AIDS question

Dr. Steve, Mary Ann, and others:

As life with you-know-who has becoming increasingly hard, I'd better make a
posting of my opinion on this topic, in order to restore peace and harmony
in our household once again. He tells me he's forced to "speak for both of
us everytime I post to the list" (even thought he's not asked to), but we
can't have that now can we?! So, here's my two cents worth.

In all seriousness, Steve's query will continue to come up again and again,
as the epidemic of AIDS continues to spread throughout the world. As a
fellow educator, I agree with Mary Ann that education about AIDS is not
only necessary but vital as the disease, and with it, fear continues to
spread. But the question that Steve asked was not presented from a
viewpoint of an educator, but that of a concerned parent--and I believe
rightfully so. Therefore, I'll put on the parent hat, a role in which
I'm still getting used to, in my relationship with Mike's three
great kids.

First of all, I think Jenny should be commended on the fact that she wants
to help. So many children today are totally self-centered today, and
especially at the age at which Jenny is now--it's wonderful that she's
wanting to help others.

I've done my research on AIDS, both from a standpoint of a student,
concerned citizen, and as an educator, so before I speak, know that even
though I don't hold a medical doctorate, I'm not totally without
knowledge on the subject. I know that you can't get AIDS through
casual contact and that AIDS is spread through bodily fluids. I must
interject though that some current cases are STILL a mystery to the
medical community in the way in which they were contracted and although
these cases are few, they DO exist. One of the major arguments is about
which bodily fluids carry the disease and in all honesty, they're still
unsure about saliva...some say yes, some say no.

All these facts aside, we return to the basic question: which falls down
to should a parent allow their child (and yes, 15 1/2 is still a child) to
work hands-on with AIDS patients in an AIDS ward of a hospital? Then we
look at the larger issue which is immediately on the minds of those
concerned parents and would definitely be on mine, if I were to attempt
this decision myself: what risk is my daughter at if I allow her to do
this?

What sorts of reactions will occur while she is "in presence"...could
a patient suffer a severe reaction to a drug and cause some accidents
to occur? What sorts of precautions are the staff taking in allowing
volunteers to come in and work? How extensive and useful is the
training program they are putting them through? What sort of
supervision will there be of the younger volunteers? The questions
run forever.

"Casual contact"...to me, the answer lies is this issue...and the one of
minimal risk...I'll say up front that the issue itself raises more and more
questions. What exactly would she be doing for and with patients? I
certainly wouldn't want my daughter to be in or around the patients when
any sort of testing, which would involve fluids, needles, medications,
etc., would be taking place? I also would question the issues involved in
whether or not there would be the risk of accidents occuring while she was
working with the patients, assumedly taking walks, reading to them, running
errands for them, etc...for the same reason, it only takes ONE little error
to cause this disease to spread to her.

In the end, I would say, that if my daughter were really trying to use this
as a learning experience, I'd be suggesting other ways for her to help, if
her focus is on critical diseases, why not a children's cancer ward..if the
issue is truly on AIDS, then why not raising money, sending cards, writing
letters, etc...As a parent, I don't think I could sleep each night with the
thoughts of "what happened today, which was overlooked or unnoticed, to my
daughter which might later show up as the way she contracted this
disease?"...I'm just NOT ready to handle that...No learning experience is
worth risking the life of a child, whether 10, 12, 15, or 17...not in my
opinion. The experts just don't know enough yet to guarantee me that it
can't be spread in certain ways, nor can they guarantee that accidents
won't happen...

Now, I keep hearing, the same is true for walking down the street, how do
you know the person you run into doesn't have it--the answer--you don't,
but consider this, the patients in an AIDS ward, you KNOW--DO...

I think the care of said patients is going to have to rest in the hands
of those TRAINED to care for them...and not someone who is just feeling a
strong compassion and love to help someone in need. The sentiments Jenny
is feeling are to be revered, respected, and encouraged, but if it was
MY decision to make, I'd steer her in another direction...DEFINITELY
better safe than sorry.

Just my opinion, not meant to influence or direct anyone, just trying to
help...it's a hard decision for ANYONE to make...take care Steve, and good
luck! *hugs*

Jessica A. Ryan

*-------------------------------------------------------------------*
3201-D Cave Springs Avenue Bowling Green, KY 42104-4439
@}>->-->--- (502) 782-7992 ---<--<-<{@
*Ryanja@wkuvx1.wku.edu * Jessica.Ryan@bgamug.com * Jessirose@aol.com*

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message
• Previous message