate policy in those cases.
Contact: -
Stephen James, Head of Partnerships and Diversity, Ealing Primary Care
Trust, 1, Armstrong Way, Southall, Middlesex, UB2 4SA.
Tel: 020 8893 0318.
Fax: 020 8893 0398.
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Westmore [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 27 July 2005 10:57
To: James Stephen (5HX); [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Removing of shoes
there are a number of hazards associated with going barefoot indoors,
including pets(it is easier to get hands out of reach than feet - especially
from the small yappy ankle-biting types) low-level obstacles (i once stubbed
my toe & nearly fractured it on a chair leg, i was hobbling for days, and
that was in a room i know well, OK i am a bit stupid).
...but more importantly if you need to leave the house immediately eg you
are attacked, going barefoot is a big risk.
I don't know about the UK but some agencies abroad forbid taking off shoes
(or that you carry another pair of "clean" shoes to change into) on
client/home visits and to say it is against their employers H&S policy to do
so - not that this is necessarily correct or appropriate procedure but i
think protecting staff needs to be balanced with respecting client wishes.
cheers
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: James Stephen (5HX)
Sent: 27 July 2005 09:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Removing of shoes
That's interesting, but I think the problem is one of etiquette. A guest
should comply with the house rules of the host. We can't assume the rules
will be one way or another, just from knowing someone's religion, culture or
anything else. Of course, if a host asks you to do something that will put
you in danger, then you can object and she or he will provide a solution.
Does anyone know what, if any, hazards are associated with taking off your
shoes indoors?
Contact: -
Stephen James, Head of Partnerships and Diversity, Ealing Primary Care
Trust, 1, Armstrong Way, Southall, Middlesex, UB2 4SA.
Tel: 020 8893 0318.
Fax: 020 8893 0398.
Email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Maurice Eisenbruch [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 July 2005 20:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Removing of shoes
Some of the posts in this discussion thread appear to have clouded the
discussion between 'formal religious' and cultural. People often do things
because they have been enculturated to do so and because they have learned
it is right and moral to do so. Religion may be a part of that.
Let me give an example from Cambodia. Buddhism is the state religion. People
take off their shoes when they go into houses, but not because Buddhism
tells them to do it. Traditionally people live in a world organised in a
vertical hierarchy. There is a vertical moral axis. Good things -- deities,
ancestral spirits, the worlds of heaven -- are at the top, bad things --
demons, dangerous spirits, the worlds of hell -- at the bottom. That shapes
your day-to-day conduct. A monk sits at a higher level. A person does not
pat you on the head. You do not point your feet at others when seated. A
monk performs ritual pouring of lustral water from the head down. A
traditional healer sprays or blows from the head down to expel spirits from
the feet or anus. (Eisenbruch, M. (1992). The ritual space of traditional
healing in Cambodia. Bulletin d'École Française d'Extrême-Orient. 79(2),
283-316.)
And here's the punch line - people remove their shoes when they ascend the
staircase to enter a house, on stilts above ground. It has nothing to do
with conforming to religious commands. But it is embedded in cosmology. The
religion simply restates the cosmology in formal terms.
Best wishes
Maurice
Maurice Eisenbruch
Professor of Multicultural Health; Director, Centre for Culture and Health
University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Phone +61 (2) 9385-2324; Fax 61 (2) 9385 8739 [log in to unmask]
Confidential email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mark and Moira
Sent: Wednesday, 27 July 2005 4:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Removing of shoes
Actually, I was wondering ,myself what the specific health & safety issue
was - being flippant, I'd suspect that some peoples socks were more of a
health hazard to those around them: there MAY be some very dirty houses
around, or ones with splintery floors etc, but I am still at a loss as to
what the HSE hazard is from removing socks - time, I accept, can be take,
but there is plenty of advice in Islamic Fatwas and Hadith (and indeed in
Koran) - and probably in other faiths scriptures too, that states that IN
EMERGENCY the saving of life takes priority over all other religious rules.
I suspect that the reference to HSE is perhaps an 'excuse' to save face?
Only cyncial, but I have met this before.
Mark J
(PS I actually don't know of any real religious requirement to remove
footwear in homes - we all know the command to Moses at the burning bush -
or should, if properly educated in the UK tradition - "put off thy shoes for
the ground whereon thou standeth is holy" - but that was a long time ago,
and not quite the same, I suspect!)
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notify [log in to unmask]
The contents of this e-mail may contain personal views which are not
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Want FREE help and advice to quit smoking?
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