12.1.09- Day 194

Today is World AIDS day. In the midst of all the talk about AIDS, I spent part of my day with a child that is affected by a disease that is completely preventable now: polio.

I spent the morning at Children's Hospital trying to create continuity of care for this Somali child, born in Kenya, living in America. She contracted polio when she was one and has had left arm and leg weakness. This affects her life. It affects her value as a person in her culture. She is assisted with every task whether it is buckling her seat belt, putting on her shoes, or answering questions (she's in middle school). I believe it has also affected how she views herself. I want to be one of those people that can show her and her family that ability is what defines a person, not disability.

This disease used to be rampant and common throughout the world. My own grandfather-in-law had the disease. But... it is now gone! (mostly) I hope that even as the campaign to end AIDS plows forward, the fight to completely eradicate polio is fought until there are 0 world wide cases.

That's not to say I don't care about the AIDS pandemic. I definitely care about those affected by the disease. I hope the vaccinations that the researchers of the world are working on become more effective quickly. I hope that one day I am treating one of the last children that contracted AIDS. I hope that I can say that I don't really know how to treat patients with AIDS because it is so uncommon.

Today...

I loved being able to work with this family on getting them access to the proper healthcare.

I loved being the "glue" of continuity of care as the physician put it.

I loved taking the family back to their house and learning that mom could actually speak quite a bit of English, but was too scared during the appointment to try it out.

I loved that my job enabled me to do this.

I love the diversity of my area of Denver that brings people from all nationalities into the same neighborhoods.