We Need to Talk about Bruno. Signed, Cassandra
Authors: Eve Bloomgarden, MD; Avital O’Glasser, MD
Keywords: COVID19, pandemic, women in medicine, advocacy, education, moral injury
Last October, this blog published Call Me Cassandra, which drew analogies between the ancient Greek character and healthcare workers during the pandemic.
To refresh your memory, Cassandra was a Trojan princess and priestess of Apollo. She was gifted with the ability to utter true prophecies…but then cursed to never be believed. Her resulting treatment was awful and dehumanizing—depending on the telling of the myth, she is viewed as a liar, an idiot, or mentally ill.
Healthcare professionals have been battling both COVID-19 and misinformation for nearly two years. And in that time, we’ve gone from being called heroes, to being ignored, to being yelled and screamed at for continuing to advocate for masks, vaccines, and physical distancing. We’ve been trolled, doxxed, targeted, and harassed. Since the beginning of the Omicron surge about a month ago, we know many HCWs who have expressed renewed feelings of being a Cassandra.
We are Cassandras.
But are we also Brunos?
And who IS Bruno?
For those who have not yet watched the new Disney movie Encanto, we won’t spoil the story. Briefly, Bruno is the black sheep of a large familia whose members are blessed by “the Miracle” with individual powers. Bruno was gifted with the ability to prophesy the future, which is not well received by his family and community as they are “left…grappling with prophecies they couldn't understand”:
Ultimately, confusion and disappointment in the prophecies gives way to significant fear and stigma towards Bruno, as the family misunderstands Bruno’s role in creating the future, misunderstanding by thinking “Your fate is sealed when your prophecy is read.” However, Bruno doesn’t choose future events–he reports what has been shown to him. He gets blamed nonetheless.
Like Cassandra, Bruno’s gift from the Miracle ultimately becomes his curse–and he is shunned, ostracized, ignored, and humiliated for trying to keep his family and friends safe from harm. Unlike Bruno, we can’t help but wonder about the degree to which gender bias led Cassandra to be so easily dismissed. Is it knowing the future that we fear, or is it the messenger? Like Cassandra, we don’t talk about Bruno because we don’t like his prophecies and what they predicted. But its correlation without causation.
Cassandra was gaslighted. Bruno was canceled. Are we destined for the same fate, as pariahs, social outcasts who are “always talking about the virus”? And what does this mean for society, if the truth is so fervently denied. Do we succumb to misinformation, let the wool cover our collective eyes, take the easy path? The very idea is anathema to healthcare workers, and yet here we are, two years into the pandemic.
Bruno and his challenges, like many of the characters in Encanto, have been embraced by healthcare professionals. Like Bruno, our advocacy has not only fallen on non-listening ears, but it has been thrown back in our faces in ways that contribute to burnout and moral injury. And we are blamed for things that are clearly not our fault–like the omicron surge.
Do we wait for a miracle? Can we afford to wait for a miracle? Do we hope that somewhere there is a Mirabel who will save us? Or do we cave to “mundus velt decipi” and our desire to be deceived? Does the world want to know the truth? Or, as painful as the truth can be, is it easier to cancel it, relegate us to behind the walls of the hospital, and return to “normal” by ignoring the elephant in the room.
Is that the point that we’re at? We don’t talk about Bruno…or COVID19?
Fortunately for Bruno, his niece Mirabel powers through the loud cries to ignore Bruno and not talk about him: “I really need to know about Bruno; Gimme the truth and the whole truth, Bruno.” By facing a truth that others did not want to hear, Mirabel champions the family’s ultimate safety and wellness.
According to the myths, Cassandra is ultimately deemed worthy of her dedication. In Encanto, Bruno is ultimately welcomed back to the familia with loving arms. To our fellow Cassandras AND Brunos—we HEAR you. We SEE you. We BELIEVE you. Keep advocating and warning. We won’t refuse to talk about you and the important messages you are spreading.
So, if you’re willing to talk about Bruno please DM…
About the authors: Eve Bloomgarden, MD, is an Endocrinologist in Illinois where she is also the Chief Development Officer of Women in Medicine® NFP and a founder and the Chief Operating Officer of IMPACT (Twitter: @evebmd). Avital O’Glasser, MD, is a hospitalist at Oregon Health & Science University and the editor of the WIMS blog (Twitter: @aoglasser).