REBECCA ARCE:	Hi. 
Welcome to our session 
on the history of 
medical testing in Oregon 
and the nation.
I'm here with my co-host Mireya, 
and we are going to 
walk you through 
this module today.  
My name is Rebecca Arce.  
I am the Service Equity Manager 
for Aging and 
People With Disabilities 
at the Oregon Department 
of Human Services.
I'm housed in our 
Office of Equity 
and Multicultural Services.
And Mireya?
MIREYA WILLIAMS: Hello.
My name is Mireya Williams,
and I also am 
a service equity manager
for the Self-Sufficiency 
programs 
with the Oregon 
Department of Human Services.
-Thank you. 
And as you can see, 
we're also joined 
by Elizabeth today.
Um, she will not 
be participating 
in our conversation, 
but she is helping us out 
with our captioning, 
so as you watch this 
from home and you're 
in need of captioning,
that's what Elizabeth 
has helped us with. 
So um, we're going to 
jump into our module 
and start sharing 
my screen with you,
and you're watching this
because you will be going 
into our 
long-term care facilities 
and testing not only 
our residents 
but our staff.
And it's important to know 
how healthcare systems,
communities of color, 
people with disabilities,
our LGBTQIA class individuals
and veterans
have a history of mistrust
with government testing.
Although you are a contractor 
because this is an
executive order by our governor,
you may be seen
or perceived
as government.
So in this module 
our hope is that 
you'll understand
why it's important to know 
this history of testing 
so you can help our staff 
and residents,
um,
feel like they're 
honored and trusted
in this process 
and that you could 
also develop that 
basis of trust
by applying 
what you learned here 
to the testing process.
I wish I could 
ask you questions,
but um,
because we are 
doing this online
I've asked Maria to join us 
so that we could have 
more of a dialogue if, 
as if we were in person
together, 
so we'll all be 
learning together today.
So,
this mistrust
is rooted
in eugenics,
and while 
Charles Darwin's doctrine 
of survival of the fittest 
was not rooted in eugenics,
um, 
the idea of creating 
a better citizen
came from the idea of 
survival
of the fittest.
And in 
18,
17th, 18th centuries,
the, um, 
scientists really wanted to
speed progress of humanity,
and they thought that they
could achieve that
by creating better citizens,
and this meant
making sure that, 
um,
and I'm choosing my words 
carefully here
which is why I'm pausing,
making sure that 
certain populations
were contributing
to that betterment of society,
which the word better 
is also subjective,
so we have to think about
who the scientists were then
and what they thought
would be better.
Mireya, can you walk us through
the legacy of testing
on who we thought
it was okay 
to do these tests on?
-Yes.  Thank you, Rebecca.
So people of color,
immigrants, 
poor people,
women,
people with disabilities,
people experiencing 
mental health needs,
holocaust survivors, 
veterans,
LGBTQIA plus individuals 
are all 
a legacy of medical testing,
have a legacy of medical testing. 
Many of our policies decisions 
are made based on who is 
deserving of public benefits 
and who is undeserving.
Through our own 
social constructs, 
our public policy
has conveyed the message 
that people of color,
immigrants,
poor people,
and unmarried mothers 
are un, 
****
under, 
undeserving of public benefits. 
Sorry, I'm having a difficult 
time with my words today.
And access to 
equitable healthcare. 
Furthermore, 
while our society 
may view people 
with disabilities
and mental health needs
are viewed as deserving,
they are not often
in positions of power 
to make decisions 
for themselves.
Many decisions about healthcare
are made for them all.
All these factors play
into the many,
the history of medical testing
and how 
the folks living in
long-term care facilities
may
view
governmental health workers
coming into the test,
in to test 
them for COVID-19. 
So it is really important 
that we 
establish a relationship 
and that we build trust
with these communities
given the history
that they hold.
In addition to our own American
construct around public policy,
some of our older American
or adults 
lived through the holocaust 
where medical experiments
were performed on
Jewish,
Roma,
LGBTQ individuals 
and people with disabilities.
There are over 
100 holocaust survivors
living in the Portland area.
Their unique experiences
and those of veterans
may contribute
to distrust,
fear,
PTSD
when it comes to 
government testing,
and this is why
it is important
for us to understand 
going into these environments 
and with our communities.
-Thank you.
-You're welcome.
