Blog #8

In this week’s blog, I’d like to say that I enjoyed my time off last Friday and I felt free not having anything restricting me from enjoying my day. Three weeks has passed by since I was tested for HIV and on November 3rd I will be getting my results in which I am looking forward to. I am not scared one bit because I am confident that it will come out negative. This week we were given our QOTW #9 and I kind of had to think about this question for a little before immediately answering it. I feel that the parents of the child who got bit should be informed of my child’s condition because it is the right thing to do. How would you feel if were the parents of the other child and you weren’t told that the child who bit your child was HIV positive? The consequences though of telling these parents are that they might want to retaliate towards my child’s actions and press for a lawsuit or spread the news around to other parents.
This semester is coming to an end and I’d have greatly appreciated all the things that I have learned from this class, especially watching the movies, and I will always value them. I can just remember when this semester first started and had to those first two assignments on thrush and PCP and remembered thinking that this class would be interesting. I never thought this class would challenge me in so many ways but I am happy it did because I’ve learned so much and has made me a better student.

Did you know?.......
According to a survey released Chicago detainees from Children and teens in the U.S. juvenile system are reported of high rates of behaviors that put them at risk of HIV/AIDS (The Body, 2003). Mostly all reported that they had at one point put themselves at high risk of getting HIV through unprotected sex and getting tattoos with potentially dirty needles (The Body, 2003). Dr. Linda A. Teplin, a legal health expert at Northwestern University, says that these students “may be too busy skipping school to learn about HIV, and they don't have much parental support in their lives” and that their best chance of being educated is in prison (The Body, 2003). To help fix this problem, she suggests that corrections officials to do more to prevent the spread of HIV but the specifics as to what they could do was not specified though it could be assumed that educating these juveniles would be the best solution (The Body, 2003).

The Body. (May, 30, 2003). Retrieved October 28, 2009, from http://www.thebody.com/content/whatis/art27932.html

Blog #7

In this weeks blog, I’d like to first start of by saying that I am very happy that we don’t have an assignment or module due this week because I really need the break and I am sure everyone else does too. I’ve gotten to the point where I am use to doing these big assignments every week and I don’t feel lazy doing them. I know in the past, like years ago, if I would have been given these long assignments I would have put them off to the last minute and would have not done such a god job like I’ve been doing with the assignments in this class. I’ve been pleased with the scores I’ve been getting because I’ve put in a lot of hard work to achieve the best grade in this class. I also am striving to do my best in this class out of respect to all those who suffer from HIV or AIDS in that I am not BSing these assignments just to get through with the course. I want to give myself that satisfaction and to let all those who are ill with this disease that I tried to learn as much as I could in this class and that I take this illness very serious and I don’t want to take anything for granted. Many who are ill in the world didn’t contract the illness through the standard sexually transmitted or using drugs way but somehow in an unfortunate way contracted it from somewhere that is unknown. I could have contracted this illness maybe by accident when I was younger when getting a shot and the needle may not have been new. I have enjoyed the assignments of reading a book, watching movies, and getting tested for HIV because it showed me in depth of how people live with the disease, how they handle it, and the real process that goes on with getting tested for HIV. The feeling I like the most with getting tested is that for that moment and the weeks followed with waiting for the results to comeback is that a majority of those infected in the world had to go through the same process that I did with getting tested. In addition, we can all relate with how it felt like to wait those weeks or time period to get the results back even though many had way more greater concern with their test than I did. I essentially put myself in their issue and felt what they felt with this whole process which allows me to fully understand the feeling that they go through when waiting for their test results.

Did you know?......
Federal data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, have found that AIDS-related death rates in jails, state prisons have dropped significantly (The Body, 2005). In 1988, jail mortality rate from AIDS-related illnesses were 20 dead for every 100,000 inmates and in 2002, the mortality rate were 8 dead for every 100,000 inmates as well (The Body, 2005). This shows that the mortality rate has decreased by 12 inmates between fourteen years, which is a big decrease (The Body, 2005). In state prisons from 1995 to 2000, the mortality rate in state prisons has as well enormously decreased from AIDS-related illnesses (The Body 2005). Within that time period (5 years), their has been a decrease of inmate mortality rate of about 75 inmates that is 100 deaths for every 100,000 inmates in 1995 and 15 deaths for every 100,000 inmates in 2000 (The Body, 2005). Officials attributes to this sharp drop from improved medical equipment and advocacy groups being more aggressive in filing lawsuits to improve conditions in jails and state prisons (The Body, 2005.

The Body. (August, 22, 2005). Retrieved by October 21, 2009, from http://www.thebody.com/content/whatis/art9490.html

Blog 6

This past week I got my first HIV test and I must say it was exactly how I thought it would be. I knew that I would have to go in the clinic and fill out this confidential report regarding my sex life and whether if I’ve been tested before. I felt confident, though, that my test would turn out negative. Before I got tested using Orasure, I was asked very personal questions in regards to my sex life that I felt uncomfortable answering them. I’m sure you all know what I am talking about so I don’t have to give examples in the types of questions I was asked. However, the experience was very good and I like the fact that I went to get tested because I can learn from these experiences and understand how it would feel like for someone who is not as fortunate as me in not being fully confident that they are not infected. When I was tested, I had to put this stick swab thing in my mouth and had to rub my inner cheek a few times and then let it rest there for two minutes. The swab had a funny taste but at least there were lollipops next to me that I could have to get rid of the taste. When I get my results back I will share them with you so that you guys know how my health is.

