Lady Allen: I’ve had a few needle sticks treating HIV patients
GG’s wife reflects on time as nurse, spreads hope for the afflicted
Published:Tuesday | December 12, 2023 | 12:10 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
Lady Allen took the audience into her confidence at this year’s observation of World AIDS Day on December 1 at The Summit in New Kingston, sharing some of her experiences while working as a nurse in the United States, treating and caring for patients living with HIV/AIDS during the 1990s and early 2000s.
This year’s global theme was ‘Let Communities Lead’ while the forum’s theme was ‘Reimagining and Transforming the HIV response through the Lenses of Communities’.
“I have had patients who suffered from HIV/AIDS, and in nursing, we are taught not to judge our patients. Our job is not to know how you get the disease, but how to make you whole again. The stigma is something that even people who have been trained still display and, many times, AIDS patients are neglected and the people are afraid to wash them and to take care of them.
“I have had a few needle sticks from treating HIV/AIDS patients and have had to take the medication and do the test after to make sure I was not contaminated with the virus,” she explained. “Sometimes it’s a lonely life in the hospital and I would take my chair and sit there when I am finished doing all my work and I am doing my charting and talking with the patient.”
With the second highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, the Caribbean continues to lag behind the rest of the world in the striving to meet the objective of having the diseases under control by 2030, according to Lady Allen who had a suggestion for ramping up the effort.
“If we are going to achieve this, we have to collaborate with our government, private sector and the individual funding. You don’t have to have a business but individually we can go in our pockets and support this. The plan is to start with individuals and communities. Educating communities about prevention and treatment is most important. The vulnerable and marginalised in our society need to be reached,” she urged.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Lady Allen, who is the wife of Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, went on to share her experience of dealing with HIV/AIDS on a much more personal level, when a family member contracted the disease more than three decades ago.
“One of our family members was sick for a time and everybody thought they had cancer but it was that this relative was affected by the HIV/AIDS virus and our family decided that we needed to come together to care for the person financially.”
At this point, some members in the family circle voiced their feelings that the person would soon die anyway since AIDS kills people, so why bother to invest in keeping them alive?
“Even if the person is going to die, we need to let them die comfortably,” was the sober and enlightened response from one of her brothers.
“It is over 30-odd years (and) the individual is still alive (and) doing well,” Lady Allen declared to sustained applause before sharing one of the most important lessons learnt from that experience.
“So, it is very important that we have that village to care. Had we not come together to make sure that the person had the right nutrition, tablets needed and remember that in those days it was a lot of tablets because even when I got my needle stick, it was a lot of tablets. We need to cut the stigma. We do not need to spurn them but when we love them they will come out to get the treatment and have life and have it more abundantly. As you go back to your communities, as you are motivated today, spread the message. Hold the hands of those who need the care and give them the love and support they need to also have life, good health and live their full potential.”