THE career of one Jamaican nurse is hanging in the balance, following claims by her of sexual assault by a co-worker, which has seen her being sent on indefinite leave, and now without a job after she resigned.

On a regular day at work on the ward of what she described as a prominent hospital in the Corporate Area, Antonette Kong, 28, who choses to use her middle and last names, says her career as a nurse was jeopardised for having been the victim of the sexual assault.

She recounted to the Jamaica Observer that last July 3, a co-worker sexually assaulted her twice while she was on her break at work, and that to date, the hospital where she is employed for almost three years, has yet to properly address her ordeal.

“While I was at work during my break period, I was in our designated lounge area and I was sitting down relaxing. A co-worker of mine came in, we exchanged a few words and the person basically walked over to me and kissed me. I was startled, I was in shock and I got up immediately. There was a table in the middle of the room, the person basically blocked me. I looked up at the person and I walked around,” Kong said.

The assault, however, did not end there. Kong said that her attacker, with whom she had never been close, followed her into another enclosed space where he applied force that time.

“There is no recollection of me and this person exchanging pleasantries. It’s not like we were talking over the phone, or we were talking over social media. It’s not like we were having any form of conversation, we were not flirting around. When I exited, I went into the locker room. I was coming off of break and putting up my stuff. Then I realised that the person was in the room with me. And as I was closing my locker the person basically just grabbed me and tried to assault me again. He tried to kiss me and hold me.”

Kong said that she reacted by raising her hand to prevent the perpetrator from kissing her but that he forced her against the door of the locker.

“And initially I tried to put up my hand and like I’m giving force but then I realise that, oh my God, this person is really using force on me, so I put up some force. The person brushed me against the back of the door, so I was like barred in. I then grabbed the person under the neck and the person basically let go. I immediately left the room”.

For the rest of her shift, Kong said she was in such a state of shock that she continued working on ‘auto pilot’, trying not to focus on what had just happened.

“Upon leaving the room, I was startled, the whole day or the whole shift just passed by. I was just in automatic mode. It was when I was driving home that it really hit me that I was really sexually assaulted.”

The following day, Kong said that she made a report to her supervisor at the institution, which she said is considered one of the best hospitals in the Caribbean. But upon making that first report, Kong said nothing was done about the incident and that she was told she would not be paid for that day on which she had to come in solely to report the incident.

“I told her about the incident, told her what happened, told her that I was uncomfortable and she basically did nothing about it. I was told that I was not going to get paid for that day. So it was like it was my fault I was sexually assaulted and almost raped.”

At the very least, however, Kong said that upon a request, she was transferred two days later to another ward on the hospital. Expecting that the hospital would thereafter take the necessary steps to ensure that she would not have to work in the same space as her perpetrator, Kong reported that not only did the opposite happen, but that things got bizarre on July 9, almost a week after she was sexually assaulted.

“On the 4th after I made that report, I would not have had work on the Thursday and the Friday, which would have been the 5th or the 6th. On the 6th when I was ironing out clothes to go back to work, I got anxious and panicked a bit, so I called my director and I said to her that as each day passes, I feel different about the scenario and I’m a bit scared and anxious and that I would like if she could speak with the person and let them know what’s happening and if I could be temporarily moved to another location because I’m a bit afraid. So she moved me to a temporary location for the Saturday, that would have been the 7th, and Sunday the 8th.

“On Monday the 9th when I reported to work I handed in a letter reporting the incident that happened on the 3rd. While I was on the ward between the hours of 3:00 and 4:00, we received a threat phone call, and the person on the phone said, ‘we a guh kill off unu [insert expletive].”

It was at this point, Kong said, that the said co-worker, who had sexually assaulted her, came on the ward where she had been temporarily transferred.

“My perpetrator entered the ward and I was astonished because he was not assigned to work on that ward nor was he assigned to work on that day at that time. So why was he over there and why was he at work?” Kong questioned.

At that point, Kong said she called her director who advised her to stay in sight and not to appear suspicious. Efforts were made by the same director who called a supervisor on the ward instructing that the person be asked to leave. However, Kong said her perpetrator remained on the ward for her entire shift and approached her twice, wanting to speak with her.

“The person was on the ward from like after 3:00 until after 7:00 pm when I had the meeting with HR. The director of nursing called over there and told the supervisor who was on at that time to ask the person to remove himself because he was not assigned to work. So the person was asked to leave. But that made me wonder why the person was still there.

With her perpetrator still on the ward, and no further instructions given to either relieve her of her duties or to have her perpetrator removed from the ward, Kong said she felt trapped and afraid.

“So I am trapped on this ward and this person finally approached me. He said, ‘may I speak to you’? I said ‘no’. The person stood there in my sight like huffing and puffing and upset. The person approached me again and said to me, ‘I’m sorry if I did anything to offend you’. Dem time deh my heart a beat and mi a shake like a leaf,” Kong said.

Closer to the end of her shift, Kong said that the director of nursing called the ward asking that they convene a meeting, one which she said failed to fully address her situation.

“So what basically was found from the meeting was that they would safeguard that particular ward because of the phone threat. But there was nothing regarding me and my safety. I told them I needed some time from work, and that I wanted to see someone about my mental state because I’m not eating, I’m not sleeping, it was just beyond too much.

“They also told me that when I leave the compound my safety was not guaranteed, but they would put 24/7 security guard at the new place that I was assigned.”