Did you know?.....
According the district Department of Health in Washington D.C., data released in 2007 showed that female inmates in jails in Washington D.C. have been detected in having high number cases of having HIV (The Body, 2007). This data was released as “part of a summary of its six-month campaign encouraging district residents to be tested for HIV” (The Body, 2007). In a campaign made by the District of health officials and HIV/AIDS advocates, people in the Washington D.C. district were told to get tested and 400,000 people from men, women, and children ranging from ages 14-84 were encouraged to do so (The Body, 2007). According to statistics presented at the Mayor's Task Force on HIV/AIDS, not based on the results that were found from the participants for the campaign but rather those living in the district, 25,000 or more 4% of the population were found to in possibly have HIV (The Body, 2007).

In Canada, “common law has long recognized that health-care professionals owe a duty of confidentiality to their patients, subject to some exceptions” (Confidentiality, 2000). In some provinces, confidentiality is imposed by statue and it is considered a professional misconduct for a health professional to give out personal information about a patient to another person without receiving that patient’s consent except if its “as required or allowed by law (Confidentiality, 2000). However, professional bodies, legislatures and courts have recognized the fact there could be exception when trying to protect the third parties (Confidentiality, 2000). For example, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) do consider it to be unethical to allow physicians’ to disclose to a spouse or sexual partner about their patients condition if the patient is willingly holding back information that could put them at risk (Confidentiality, 2000). Such disclosure may be justified when all the following conditions are met: the partner is at risk of infection with HIV and has no other reasonable means of knowing of the risk; the patient has refused to inform their sexual partner; the patient has refused an offer of assistance by the physician to do so on the patient’s behalf; and the physician has informed the patient of the physician’s intention to disclose the information to the partner (Confidentiality, 2000). However, before disclosing any information, the physician should encourage the patient to either disclose or stop any unsafe behaviors and counseling should be given if all this fails (Confidentiality, 2000). In all other jurisdictions except for Yukon and Prince Edward Island (where physicians are permitted to disclose confidential information for the same reasons given above), “the physician must be guided by existing legislation regarding medical confidentiality and by any common law regarding confidentiality (and permitted or obligatory breaches of confidentiality)” (Confidentiality, 2000).

Confidentiality. (2000). Retrieved on October 14, 2009, from http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Confidentiality.pdf
The Body. (August, 2, 2007). Retrieved on October 14, 2009, from http://www.thebody.com/content/whatis/art42565.html

Blog #5

In this week’s blog, I’d like to start off by saying that I’m exhausted from last week’s assignment. I must say this was the longest assignment that I’ve ever had to do. It was a good assignment to do though because it allowed and obligated us to learn about other illness that we might not have been familiar with such as HIV wasting syndrome, Herpes simplex, and Kaposi's sarcoma. Yesterday on Tuesday I watched the two mandatory movies that have to be watched for Assignment 4, Silverlake Life: The View From Here and Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt. Before watching Silverlake Life, I thought that this movie would be pretty interesting because the teacher said that this video would be graphic, so I thought this movie would provide the harsh realities of one dealing with the AIDS disease. I didn’t know that while watching the movie however, that I would get emotionally attached to these people. First I want to say that I do not care if two gay people are in love and show it in public. While watching the movie, I liked seeing the realism of their love and how they were completely devoted to each other. I was very sad to see how Tom was slowly dying and suffering from his pain. I was sad to see his transformation from him smiling, being happy, to his horrible and saddening death. When I saw the part when Mark found Tom dead wit his eyes opened, it broke my heart so bad and I was emotionally touched. I was so crushed to remember the clip right before he died when Mark asked him how he was feeling and Tom would reply something like “not good,” or “I am in pain” and then the transition to him being dead. I can’t believe how skinny Tom got and to me, even though this is not a good thought to have, his condition at death reminded me of how the prisoners in the holocaust looked when they were skin and bones when their bodies were found. You could see almost all his bones in his body in good detail, especially his hip bone. I am very happy to have watched that video because even today I am still thinking about it and wish AIDS never existed so that no one would have to suffer.

Common threads was another good video because it showed the lives of other people who had this disease and had their love ones recalling memories, good and bad ones, and how they coped with it. I found the AIDS memorial to be an excellent idea because it gives a physical visual of actually how many people have died from this disease. As people died, the Quilt gradually expanded, and was located in a big open field which it expanded to 14 acres around the time the video came out in 1989. I am really have to watched these videos because it gave me a first time view of how it would be like to live with the disease, how to cope with it, how much they suffered and how much their love ones suffered as well.

Did you know?........
In a recent study done by Chicago State University researchers, one- third of Illinois inmates were found to be getting tattoos (The Body, 2009). From data collected from 526 women and 1,293 inmates, 29 percent of males got a tattoo while behind bars (The Body, 2009). However, women were recorded in having more sexual intercourse than man at 19 percent (The Body, 2009). Since condoms and clean needles are not being instilled in these prisons, it is leading to more risky behavior among incarcerated persons (The Body, 2009).
The Body. (May 18, 2009). Retrieved October 7, 2009, from http://www.thebody.com/content/whatis/art51793.html