What the people say… Interviews and photos
by Cathy Richards
Last week several people were refused entry to the Linden Hospital Complex when they turned up with vests or other sleeveless attire. They were told by hospital personnel that they needed to observe the hospital’s dress code. We asked the man/woman in the street in Linden what they thought of this development. Their responses follow:
Ingosi Harry – ‘Now somebody comes in the hospital with sleeveless. It was a nurse. The guard say to her where you going, you can’t go in. This is madness they going on with. If something to happen to you or someone close to you on the road and you have to bring them in and you have on a sleeveless you can’t go in, you have to go home and change. By the time you get back they dead; that can’t work. They have to change this fantastic rule, and those fancy guards that they have there, they have to put them to guard the graveyard because they are not guarding the hospital. The bandits going in there; they not seeing that. But instead they are looking at the ordinary people who going to look after their family and telling them you can’t come in because they have on a sleeveless. Suppose is something serious happen? For instance look at my mother’s case last night. Now the guard telling me I cannot go in because I have on sleeveless? Utter nonsense. Nobody comes to the hospital dressed in a lewd manner.’
Leon Barrett – ‘A dress code? I’m saying for some time now that I just don’t like the way they push the nurses to wear stockings. Dress in your clothes, your hair well done and you dress to what uniform is required. I’m totally against the stockings, because stockings should be worn in England weather and those kinds of things, because they used that over the years. We don’t want to come back to that. We live in the tropics. I don’t believe in the stockings. Looking at the dress code from the perspective of the average person visiting a patient or a doctor, I see absolutely nothing wrong with a woman wearing a sleeveless dress or a vest or a man in a ¾ pants. Once persons’ private parts like the breasts or buttocks are not exposed they should be allowed to go about their business in the hospital. The hospital administration needs to focus on more important things and stop harassing people over nonsense.’ 
Kevin Williams – ‘I think the dress code being in effect has its advantages and disadvantages. I think when people are going to do certain business, yes of course you have to gather yourself together. But a dress code being in effect would make things look a bit up for the community. On the other hand, I don’t think the dress code should be in effect because people get caught in different circumstances and at the time you know they won’t be able to get the proper attire but they need the attention at the institution. So I don’t think it should be compulsory.’
Henry Rope – ‘I think you should give the sick people the respect and if they ask for a dress code, I think you should go with that. I think it would be more respectful, because if you prepare to go to the hospital you should know that a rule applies and you should dress to suit that rule. It won’t take you long to get a proper skirt or a proper top because you know you’re going to the hospital. You know the place runs with standard. If you hear you can’t go in with your vest you wait outside. I think they could work with that standard which is really good.’
Dorrett Enniss – ‘There are dress codes all over. It’s in schools, ministries where you can’t use certain kind of wear because it’s not accepted. This is applied at the hospital too. I am certain that consideration is given for an emergency case. We need to have some decency and order in our society and having a dress code in effect at the hospital plays a great role so if that’s the rule then we should comply.’
Selwyn Lancaster – ‘I think the dress code is definitely a plus or a must that should be in effect, because persons tend to go to these places dressing anyhow, especially females. Females dress in a vest and they think they are dressed, but personally I think they need it. If they’re going to see a doctor, or to see somebody they need to dress appropriately to do such visits. People need to have self respect and know the way to dress and how to present themselves. So I think indeed it’s a good thing to put in place with the dress code. On the hand in dealing with emergencies, it depends on the nature of the emergency. The security guards need to be considerate because it’s a hospital and things happen that we don’t plan for and call for immediate response.’
Maxine Shortt – ‘To me if you’re going to visit a doctor you have to be properly dressed. If you’re not properly dressed to go to the hospital and you have to be examined, say if you have on jeans you have to take off that jeans then your nakedness is exposed. I think you should be properly dressed as a patient to a doctor. If that’s the rule of the hospital then we should follow it.’
Kevon Adonis – ‘I believe that the hospital is a valuable entity as any other governmental organization: the court, the police station, the passport office and such like. I think the dress code should apply for all governmental organizations. It speaks for both professionalism of the employees working there and as well as the services that are being offered. If you look at the nurses off duty: in the olden days you could not see a nurse in a night club or wearing a short skirt on the road because they needed to have certain morals in society. Today it is totally the opposite especially with the younger nurses it’s sad to see the way they dress when off-duty or out on a social activity. I would love to see the administration of the hospital looking into that. If you want the visiting public to give you that respect when you are at the hospital, then nurses should give the public that kind of respect when they are out there.’
Jenel McKinnon – ‘The hospital is an institution that requires respect like any other ministry or proper office. Having a dress code in effect is a good thing which should not be ignored but adhered to. This helps in setting standards. While there are some of us who understand the moral value of dressing modestly there are those who can do better but just refuse to do so and I think that it’s those persons the administration is guarding against. Let’s maintain standards, let’s maintain respect and let the dress code continue to be a part of the standards for entering the hospital.’