A golden moment
January 2009
Gerard Basili, an Australian Pharmacist and CCT’s new Medical Coordinator, arrived at CCT on Wednesday 14th of January. He came to meet all the kids and begin work on implementing a number of new systems which will improve the quality of health care available to CCT’s children as well as reducing our medical costs.
We have now stocked CCT’s new home pharmacy with international quality, Australian-registered drugs. Then we had a meeting with Jedtha and staff to discuss the new protocols that are to be followed in all cases, from minor ailments right through to serious medical emergencies. We discussed the new treatment regimes available for the Hepatitis B children and generally how to provide all the kids with the best health care possible.
The best part of his visit though was the meeting with one of our older girls who is HIV positive. Gerard informed her of the new HIV treatment regime that's now available to her.
Gerard explained that she will now be treated at the Hope Hospital in Phnom Penh. There she will be provided with international quality antiretroviral medication and treatment for any opportunistic infections by internationally trained doctors, all of which will be provided to her, free, for the rest of her life. He explained to her that, if she adheres to the new treatment regimes, she should now expect to live a normal and long life almost unaffected by HIV. He also informed her that with the technology available now, combined with the right education, it will be possible for her to have a partner and even have a baby while ensuring both remain HIV negative.
When she heard all this information she was speechless but the huge smile and tears rolling down her face said it all.
I can’t tell you what it meant to me to see her so happy. She had already come to terms with the fact that her days were numbered and that she would never have the opportunity to find a partner or have a child of her own. This one meeting has changed all of that.
It’s moments like these that make tough times i’ve been through here, all worthwhile.