Personal Narrative: Hepatitis C Prisons

This story, while centered on Maries struggles with addiction and family support the story we also hear from two social workers in DCF; Ilia

Barbie Harris is a 50 year old female who came into our shelter this morning. In our initial intake and interview this writer can see that Barbie has brought her only belongs: some clothes, blankets, hygiene products, and her prescriptions. Barbie states that most nights she tries to stay at one of her 3 close friends house, however they have families so she does not stay long (Summers, 2012, p. 245). Other than those nights Barbie states she travels from shelter to shelter, at times sleeping on the cold hard ground. In discussing Barbie’s employment history this writer learns she has been unable to work due to issues with her mental health. Up until coming to the shelter today Barbie has been picking up bottles on Calgary streets to pay for

I interviewed the Bonneville County Jail social worker, Brian Mecham. Social Workers at the jail are mainly responsible for helping the inmates, doing assessments for individuals that need medications, group and individual discussions and also helping them with learning more life skills. Being their advocate and helping them go through changing processes is all part of the job. Mecham and his wife are both a part of the social work profession. Although seeing two completely different sides with Mecham working in the jail and his wife in the hospice field, Mecham emphasized the importance of finding what you want to do in the social work field. “You never know what is going to impress you to do one thing or the other.”

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a disease of the blood, caused by a history of intravenous (IV) drug abuse, blood transfusions received that were infected with HCV prior to 1992 when screening started, healthcare workers suffering from a needle stick, and recipients of donor organs that tested positive for HCV (Lewis, Heitkemper, Dirksen, & Bucher, 2014). A challenge that I have encountered in the office with getting treatment started for a patient is that not everyone in the clinic understands the clinical documentation and tests needed to receive therapy approval. The result of decreased knowledge of HCV treatment is the patient having to return to the clinic two or three times to obtain all required clinical data, which is prolonging the start of treatment. The purpose of this paper is to improve patient satisfaction with their treatment of HCV. I began with my pre-assessment of the novice to expert nurses, by asking them 30 questions. In the assessment, it tested the current knowledge that each individual had on HCV. After obtaining the needed data to come up with a program for the clinic, I was amazed at the different answers. I will be discussing the educational needs for improvement of HCV screenings, listing the questions used in the interview, listing the staff and their titles, listing educational needs I found during my assessment, and discussing what my case study topic will entail.

Alice enters my office wanting to work on her anxiety and mood changes. There were some general goals aligned with her assessing a desire to be less anxious and to control sudden mood changes. She also stated she would like to turn her life around, but has no idea where to start. Alice notes she is not bleak. She has enough guts to leave a lot of her shady past behind and enrolled into college.

Hepatitis C has been referred to as a "Silent Epidemic," since it usually progresses slowly over many years. Most people who are infected with hepatitis C are not aware of any noticeable symptoms for as long as one to two decades after they are infected. In fact, by the time symptoms appear, the virus has probably already begun to damage the liver. If the liver is injured and stops functioning, death will always be the outcome (Lieber). Liver failure from chronic hepatitis C is one of the most common causes of liver transplants in the United States.

Brenda Combs is a strong, determined women who has experienced the roughest parts of life and who has made a positive impact on people around her. When Combs developed a partying habit, she also got into the dangerous habit of taking drugs. Combs eventually became a cocaine addicted who would fall in and out of bad relationships. Then, one day when she got her shoes stolen from her, Combs decided to turn her life around and gain her dignity back. The first challenge she faced while changing her life around was to try and stay strong in rehab as it was “the hardest she had ever known” (paragraph 18). Combs determination eventually led her to a bachelor’s degree from the University of Phoenix and a job at the StarShine charter school.

In the world, changes need to be made. Some people dedicate their lives to improving the world and making it a better place. In the early 1800s, one woman decided that the prison and mental health systems could be improved to be kinder and more effective institutions. She saw a change to be complete in the world and made it her task to recreate the prison and mental health systems in a new and superior style. Throughout the years, prisons and mental health asylums have changed greatly, especially concerning unfair prison treatment, the reform movement, and today’s important impact.

Having the chance to hear David Tavares speak granted me as a social work student the ability to listen and process what life is like as a client and hear firsthand the factor that may have led to his incarceration and the programs that helped him maintain his resiliency to succumbing to the violence of his environment. This paper will address some of the key subjects that David discussed and how this relates to what we have learned in class and applying this knowledge to when I graduate.

