A Grateful Mom

Gin Gin & Team E

Christy, Gin Gin, & Funmi

A reflection on a day at Faith Alive Hospital by Dr. Gin Gin Diokno:

At Faith Alive, they have come up with a very good system in taking care of HIV patients. Once a person is “enrolled,” aside from getting all of the necessary demographic information, hospital record numbers, lab numbers, etc, etc, he or she is assigned to a Team. It consists of a doctor, a nurse and a TSS or treatment support specialist. He then follows up with this team on a regular basis, depending on the severity of his condition. When the staff found out I have a background in pediatrics, they immediately welcomed me to join Team E, the kids’ team, although I found out later that they see adults and out patient cases too to share the load.

There is a stark difference between medical care in Nigeria and underdeveloped countries versus the U.S. Lack of financial resources and technological advances are real challenges they face daily that impact the quality of care they receive. By the same token, this environment demands the health care providers to become even more resourceful and practice “practical medicine”. A lot of unnecessary tests are avoided. I saw somebody with low back pain and another older woman with shoulder pain, both of whom would probably earn prescriptions for Xray and MRI if they were seen in my sports medicine practice. This time, it was back to basics.

Another hurdle is the patients’ awareness of HIV and AIDS. A common theme in the team approach is continuously educating them about these conditions. Telling a 16-yr old new bride how not to contract the virus. Going over medication compliance with a mother who has left it up to an 8-yr old girl to remember taking her 3 anti-retroviral drugs. Explaining to the recently diagnosed mother that her newborn is healthy but was exposed and that you can’t tell for sure if the baby is HIV positive until she’s 18 months old. How they deal with these struggles day in and day out give me pause on how much impact they have in the communities they serve.

I do believe that they even have more lasting impact due to the population they serve - the children - the future and hope of Nigeria. It was an honor to be embraced by this team realizing they know much more about HIV than I would in my lifetime. As much as the staff was very proficient in the English language, most of the patients I encountered weren’t so. After one language-barrier-laden visit, this Mom got up after tying her infant to her back. I thought she said “thank you” but it sounded more than that. She told our nurse that she was very grateful; that even though I did not speak Hausa and she did not speak English, we still understood each other and she thanked us a second time. We exchanged smiles and I gave her two thumbs up; clearly she understood and she gave me a nod of appreciation. That was a rewarding Team E day for me.