-And if we remember, 
one of our
first outbreaks
in a long-term facility
was actually in one of 
our veterans homes, 
so,
I want to make 
sure that we start 
there as well, 
so um, 
we know why there might be 
some fear for these communities.
Um,
some examples of this history
of medical testing,
again we're going back on 
who is deserving 
and who is undeserving,
who is respected
and who is not respected 
in some of these 
decision-making policies. 
Um,
the study of modern gynecology
was actually performed
on enslaved black women,
and the doctor would 
go in and pay
for the usage of time
for these enslaved women, 
not give them anesthesia 
and perform multiple 
surgeries on them
until he perfected the art.
Some of the women
underwent 20 to 30 surgeries.
And then moving forward 
we had the Tuskegee experiment 
where, again, 
African American men, 
it was supposed to be
part of a 6-month study
to study syphilis.
It ended up 
going for 40 years.
Even after they found
a treatment for syphilis, 
the members of this experiment
were not given
access to the treatment.
Um,
they were also
not told upfront 
what the study would entail.
They didn't tell them
it was about syphilis,
and they infected some of them.
So this happened between, um,
a 40-year span.
And moving forward again, um, 
so we're moving from
the 1800s into the 1900s 
and even up until the 1960s,
'70s and '80s.
There was forced sterilization
of Lat Mex,
American Indian 
and African American women
and people with disabilities 
because they, um,
had negative connotations
attached to them.
One was assimilation, 
one was immigration,
and one was just that people
in mental hospitals
or in prisons 
that were seeking
public benefits as well,
so unmarried women,
they were all subject
to forced sterilization
either to be released 
from prison 
or the mental hospital
or to get access
to public benefits. 
So I just want that to
kinda resonate for a moment.
These were folks that, um, 
might have been
put on a path
due to the nature of
just the group that
they were born into,
and then to seek help
or to
seek a better life
they had to give up
their right to
become parents,
which can be a very beautiful,
lifechanging
thing for many folks,
and if we think about the way
we frame
our society around family,
we had taken them out
of that equation,
and some of this is
within living memory.
Um,
forced sterilization happened
in Oregon
up until 1982,
and there's some 
further reading here.
Um,
so up in this century
there were at least
148 California inmates, 
women, that were 
forcibly sterilized
up until 2010.
Um, there is also
an in-depth history,
the second article
if you want to dig into it,
about, 
as it says,
the ugly past 
of U.S. human experiments.
These are some things that
we don't talk about 
because
it is a shameful
part of our past,
and I know that
you are in the medical industry
because you want to help folks,
and
a lot of this can bring up
shame for individuals as well.
So this isn't about
shaming individuals
or the system.
It's about knowing
how we can improve
what we do 
and come to
a holistic world view
of what has happened.
So if we think about folks 
that are in long-term care
facilities now,
they may be in their 70s 
or their 80s,
and this happened
in their lifetime, 
and even if it
did not happen to them,
it has happened to
their loved ones.
LGBTQIA plus individuals,
I'm gonna go back one slide,
LGBTQ plus IA individuals,
they were seen
as someone with
a mental health disorder
up until the 1980s,
and just based on
their sexual orientation
could be put in a 
mental hospital,
and upon release
they would have to go through
one of these procedures.
Those are folks that could be 
living in our
long-term care facility now,
facilities now, 
and the same for
unmarried women
who are also seen as
in that, 
and you'll see in the article,
sexual deviants 
because they were unmarried 
and that they were 
already mothers.
It's just the way that 
our society
has viewed people 
again as deserving 
or undeserving 
or what is right
and what is wrong.
So I hope when you
go into these facilities
and you work, 
um, 
through the testing process, 
if you notice they're hesitant
maybe just to think about
some of the things that
we're talking about here today.
I'm gonna have us watch
two videos.  
As you can see, this one 
is called "No Más Bebés."
These are voices of survivors.
This is just 
the trailer for the movie.
This is an 
hour-long video 
available from 
OPB Independent Lens, 
and it talks about 
the
forced
sterilization of women
who were under duress
or actually sedated
when they signed 
consent forms for this.
So when they woke up
from surgery 
they found out
that they were sterilized,
or they found out
years later. 
Give me just one moment 
while I set this up for you, 
and captioning is available. 
MALE SPEAKER: 
This baby boy became a citizen 
1 minute ago.
His mother does not have 
immigration papers.
