The difference between a flower girl and a lady

I keep coming back to an interview that Ben DeSoto and I did with Dr. David Buck, who is the founder and executive director over at the excellent Healthcare for the Homeless of Houston. Although David’s experience and accomplishments are almost ridiculous (he volunteered with Mother Teresa, for goodness sakes!), I really like his sort of nerdy eager way of talking about what he’s passionate about, which is how to empower people on the streets enough so that they don’t end up in one of his medical clinics.

To begin with, Dr. Buck strongly feels that one of Houston’s biggest problems is that most of the homeless organizations here do not have anyone on their boards who has actual experience of being on the streets.

“You [need] people who are formally or are currently homeless that would serve on the board. So that someone’s not seen as ‘oh he's the problem’ — but they're a part of the solution. So they start to identify themselves as part of the solution. And that's

why Mr. [Joseph] Benson is a part of our consumer advisory board and serves on our governing board. You know, it wasn't my idea to go get 1000 people who can vote, that was his idea. [Dr. Buck is referring to a voter registration drive among the homeless before the 2008 presidential election.] I actually discouraged it. But he was right.”

I had met Joseph Benson and he introduced himself to me as “Cowboy,” so it took me a minute to realize who Dr. Buck was talking about.

“I just say ‘Mr. Benson’ because he was a patient at one point. It’s actually brought people to tears before, "You call me Mister, I'm not worth that." If I call you Cowboy, then I guess you would call me Dave, and you know I'm not comfortable if I'm your doctor, it would probably be respectful to be called Doctor. And so I'm going to call you Mr. or Ms.

“It was something I learned when I worked at a federally qualified health center in New Mexico. We didn't wear lab coats, we didn't wear ties, none of us did. Well the first thing my patients told me was that you all don't say Dr. and Mr. and things like that. We think that's like second-rate care. And we think that doctors should wear lab coats and they should wear ties. I was shocked.”

This reminds me of that great musical treatise on poverty, affluence, and class — My Fair Lady.

Eliza Doolittle [speaking to Henry Higgins mother]: Colonel Pickering… always showed what he thought and felt about me as if I were something better than a common flower girl. You see, Mrs. Higgins, … the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated. I shall always be a common flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me like a common flower girl, and always will. But I know that I shall always be a lady to Colonel Pickering, because he always treats me like a lady, and always will.

(Photo by Ben Tecumseh DeSoto. Dr. David Buck on left, speaking with Ben White at the Palmer Church clinic operated by Healthcare for the Homeless Houston.)


http://www.homeless-healthcare.org/