This week, I have almost finished the book, “The Least of These My Brethren.” This book has a huge chapter dedicated to the typical days in an AIDS ward that this doctor faces. Every time I go to work, I am constantly comparing how this doctor’s unit is compared to our own. This particular hospital ward is located in New York and contains 17 patients. As if these patients aren’t suffering enough, they are forced to live in a unit that is hot, very dirty, and was not possibly fit for housing as many patients that it does.
Every time that I would read about roaches crawling on the floor, people wearing briefs or clothing that have blood, urine, or stool pasted to them, I felt outraged. At our hospital, if a person has even a juice stain, we are ordered to change them right away. I can’t imagine how a person with AIDS, who knows that they might not live very long, has to spend his/her last moments in a place like this. I would probably want to die sooner if I had to watch roaches crawling around me. I don’t see how people can get better in places where hygiene is not handled properly or where the rooms have not been cleaned after a discharge.
I am a neat freak and a “germaphobe.” In my mind, I kept thinking, “These people have been through enough. Why do they have to suffer even more?” What also amazed me about this book is that the people who work on this particular unit can be described as angels. The staff and this doctor really care about the well-being of the patients here, despite the gross conditions that they have to arrive to every day. This book really got me thinking about how some people in America might perceive AIDS patients. Do they think that they deserve to live in conditions like this? Did the hospital management put this unit on the back burner for being remodeled because they didn’t care about extending the lives of AIDS patients? This book has really given me more insight as to what AIDS patients and their caretakers have to go through. I have already recommended to some of my fellow employees.
Did You Know?
Of the 2 million people who died of AIDS during 2008, more than one in seven were children. Every hour, around 31 children die as a result of AIDS.
Source:
UNAIDS (2009) Report on the global AIDS epidemic. Retrieved on October 3, 2010 from http://www.avert.org/children.htm
I have been to many nursing homes and I understand where you are coming from. My most recent experience on Tuesday gives me some prospective on your book. The nursing home is divided into such a way as, sub-acute patients and the long term care patients. Long term care patients have poorer equipment and sometimes sit for hours before their briefs are changed. Sub acute patients are treated far better. Things are not always equal and things need to change in places like that. I can imagine that people who are considered infectious would be tucked away in some dark corner because people are afraid and ashamed to work with them.
ReplyDeleteI too read the same book this week. As I read about Ward 3A I saw the ward as a metaphor to how many people think of those who have HIV. The book was a real eyeopener.
ReplyDeleteI also was amazed at the staff. I too thought they were full of love. I thought of how people have yelled at me at my job. I am the manager so I get all complaints. Some people would just blast me for something that was not our fault at all. I would put a smile on and try to help them, but my heart would become angry with them. This book has helped me change my heart attitude. The grace that Dr. Baxter used was much greater grace than I will ever have to use on a customer.
I will always be grateful to my older sister because she was the one who took care of my parents when they were in Canada. I saw them when they came south for the winter.
ReplyDeleteIt is not easy working with the elderly, whether they be strangers or family. Having a nice working environment is half the battle.
Glad you enjoyed the book. It was one of my favorites.