Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Introduction
My name is Katlin Ceglar. I am 22 years old, and I graduate from UCF in December 2010. My degree will be in Health Science: Pre-Clinical Allied Track. Currently, I work at night as a certified nursing assistant at Leesburg Regional Medical Center. I help take care of a lot of patients who are HIV positive, and I hope that this class really helps me to learn how to identifty their needs better. As a high school student, I would go to an AIDS hospice in New Orleans for a week every summer. My heart really went out to these special people. One day, I want to become a physician's assistant so that I can continue to do mission trips where I can help those in need. I have been looking forward to this class because I know there is a lot to learn about HIV, and I really want to grasp what it is all about. I feel like I have been around it so much, but I really don't know that much about it. Finding out that a person inherits HIV every sixteen seconds was pretty astonishing to see. Honestly, HIV scares me. When I see patients who have AIDS or are HIV positive, I get really scared to go into their rooms. However, I do remember that they are people just like me. If I was to ever be HIV positive, I wouldn't want people taking care of me to be scared to go around me. When it comes to choosing a research topic, I have decided to learn about children who inherit HIV through their mothers and how it affects their entire lives. I would like to know how long they usually live and at what age does it usually start affecting their health.
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Can you find a stronger color to type in that shows up against the trees of your background? I find it hard to read. You can't inherit HIV, Katlin. It is not genetically transferred. People become infected every 16 seconds around the world.
ReplyDeleteDon't be scared to go into their rooms. You can't get HIV from being in a room, or talking with the patient, or giving them medications, or helping them to wash themselves, or giving them a back rub, or any of the million other things you may do over the course of an evening. I'm with my daughter 24/7 except when she is in school. We share drinks, food, utensils, hugs, tears, all the usual kid-mother stuff. I'm negative and will always be negative, unless I do something stupid, like take care of a bloody cut with my bare hands.
I'm looking forward to seeing that change in you. Your patients have much to share. Just take a moment to listen to them.
As I've been in this class for 2 1/2 weeks, one thing I learned, is that, you can't get HIV just from casual contact. HIV is a disease only transmitted through the sharing of needles from tainted blood, sexual intercourse with someone who is HIV positive, and having an open wound and touching a persons tainted cut or blood.
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