When receiving a medical diagnosis one of the action steps often entails staying in the hospital. We all know that hospital gowns are not the most fashion forward garments made and they don’t scream modesty. Doesn’t the medical community believe that dignity helps in healing? Don’t patients deserve to not be dressed to look the part of the sick one?
Donna Karan, one of America’s leading fashion designers is taking on the challenge. Her husband had been diagnosed with lung cancer and of course he spent lots of time in the hospital. It has been some time since his death and she had taken on the role of fashion advocate for patients at Memorial Hospital in New York. She began her journey at this hospital because it is where her husband was treated.
She is working with the administration to create a hospital gowns that don’t make the person sicker when they wear it! Her idea is to be part of a movement that gives patients tools to help them heal themselves. She has adopted the pilgrim’s heart. Donna Karan is on her own pilgrimage born out of personal experience and developing a personal mastery and understanding about what it takes to heal. As with any pilgrimage there is initial excitement and that often meets with challenges but having personal conviction is the best tool to overcome the challenge.
We’re proud to have Donna Karan walking this world as a pilgrim. Her world view will help many and will be a living testament for her valiant way her husband fought his disease.
Pilgrim Pathway/Surviving Strong 
I was just thinking about this issue when pondering Dr. visits and hospitals. I have always had a fear of hospitals and all those smells which are specific to hospitals. And I find myself quite phobic on the subject of visiting the Dr. Hence the thought about why??? And the obvious answer, at least to me, that in the Dr.s office and the hospital we are completely out of control and in someone else’s control and territory. I do not do this willingly. So avoidance is the name of the game, when possible.
I then thought perhaps that dressing in our own clothes, or is some form thereof, would be helpful. It would make us feel more like ourselves and possibly with a bit of control over the environment.
Think on it? When you go into the military, in order to take away your individuality and make you a part of the whole, they take away your clothes, give you new ones, not of your choosing and shave your head. They do this for a specific purpose. I am wondering… does the medical community have a similar purpose? So that we will do what we are told? Just a thought. What is your own opinion?