The following day Kong said she lodged a report with the police. Also on that day, she received a call from the nursing director, whom she said then tried to discredit her story.

“So on the Tuesday, I was home, I received some missed calls from the director. When she called back, she basically tried to discredit me. She was saying that I did not report the incident on the day that it happened, that I reported it couple days down the line, instead of that particular day. She was trying to put words into my mouth. I was really worried about that”.

The Jamaica Observer was unable to contact the institution’s director of nursing for a comment.

After that Kong said she made sure to document both incidents, by writing two letters to the board of the hospital, the first of which went unanswered.

“I wrote the board, sent a letter saying I’m ashamed of how everything was being handled. Nobody replied to me. I told them that it’s ridiculous because I am basically being treated unfairly and nobody is really paying attention and nobody really cares what happened, and nothing is being done to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. Why is everybody trying to hush hush this instead of trying to make it known that something was happening. There was a lack of empathy, there was no sympathy displayed and everything was kind of appalling”.

“They’re basically not paying me what I’m supposed to get. What I see on the pay slip that I got, is my overtime and my claims and they put in my basic salary as low $25,000 which is supposed to be $80,000, and then taking something else off my pay. So it’s kind of ridiculous that they took from something that already belongs to me and then they take from my overtime.”

It was only after addressing the second letter directly to the board that Kong said she got a reply.

“I wrote a second letter and somebody replied to me a week and a half after. They said that they wanted to meet with me, the chairman, two persons from the board and the nursing director. So I gave them two dates that I would be available. They said that they would email me to confirm the date that was available.”

But Kong said the hospital never called back to confirm a date, except for a call from the same nursing director about a week later, who called to ask why she was absent from the meeting.

“A week had passed since they told me that they were going to email me and on the day that they apparently chose to have the meeting with me, the nursing director called me to ask me how come I’m not at the meeting, if I never get the email”.

Kong claims she never received that email, “I mean they lied and said that they sent me an email. They did not send me an email. I checked spam and everything. So I mean, they’re basically boycotting me. They are basically waiting for me to just make everything blow over and I say nothing about it. But then I got my pay slip and it seems nobody wants to speak with me from the hospital. Let my voice be heard!”

Asked if anything was done about her perpetrator, Kong said that she was kept in the dark about what was done and that she had to approach her director to find out what was happening.

“I went to the nursing director and I asked her; I’m not being told what’s happening, nobody has updated me. Because I’m here just in the dark, so I basically had to be asking what was being done regarding my situation. She told me in not so many words that the person was fired.”

But to Kong’s estimation, her perpetrator got a better deal than she did. Since both incidents, Kong said she has been treated like the one at fault, and lamented that her ordeal has since become fodder for gossip at the hospital.

“I’m being avoided. My voice is not being heard. I feel like the perpetrator and not the victim. I feel like the person who assaulted me got the better deal.

“I remember when I was delivering those letters on Tuesday at 11:00 pm I was greeted by security guards, nurses, other persons by name at that, saying that oh my gosh. I heard that you were raped. How could I possibly go back to work there?”

Kong, who said she has since resigned her job and left Kingston, revealed that she continues to suffer for the actions of her attacker and feels that there is not much she can do.

“What are my options? There is not much to do. I mean the person lost their job, the person must have realised that they did something wrong. I have taken myself away from the situation so I don’t think this person is going to hunt me down, stalk me and kill me. And having the police go to them and warn them, the person might get a little more upset out of that. Having a restraining order, if the person really serious and want to hurt me they don’t have to do it themselves, so what would a restraining order do at that point,” she said.

In the meantime, Kong who is the primary bread winner in her household, said she now has to be in search of a job.

“I am in the process of finding a job. You know, I have loans, I have rent, I have to live, I have to survive. So it’s kind of ridiculous knowing that there was this one day, I was at work, and I was sexually assaulted and it all led to this. And these people are basically holding my money. I just feel so frustrated it’s unbelievable. Like I am the person who has suffered and have been suffering and yet still, there is just more suffering. Like how do you move on from this?” Kong lamented.

Kong said she has also sought legal advice but said she was told that not much can be done about her situation.

“I spoke to a legal person and all she basically said to me was that the only thing that I am able to get out of being sexually harassed at work was for them to have a mini trial where me and the person both voice our opinions on what happened and then the institution would let both of us know what they would do at the particular instance. So that’s all I would be able to do after being sexually harassed. There is no law to protect us. They need to fix that,” she said.

She also said that her current therapist who was assigned to her by the hospital told her that she is suffering from an acute stress disorder, which left untreated, will turn into post-traumatic stress disorder. Pointing out an irony in her ordeal, Kong said:

“This is very funny, because I went into the hospital sane and without any problems, and now I’m leaving basically on my face with a whole lot of issues that arose within the hospital. It’s ridiculous.”

“Stuff like this happen and women don’t come forth about it because they are always seen as being wrong in the end. I mean, it’s not like you asked for it. The person just held me and the person just tried to kiss me and I felt like I was raped,” she continued.

“All of this happened so suddenly and it is so unfair to me. And I think just because of the fact that I’m this one little nurse against this big organisation, how do I win? What comes of this? Why do I have to be begging you guys to talk with me, am I not a priority?

“I’m here wondering, Ok, what do I need to do? Do I need to go on the 8:00 pm news to be able to speak to you guys or to get my voice heard? I can’t take it anymore, I feel like I’m going crazy. I literally cannot take this anymore. Is this what women have to go through?” Kong said.