SECOND MALE SPEAKER: 
They were told they should be sterilized 
to save taxpayers welfare mondy.
THIRD MALE SPEAKER:
Something drastic must be done 
about population growth.
FEMALE SPEAKER:
The doctor walked in and said
"we cut your tubes,"
and I said "why?"
He goes "well, 
you signed for it."
I said "me?"
I go I don't remember nothing, 
and I didn't tell my family. 
I didn't tell anybody.
MALE SPEAKER:
They were extremely fearful 
being told that you need an
emergency cesarean section 
and feel blood 
pouring down your leg
at that time signing a consent 
for tubal ligation.
MALE SPEAKER:
This is the emergency department
of Los Angeles County 
USC Medical Center.
FEMALE SPEAKER:
Some of 'em signed 
right in the midst of labor.
Some of 'em don't even 
remember signing.
**** is this young lawyer 
and for the first time 
telling him do you know 
that you've been sterilized.
We are suing HEW
for non-compliance
or non-enforcement, 
not monitoring all the, uh, 
sterilization regulations.
FEMALE SPEAKER:
It was just the beginning 
of the emergence of 
the civil rights
movement in the Latino community.
 
FEMALE SPEAKER:
We were talking about 
abortion rights, 
all of the issues of feminism
at that time. 
The idea that somebody 
could be forcibly sterilized,
like seemed like 
something out of 
a mental institution
out of the 1920s.
MALE SPEAKER:
To claim that 
we're part of a greater goal
of sterilizing 
the Mexican population
that immigrates to Los Angeles,
I mean, I'm offended by that.
That's not what we did.
The way I felt when I was young,
it doesn't change
the way I feel in my heart
now that I'm 
older, 
but it, it's there all the time.
It's like when you
bury somebody, 
you're always gonna
carry it on your head.
- And I encourage you 
if you are curious
about that to 
go ahead and watch 
the full video.
Oh, excuse me,
it was still playing 
in the background on my end.
Um, so again, 
the full video 
is available through
OPB Independent Lens 
available online.  
And if we look at
the woman that was interviewed,
this was in,
within our lifetime,
and I believe it was in 2002
that our governor, 
John Kitzhaber,
offered an apology
for all of the 
2,000 plus sterilizations
that happened in Oregon.
What are your thoughts 
on the video, Mireya?
- I just, um, 
was thinking about,  
I was born at the, 
uh, USC Medical Center in 1972,
and it's interesting 
to think about
what my mom's experience 
could have been 
in that situation 
as an immigrant, 
um, also, 
and so it was very, 
it's very powerful 
to me and interesting to see,
and I can only imagine
what she could've gone through.
- Right. 
Thank you.
- It's also the reason 
that we're in this job
as well and wanting to 
ensure that we're 
caring and sensitive and, 
and this is why we're doing this
this training.
- Yes. 
Thank you.
Um,
I still get chills
when I watch this one,
being from Southern California,
being from an immigrant family 
as well,
and
having a fear 
of going in for
medical procedure that's routine, 
that, um, 
should've been accessible
for everyone and to not know 
what would happen 
when you would come out.
- Yes, absolutely. 
And I think in, 
in our community that's why it's, 
um, 
there's that hesitancy 
of going to the doctor, 
even just for a checkup,
because of all of the,
the weight that that carries 
and just simply thinking about 
going to the doctor
for all the,
the reasons that we just mentioned
and **** the trauma 
that we carry with us.
- Thank you.   
And then moving to 
a medical facility,
like 
a nursing home, 
or residential care facility,
there's also just some 
life changes 
and emotions that come with 
knowing that you need more 
assistance in your life
and having to be 
very vulnerable 
with your care providers, 
um, and maybe not really 
being able to explain 
why that is.
And now we're faced with 
COVID-19 and the coronavirus
and having more people come in
and ask 
to take your blood 
or to, 
to have a very 
uncomfortable procedure
where someone is sticking 
a swab in your nose.
So if we could sit 
with that for a moment
and kind of 
know where that might be 
coming from
and get curious 
and not assume 
but maybe ask 
how someone is feeling about
what's about to happen, 
if they had any 
further questions.
And again, 
I know we're talking to 
medical professionals
who do this regularly,
but just an added thought 
for the history.
- It looks like we, 
you might be a little 
frozen, Rebecca?
- Easily fixed, 
and it was a good point 
to stop the dialogue, 
so if you have 
any other thoughts 
I'd hope you share those, 
and if not, 
we can move into 
our second video?
