A Rochester Muslim woman’s video is going viral on the internet as she shares her positive experience at Mayo Clinic.
“It was such a meaningful thing for me,” Mayo Clinic patient Melissa Stone said, KTTC reported. “After having so many procedures over the past 10 years where I have felt really exposed.”
Stone, an American Muslim, shared her experience during a visit to Mayo Clinic on Friday.
“I think that was one of the things that was so nice about it,” she said. “I didn’t ask for anything at all. It was so completely normal. The nurse just brought it along with the hospital gown and everything else.”
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Getting a hijab with her gown was a perfect surprise. “I was just absolutely blown away by it,” she said.
“The first thing I did when the nurse left so I could change was I pulled out my phone to take photos and video because I wanted to share it with some of my friends online. So they could know it even existed — because I didn’t.”
Stone tweeted an image of herself wearing the hijab, saying: “Never tell me there’s a better hospital than Mayo, because I won’t believe it.”
“I thought, oh, this might be nice for a handful of people to see and get it out to a couple of folks,” Stone said.
Y’all aren’t gonna believe what they had ready for me at my MRI.
— Missi 🍂🍁 (@HoneyBeeRock) October 29, 2021
A DISPOSABLE HIJAB
Never tell me there’s a better hospital than Mayo, because I won’t believe it. pic.twitter.com/G04gG9DOfJ
Going Viral
Waking up from 20-hour sleep after tests and procedures, Stone was surprised by the huge reaction to her tweet, which got more than 161,000 likes.
Stone also received many messages from technologists in other states, asking how they can get something similar at their hospital. Others were sharing her post with hospital managers or Facebook groups.
Mayo Clinic employees were in awe of her story, sharing that the hospital has offered disposable hijabs to patients who want them since Dec. 2018.
“I’ve been driving so much inspiration from the message that was shared from our patient at Mayo,” Mayo Clinic Office of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Medical Director Dr. Anjali Bhagra said.
“It just brings me tremendous joy and reinforcement and huge inspiration to continue the work that’s happening at Mayo.”
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
This is not the first time for a health facility to produce disposable hijabs for Muslims
Earlier this year, a British medical company developed a new range of ‘culturally appropriate PPE’ headwear to help the UK’s medical and care professionals combat against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Minnesota fashion designer and owner of Henna & Hijabs, a boutique specializing in organic henna and handcrafted hijabs, designed a sanitary hijab that could be easily washed and safely reused.