Jimmy Kimmel's newborn son, William “Billy” Kimmel, was born on April 21. The delivery was easy, but the aftermath was anything but.
Jimmy Kimmel told the whole story on his evening show.
“We call him Billy, it was an easy delivery, six pushes he was out, and he appeared a normal, healthy baby until about three hours after he was born ... My wife was in bed relaxing when a very attentive nurse at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, her name is Nanoush, was checking him out and heard a murmur in his heart, which is common with newborn babies. But she also noticed he was a bit purple, which was not common.”
Jimmy went on to explain Billy's condition and the open heart surgery, then thanked all the doctors and nurses who helped keep Billy's story from being a sad one. But most especially, he thanked nurse Nanoush for noticing that something was wrong with his son. And then he shared his frustration with Donald Trump's proposed changes to America's healthcare system:
“We were brought up to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world, but until a few years ago, millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all. Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you’d never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition. You were born with a pre-existing condition. And if your parents didn’t have medical insurance, you might not live long enough to even get denied because of a pre-existing condition.If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make. I think that’s something that, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right?”
Seems pretty cut and dried, right? We can all get on that bandwagon that people need to be cared for. We shouldn't let a political party stand in the way of people's medical treatment. This isn't about the rich versus the poor or the Republicans versus the Democrats.
Except it is, and today, most of the top news stories about it showed another sad facet that appears to be a common theme in journalism coverage: sexism and racism. Most of the top stories only referred to Nanoush only as "a very attentive nurse" when they referred to her at all. Not Huffington Post, not CNN, not even CBC bothered to name Nanoush, even though Jimmy Kimmel thanked her explicitly by name.
Nurses are great people. They work hard hours, usually thanklessly. I remember when I delivered my own son, when I had been labouring for nearly 32 hours, mostly alone, one nurse stayed past the end of her shift and saw me through to the end. She held my hand and my shoulder, when I was nearly blind with exhaustion and they were starting to talk intervention. She cried when my son was finally born. But unfortunately I have no memory of most of these things - I was so tired I couldn't see past my knees. My doula and my husband told me later, and it's my biggest regret that I never found out this nurse's name to thank her later. I regret this so much.
I'm glad Jimmy thanked his nurse by name instead of devaluing her role like so many news outlets did. And I am glad her name is Nanoush, because in this time of fear and hatred of immigrants, it's good to see people stand up and acknowledge that people from foreign roots are part of our culture and our lives in good and positive ways, too.
We should be sad for Billy, who has had a rough start. But I am glad he's doing well. Instead, I am sad that this story showed that we still have such an obvious schism in our acceptance and appreciation of vital people in our lives - and in the news.
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