- Sounds good, yeah.
- Okay.
- Great, thank you.
- Yes, thank you.  
Our second video is 
a little bit longer.
Um, again, 
this one is not, um, 
not Oregon specific, 
but we mentioned that 
there were over 
100 holocaust survivors
living in Oregon in 
the Portland area, 
and um, 
just maybe thinking about what 
they might be going through.  
So let me get this video up on 
the screen for you 
and then we'll watch this one 
together too.
Thanks for your patience.  
There was an ad
that I wanted to go through and 
not have you all hear the ad.  
And this one is 
pretty moving as well.
- There’s no sound to it, 
Rebecca.
about the Mengele twins.
And in that documentary, 
there was a Nazi doctor 
from Auschwitz 
and I figured if he was alive 
in '92,
he might be alive in '93, 
so 
I got his telephone number,
I called him 
and invited him to Boston.
Well, he told me he was 
not willing to go to Boston 
but he was willing to 
meet with me at 
his house in Germany.
And I didn't plan to 
ask him any of these questions.
Suddenly I –
- Do we have to start over?
- No, we're good, 
we're still recording.
So 
the rest of the video 
goes on to talk about forgiveness
between the doctor 
and, um, Eva, 
which I think is 
pretty powerful 
and kind of,
um, the reason why 
I chose this video
is I wanted to talk about 
how we can regain trust
and the forgiveness process too.
This documentary is also, um, 
available in the full length, 
a little bit over an hour, 
on You Tube, 
um, 
if you would like to watch it.
So this one is called
I Survived the Holocaust 
Twins Experiment, 
and I see
that, um, Frieda has joined us.
So Frieda, if you would 
introduce yourself please,
that would be lovely.
FRIEDA BIKELE: Hey, um,
my apology. 
My name is Frieda Bikele.
I am the Service Equity Manager 
for HR Center 
and Shared Services.
My apology for joining 
you guys late.
I was wrapping a meeting,
so I just got done.
- It’s always lovely 
to have you, Frieda.
And um,
we just watched this video,
and I wanted to get some
feedback or thoughts
when you watched this video, 
or I don't know when you 
joined us, Frieda, 
um, if you saw any of it, 
and just have a dialogue 
about this,
what they were talking about 
with the medical experiments.
- Wow.  Um, 
you know, I, 
it just made me think about, 
you know, I have twins.
I can't imagine 
being in that 
situation or 
either having my children to 
be pulled away from me 
in that manner.
It just, 
and then for them to have to 
suffer through
all of the 
experiments that they went 
through at such a young age.
I just,
it's heartbreaking, it's 
to know what environments 
we're going into
and what people's experiences 
have been and just, um, 
being compassionate 
and empathetic 
when we're talking with them.
- Thank you.  
Frieda, did you get to watch 
any of the video?
- No I haven't,
but I can just go off 
what Mireya said.
Because I’ve had 
a long experience 
dealing with the 
healthcare system here, and 
I think that goes back 
to the issue of trust.
When does the trust,
when did the fracture happen?
So I think this is what, 
you know, 
has led to us being now,
you know, 
not really trusting the system
and the medical, 
the healthcare system 
and even with practitioners.
So, 
again, I think, uh, you know, 
I kind of have, you know,
that shared fears where 
I had a real sick child 
and, you know, 
the treatment wasn't 
appropriate to where I'm now 
very anxious every time I 
have to send her
off to some kind of,
you know, 
exam or some kind 
of treatment, even 
some kind of medication. 
I now question everything, 
something I used not to,
but that comes from 
the fact that, 
you know, 
the more you interact,
the more you 
see things that are 
happening to your child, and 
the protective mechanics 
enforced in you have to be,
you have to protect 
how much treatment you give.
So yeah.
- Thank you.  
And um, 
I know I said we were gonna 
talk about some Oregon things 
and some national things too,
and um, 
this is just a legacy that 
most folks 
know about 
because it was a huge 
event in our world, 
and we know that over 6 million 
Jewish, Roma, LGBTQIA plus 
and people with disabilities
were murdered during this, 
this period.
But um, 
Eva, 
the woman in the video, 
she actually lived until, 
um, 2017, 
and she was still on the road 
doing, um, 
presentations and discussions 
about what happened to her,
and I think it's just 
a testament
to the human spirit
and, like I said, 
that forgiveness 
can play a big role into that 
and regaining trust.