While working in W.I.C., I became aware of the need for substance abuse and mental health counseling in western North Carolina. Therefore, in April 2013, through grants offered to veterans, I returned to college to begin my education in social work with a concentration in substance abuse and mental health counseling. I had previously obtained an A.S. in Christian Education and found that the knowledge gained through those classes was foundational and relevant to the social work field.

A grown and experienced young man, who lives in an assisted living facility in Charlotte, North Carolina has lived quite a long life. Ninety years old to be exact. He obtained a “been there done that, what’s new” type of attitude that often tickled or made people question his judgment. Nonetheless, this man—let’s call him Lyric, has his own protocol when it comes to the way he decides to spend the rest of his life. From a distance you may not understand his character but whose to say he’s sweeter on the inside? I happen to be a certified nursing assistant (CNA) who finally crossed paths with Lyric one warm evening. I was also a current student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. After I finished eating all of the salty stress

For my Clinical experience, I was referred to one of community clinics run by nurse practitioners - yes, NPs- in Suffolk County in Long Island by my coworker. It is called “Nightingale Preventative Care.” I am working in the ER and at first, I thought this clinic would be a type of urgent care office which is a similar setting to the ER. I was totally wrong. For the past two weeks, this place has surprised me many ways and I learned about what the community clinic is alike to its neighbors. Patients can be seen by NPs by the appointment. However, it is located inside of K-mart and has many walk-in patients as well. Many patients who come to visit for their check-up have no medical insurance. Every Wednesday, a representative from Fidelis Care insurance company comes and provides information about Medicaid and Medicare service the company has. I really like to sit down with patients and assess about their medical histories and family histories which I cannot do often in the ER. I had a patient who was Hepatitis A Ab, Total positive Abnormal first day I work at the clinic. He didn’t understand what the test result meant and neither did I. I printed out an article from National Library of Medicine and went over with him. Patient’s education in the ER rarely happens from nurses. I felt great to listen what patients tried to lose their weight or quit smoking. I like to continue on developing skills on patient’s education and preventative care measure for patients.

For my project I started volunteering at St. Vincent De Paul with Hannah. We unloaded boxes, organized items, and sometimes even directly helped a customer. However during this time I never felt like anything clicked. I couldn’t make any connections. It’s not that they weren’t there; I just wasn’t able to really pick up on much that I could write about. So I decided to take a different route. I had a friend that I used to work with who had been arrested and been to jail before and I asked him if he would elaborate on his experiences so that I might find something that would tug on my heart strings and give me something I would feel passionate enough about to write a paper. I was pleasantly surprised to get more than what I had bargained for. He really brought me into his world. Light bulbs started going off above my head and I’m excited to share these with you.

When a person bears the responsibility of embodying selflessness, compassion, empathy, loyalty, advocacy, patience, commitment, and integrity continuously in the face of suffering, they often carry an immense load upon their shoulders. It is a weight which few but the brave can carry. To remove one’s self from the comfort of partiality and to place themselves into the hands of a sick patient without restraint is a beautiful ideal. It may seem flamboyant phrasing, but that symbolizes what a nurse is; becoming a servant to the needs of others before their own, someone who never stops choosing it. But sometimes the system fails even the strongest of soldiers; leading them down a dark and slippery path which holds the deceitful promise of peace. Sometimes the unceasing trials that nurses face on a daily basis is more than they are able to cope with inside. They may wake up to find that this path they have chosen, which was once beautiful and rewarding, no longer holds any joy for them. They are overworked and understaffed, often pushing them to search for coping mechanisms they would not normally resort to. That leads us to the topic of this discussion. Substance abuse is an ever-growing monster in the closet. A monster lurking in the shadows, seeking desperately to swallow up the ambitions of well-intentioned lives,

Medical problems are recognized as issues with health, dental, psychological, injury, and other ailments of the human body. Inmate access to adequate medical care is sometimes unavailable and because of this, chronic and viral illnesses run rampant within the U.S. prison system. Based on a survey of inmates during 2004, a variety of information has been made available regarding inmate medical and health issues which can be used to make inferences and develop solutions to the prison healthcare system in the United States.