Aiding Those With AIDS
Caregiving calls for compassion coupled with precaution

(HealthDayNews) -- If you're going to care for someone with AIDS, you'll no doubt need compassion -- but you'll also need to know the facts about the disease and take precautions.

AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, known as HIV. This virus wipes out parts of the body's immune system. The body can't fight diseases, some of which are fatal. There is no vaccine to prevent HIV infection and no cure for AIDS.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer some tips to help AIDS caregivers get started:

• Learn the skills you need to take care of someone at home. Local Red Cross chapters, Visiting Nurses associations, state health departments and HIV/AIDS service organizations can help you find a course.
• Talk with the doctor, nurse, social worker and other healthcare workers who also are caring for the person. They may need the patient's permission to talk to you, but you need to talk to these people to find out how you can help. Get written information about medicines you'll give and ask what each drug does and the side effects to watch for. Make a list of the doctors, nurses and other people you might need to contact quickly, indicating phone numbers and times when they're available, and keep this list by the phone.
• Talk to a lawyer or an AIDS support organization. For some medical care or life-support decisions, you may need to be legally named as the care coordinator.
• Because the virus that causes AIDS is in the blood of infected people, you could get infected by blood or other substances that have blood in them. Protect yourself by washing your hands often and wearing gloves if you have to touch semen, vaginal fluid or cuts or sores on the person with AIDS. Use disposable, hospital-type latex or vinyl gloves if you might touch any blood. These gloves should be used just once and then thrown away.

Along with taking care of the person's medical needs, there also are some simple things you could do to help someone with AIDS feel more comfortable at home. Respect the person's independence and privacy by asking what you can do to make them comfortable. Keep the home clean and looking cheerful. Let the person with AIDS stay in a room that is near a bathroom. Leave tissues, towels, a trash basket and blankets close by. If the person you're caring for has to spend most of their time in bed, be sure to help them change positions often. They should get out of bed as much as possible, which helps prevent stiff joints, bedsores and some types of pneumonia.

And don't forget to take care of yourself as well -- getting needed rest and exercise. Many AIDS service organizations can help with "respite care," sending someone to be with the person you're caring for while you get out of the house for a bit.

"Sometimes, especially if the person they are caring for is very sick, they might need some respite so they can have time for themselves to take care of themselves," William Harper, client services supervisor for the AIDS Service Association of Pinellas in Pinellas County, Fla., told HealthDay.

On the Web

To learn more about caregivers and AIDS patients, visit the University of California, San Francisco online.

SOURCES:
Author: Dennis Thompson
HealthDay News Service; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; AIDS Service Association of Pinellas, Pinellas County, Fla.
Publication Date: Sept. 30, 2004
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