So I encourage you
to finish 
watching that video 
if you're curious. 
So I'm gonna jump back 
into our slide deck here.
I have a few more things 
for you to, um, 
just think about, 
and then we're gonna 
go into a reflection.
Okay.
So um,
Frieda, talked about this too, 
so it's not just testing.
Healthcare and 
access to that healthcare
is not equitable, 
and so a few of our populations 
that will be in our 
long-term care facilities
are returning veterans 
and our LGBTQIA folks.
Um,
now, some of our,
our veterans were not celebrated
when they returned from overseas
and I'm talking specifically 
about Vietnam.
Um, there were some very short
periods of war
that we had in the gulf 
in the 1990s,
and there was,
in that time there
was a stigma 
of mental health needs
of what it meant to return
as a veteran
and reenter 
into civilian society.
Um, we didn't talk a lot about 
traumatic brain injury 
as well and the behaviors 
that come with that,
um, and still today 
we know that 
there is inadequate staffing 
at facilities.
So just because we have a VA
doesn't mean that everyone's
getting the access
to the healthcare they need
when they need it,
and that can also create 
distrust in our system.
And for LGBTQIA plus individuals
you've heard a lot about 
the history of eugenics
and their role in being
part of the mental health 
population that was 
deemed undeserving
but also, um, in the AIDS
and HIV epidemic,
which I'm glad Frieda's here 
because she actually worked, 
um, with OHA 
in the AIDS HIV field. 
And
there was a period of time
for a decade when our 
black and brown
LGBTQIA people 
were not receiving healthcare. 
Um,
there was a stigma 
tied to AIDS and HIV
that prevented them 
from getting treatment
and even studies to find cures.
Um, 
it wasn't until 
Ryan White, 
a young man 
who was of European 
American descent 
actually contracted the 
virus through a, um, 
blood transfusion, 
and then the medical research 
started pouring in to find 
a cure,
or at least a treatment that 
would be life sustaining. 
So I just paused there 
for a moment 
because I wanted to think about
the thousands of lives 
that were lost in our 
black and brown communities 
by being ignored from our system
and then what it took 
for
the US to invest
in finding a cure.
And um, 
some anti-discrimination, 
I'm sorry,
some discrimination 
still exists,
um, 
for LGBTQ
plus population, 
specifically particularly 
our trans individuals.
So it was just this year,
2 weeks ago, that we had 
a ruling
that, um, 
LGBTQIA plus individuals 
cannot be discriminated against 
in the workplace, 
but they still don't have those 
protections in healthcare.
Did you want to add anything 
to that, Frieda?
- Yeah.
I wanna go back to 
the AIDS HIV.
So even though we were 
able to find a cure
and make the cure available 
to all people
in, even in Oregon 
50 percent of newly diagnosed 
cases are black and brown.
We still have not been able 
to tell other services 
based on these groups' 
cultural need.
We still have not, you know,
invested enough resources.
Even though the program 
has over 5 million a year, 
we still are not able to, 
you know, direct resources,
you know, to that 
specific community, 
even though we look at 
the numbers, you know,
and we have 
community partners out there 
who are willing to do the job, 
but it's not just, 
'cause again, we, 
we are living in a system 
that's deeply rooted, 
you know, on racism,
so racism still impacts 
the way people, brown, 
black and brown, 
are allowed to have, 
to get access to care.
We even have a case,
cases where
your immigration status 
should not apply 
when it comes to accessing HIV 
and AIDS care,
but caseworkers in field 
still are asking people to 
show them for identification,
even though the law says no,
people should have access. 
So just showing how even now, 
even though the program 
has been out there for 
a long time now,
people still don't have access.
That's critical, and again, 
and this disease is 
greatly impacting 
a specific community, 
LGBTQ,
you know,
so yeah.
- Thank you, Frieda, 
and that history of being 
ignored for so long, 
it can be generational 
and why our black
and brown communities
still don't want to have 
access to services
or even talk about 
what's going on 
because they fear that 
they will be ignored.
And um, 
I don't know if anyone here 
has seen Jim Silent or knows 
about Jim Silent,
but it's a whole documentary, 
documentary series again 
how, um,
folks from this, this 
LGBTQIA community,
how they have to go back
into the closet when they
enter long-term care
because the facilities 
can be welcoming, 
but sometimes the residents,
their fellow neighbors, 
are not as welcoming.  
And when you're taking 
a sample from them, 
it just brings up 
so many memories. 
Thank you both for being here. 
So why are we talking about 
this history 
and how does it parallel
with what we know about
COVID-19 testing?
So we brought up a lot of things
in our talk today,
um, and I just wanna 
break it down here really quick.
So it could bring up
post-traumatic stress disorder
or PTSD
because they're reliving
their experiences of their past,
which is causing them to have 
increased trauma, 
not specifically by COVID-19 
but of everything it
reminds them of,
of everything the testing 
reminds them of.
They may be in fight or flight. 
Um, they also may not want to 
disclose it 
because of the stigma 
around mental health
and being or having institutions
involved in their care.
Folks might also feel pressured 
to do this,
and so how are we 
letting them know 
especially it's not for 
the staff but for the 
residents especially, 
how do we let them know that 
this is voluntary 
and that there won't be any 
negative repercussions
for declining testing.
Again, you're all in
the healthcare field
and you know this intuitively.
Um, we're just adding 
a new layer for you.
Anything you'd like to add 
Mireya or Frieda?
Okay, thank you.  All right.  So this –
- I can add something 
real quick. 
I'm adding, yeah, the previous slide
please.
I wanna add that, you know, 
we also have to keep in mind 
that people 
don't even have to have lived 
through these bad experiences,
those stories pass on 
to the next generation,
so they may be reacting to 
stories that their communities,
their, their people have 
gone through, 
so they also carry those trauma 
with them.  
So you also have to keep that 
in mind.
- That’s a very important point, 
thank you, 
the community trauma, 
the generational trauma, 
yes, 
the stories we tell 
our next generation.  
So I just wanted to have some 
time for us to reflect, 
and for those of you 
that are watching this, 
maybe if you can jot these down 
or have a dialogue with someone 
that you trust 
and have these conversations.
So just think about a time in 
your life 
when your family member 
or loved one needed support 
when undergoing a medical 
procedure or test, 
so I just want you to think 
about that for a moment.
And what did that loved one 
need from you?
What could you give them in 
that moment 
or through the process, 
and um, 
what do you wish you could've 
done to make them feel safe 
and supported, 
or what did you do 
to make them feel safe 
and supported?
So my dad, um, 
he is an immigrant as well, 
um, 
from Mexico, 
and he has had a 
history of strokes,
um, 
and I go with him to do, well,
I try to go virtually 
over the phone, talk and help 
my parents through– 
Did we freeze? 
Okay.  
Did we freeze?  
We're back?  
- Yeah
Okay.
I try to support my parents 
through these processes. 
Um, I know that they can 
feel overwhelmed 
because of how, the history 
that we've had, 
but um,
I always try to at least
make sure that there's
medication management.
I try to explain the procedure 
to the best of my understanding 
to them, 
and I make sure that when 
they're discharged they have 
everything that they need.  
Um, in our culture 
I'm the youngest daughter, 
so I do a lot of caretaking 
for my parents, 
and I feel honored to do that 
for them.  
But that's my culture.
What about you, Mireya or Frieda?
- Go ahead, Frieda, please.
- So to be, to be honest, uh, 
a medical procedure is always 
the last resort. 
We don't go there first.  
So,
if a family member has to go, 
a loved one has to go, 
I use, 
I tend to not, I tend to use 
every other option 
before I get to that point, 
and when I have to do it 
I try to find a provider who may, 
who may look like me 
because of mistrust.  
And I remember delaying my own 
daughter's surgery
because it was interesting that 
the person who was supposed 
to perform surgery on her 
at age 10 months
would do, would have 
her best interests, 
so I had to delay until 
I found someone who could.
So that's, that's just what I, 
how I approach those procedures 
and those tests.
- Thank you, Frieda.  
Yes, um, 
and we may not have 
so many options 
for this case since we're 
trying to do testing 
through September, 
but
that's important for the folks 
that are doing the testing 
to know.
How do we ease them into this?
How do we gain their trust?
Thank you, Frieda.  
Okay, and our next reflection, 
so how will you approach 
the testing process 
in long-term care facilities?
and moving forward 
how do you think your 
interactions will change 
with communities who are 
undergoing testing, 
again, all communities, right.  
This is a legacy for most folks 
that are in long-term 
care facilities.  
And what approaches will you 
use to build relationships 
and establish trust?  
So um, 
maybe some tips 
since we're not the ones
actually going in and 
doing the testing.  
We're just here to have this 
conversation with you.  
Um, Frieda or Mireya,
how would you like to see 
this testing?
If this was one of your 
loved ones, what would you 
want for them?
- Thank you, Rebecca.  
Um, I think it's important 
that we really, um,
you know, provide our 
long-term care, um,
participants, customers, with 
the opportunity to see who they 
feel comfortable with 
or to meet with who they 
feel comfortable with, 
so maybe identifying a cultural 
or a linguistic need
that is best suited for 
that individual.  
Um, 
and, 
and then once that is, 
that connection is established 
to really, again, 
the compassion, the, 
you know, sensitivity, 
um, approach, 
all of those pieces are 
so important in
ensuring that they understand 
why we're doing this,
um, and how we're here to 
support them through 
this process.
Those are just very important, 
um, 
key elements that we would 
all want to know.  
We all wanna know 
what's gonna happen, 
how it's gonna happen and what,
what is it going to do for me.
Thank you.
- Thank you.  
Frieda?
- Yeah, to add what Mireya said, and also listen.
We have to listen to concerns, 
you know, some recommendation, 
the kind of setting, 
maybe in my room 
or in the living room.
You know, what other things does
the client want for them to ****
during this process.  
We have to listen and try, 
you know, to the best 
of our abilities
to meet those needs 
before we even engage 
in this process.
- Thank you.  
And you know, um, we, 
I had mentioned about 
just being there with my family,
and in this case 
the loved ones cannot be there 
with the residents 
or the staff to walk them 
through this.
This is something that they 
have to do on their own 
as we've limited 
visitation and 
taking visitation away from 
many people.
So um, 
what I love about working 
with Mireya and Frieda is 
we know we have business to do.  
We are always busy, 
we're always doing things, 
but we always take a moment just
to check in with each other,
where are we at right now, 
how are we feeling before we 
dive into what's needed today.  
And um, 
I know we're on a deadline 
to do this work,
but I think it would 
go smoother,
and um, 
be more calming if we could 
just be present 
in the moment with the folks 
that are undergoing the testing,
offering the linguistic 
and cultural 
services that they need, 
and if, um, 
you are able to 
just hear, 
as Frieda said, 
what they really need 
in that moment.
They might not tell you 
because they don't have 
the words or they're afraid to,
but what does their 
body language say?
What other words are they using 
to describe their hesitancy?
And just try to be present 
with them.
Drawing from your 
own well of empathy can be 
really tiring, especially, um, 
in the world that we're 
living in right now 
because we all are dealing with
our own stress.
So please support each other 
and take care of yourself, 
um, 
so that you can acknowledge 
the experiences 
and validate the fears and 
feelings of the staff 
and the folks that you're 
working with.  
And this last one is not just 
for the staff and residents 
that we're testing, 
it's also for you.
Respond to yourself
and the folks that you
interact with,
with kindness.
Give yourself grace 
to make mistakes.
Give yourself grace 
when you're not feeling 
present in the moment.
Give yourself and others 
words of encouragement 
and move at a pace that folks 
are comfortable with.
I know we have a 
sense of urgency,
and you being in the field and 
testing folks 
creates a sense of safety 
for many people,
and I just thank you so much 
for doing the job 
that you are doing, 
for keeping 
all Oregonians safe. 
Mireya or Frieda, closing words?
- Indeed.  
Thank you all so much 
for, um, taking the time 
to do this and really, 
um, engage with our communities 
and, um, 
again, build those 
relationships and 
be empathetic 
while we're going out into
their environments as well.
Thank you.
- And, and also remember that 
it's a learning process. 
You know, we all rely on each 
other to learn through this 
process and, you know, and rise,
so,
just, 
just compassion 
and love and empathy would get 
us through 'cause again we are 
working to making
Oregon a better and safer place 
for all.  So just, 
yeah, so we all rely on you to,
to make sure we all get there.
Thank you.
- And Rebecca, as you said, 
I really wanna emphasize 
the point of taking care 
of each other 
as a team and individually, 
uh, because if you aren't 
taking care of yourselves
or you're not taking care 
of each other, 
that you're not gonna be there 
for our families who need you 
and our staff who need you 
to conduct these training.
