When in Doubt, Wear Red

We started off the day with an unexpected surprise: our service activities would not begin until two o'clock pm. Needless to say, we enjoyed our extra hours of zzzz's. We somehow made it out the door with just a few minutes to spare and arrived relatively on time to our destinations. Half of the team went to the March of Dimes office and the other half took the stalker van to HIV and AIDS Council.

Those of us who went to the March of Dimes office helped with a lot of administrative tasks. As we were stamping brochures, making pregnancy test packets, and typing up documents for the organization, we were shocked to learn about the severity of premature births. A ring that could fit around one's thumb was the same size of a ring that could run the length of a premature baby's arm. Premature baby diapers looked the size of Post-It notes. The blood pressure cuffs used on a premature baby are the size of Band-Aids. We also learned about how the size of a brain can differ significantly between a baby born at 35 weeks versus a baby born at 40 weeks.

Even though we only did small administrative tasks, it was meaningful to know that we were helping the March of Dimes inform the public about premature births and prenatal care that can help prevent premature births. We hope the March of Dimes continues to better the lives of mothers and babies.

The other group of us went to the HIV/AIDS Council to help put together a book to remember a rally that occurred March 17, 2010 in front of the State Building in Columbia, SC protesting the federal governments removal of all funding for programs to educate people on HIV/AIDS and to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, when we got there we did SO much more than that. The woman who greeted us, Elizabeth, was so kind and gave us a copy of their new "Tie That Binds" Magazine featuring the spread of HIV/AIDS to people in their golden years. We learned so much, including that Washington, DC has the highest amount of HIV/AIDS cases and Maryland ranks #3!! Also, it was sooo heartwarming seeing how Elizabeth knew the names of EVERYONE on staff, and introduced us to an exceptional woman named Shirley.

Shirley, who is a volunteer at the HIV/AIDS Council, accompanied us in our conference with Elizabeth and our tour around the facility. During the conference, Shirley shared with us her personal story and struggle with finding out she was HIV positive and how she has learned to cope. This was a particularly emotional moment because Elizabeth shared that we were only the 2nd group Shirley had opened up to and shared her story with, which was incredibly special. Shirley talked about how she was getting a promotion in the military, and during her physical found she was HIV positive, in which she was immediately laid-off, and her clothes BURNED! It was so shocking how quickly she was let go and that the stigma of having HIV/AIDS made the military go as far as to burn her clothing! After finding this out, Shirley went into a state of denial and great depression. She stopped taking care of herself, became homeless, and even was loosing faith, wondering why God would put her through such a thing. One day, however, Shirley realized that she needed to get up and work on herself, and that God helped her to seek out help to fix her. She began going to support groups and therapy, and once she got her straightened out, she joined the HIV/AIDS Council and began dedicating her life to helping others. She began taking classes on HIV at the health department, which helped her immensely in her coping process. Elizabeth even said that after Shirley's first HIV 101 class she came to volunteer the next day and was just so much happier and filled with joy. This discovery, that educating those WITH HIV, not just those who don't have it as prevention, is an incredible tool in assisting people to learn more about the disease and how to live with it. This has led Elizabeth to seek out free health classes on HIV to all of the volunteer members of her staff.

The HIV/AIDS Council is also such an AMAZING program because they have mentors and psychiatrists on staff at all times. Therefore, everyone who comes in to get tested meats with a counselor/mentor who assesses their state and gets to know them before the test. Then, once the test results come back (usually takes ~10 minutes) the counselor/mentor has the patient come into their office where they tell them the news one-on-one and spend time with them as needed. This was especially remarkable because in many clinics, the patient is given a paper with their test results and sent on their way. At the HIV/AIDS Council, they make sure their patients are in a steady state to go home and deal with their test results. Elizabeth even told us how one time a patient collapsed on the floor crying when he/she found out he/she was HIV positive and lay under the desk of the counselor/mentor for 3 hours, in which the mentor was there the entire time comforting them and not rushing them at all. This really showed how dedicated they are to their patients and how much they truly care.

One thing I (Camille) found most disturbing was a story Elizabeth told us about her church, in which she has been a member for many years. The church was holding a health fair, and failed to tell Elizabeth or ask her if she wanted to participate. She figured maybe her church just forgot to contact her and took the chance to contact them to see if she could have a table set up with information on HIV/AIDS since that is what her work is in. She left a message for the minister, and not until 8 days later did she get a call back (before offi ce hours, she doesn't know if this was intentional or not) saying that they did not believe that would be "appropriate". Then, Elizabeth emailed the minister, asking nicely and trying to better explain why she would like to be present at the fair. She never go a response. This was horrifying to me as a Christian because your church should be the one place that always accepts you and wants to help you, and for HER OWN CHURCH to not even allow her to be present at the health fair with a non-intrusive, passive table on HIV/AIDS that people could ask for information about only if they wanted to. When you are in such a hard place where you feel like you have no one to talk to, you should always have your faith and God and the support of your church. However, this clearly showed how this is not always the case. I do not believe it is others place to judge, and Stephanie brought up an amazing point in reflection, stating that if someone was a cancer patient, we would NEVER treat them in the way that many treat those with HIV/AIDS. This disease has such a strong stigma attached to it, that many do not even GO to get tested, let alone tell anyone if they are HIV positive, leaving them abandoned and alone in a place where even their church may reject them.

It was also very disturbing to learn that 50% of people that KNOW they are HIV positive in South Carolina do NOT get treatment, mainly because of transportation issues. One woman we met had taken a picture on a highway looking down the road and seeing a sign saying "Columbia 31 miles" and it was titled "31 miles to healthcare". This piece was especially moving because it explained the struggle many have to even have access to treatment due to transportation limitations. Many rural areas have no public transportation to even get there somewhere they can get treatment. As a result, the HIV/AIDS council has a man who drives around and picks up patients to take them to treatment, and even finds out where these people hang out so if they ever do not meet him for a doctors appointment he can know where he might find them. He also assists those who cannot read in color coding their medications to know when they are supposed to take them, and he helps people create regiments for taking their pills.

All in all, the HIV/AIDS Council does so much remarkable work, much of which I did not even get to include in this blog. They have definitely inspired me to want to get involved in work such as this in the DC area to help people that really are judged and at times rejected by society.

Elizabeth also gave us a website where women all over the US are able to tell others their stories about living with HIV online. This website is: http://www.livingquilt.org/
I REALLY encourage EVERYONE to read it to learn more about the struggles of these women and to share this with your friends. As Elizabeth put it, HIV/AIDS DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE BASED ON GENDER, RACE, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, INCOME, JOB, ETC... WE ARE ALL SUSCEPTIBLE TO THIS DISEASE AND MANY OF US FAIL TO RECOGNIZE THAT IT CAN EASILY INFECT US TOO!

Sorry this was so long but I hope you found it interesting and you should really look more into this organization because it is truly amazing.

-Camille, Payal, and Emily

P.S. Another shocking thing Elizabeth told us was that at the USC Health Center, a male student had the audacity to say in front of everyone (this was overheard by one of Elizabeth's volunteers who told her) that he did not have to worry about getting HIV/AIDS because he did not sleep with black women. It is this ignorance and self-righteous attitude that keeps us from moving forward in having more success in removing the stigma from HIV/AIDS and making a difference. Like Elizabeth said, HIV/AIDS doesn't discriminate, and 2 of the largest growing populations becoming infected are AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALES AND OLDER PEOPLE IN THEIR GOLDEN YEARS (over 50!!!). This goes to show how fast and far HIV is spreading (even across generations) and how important safe sex and sex education is!

Stork nest's do exist... sort of.

Another sunny--yet chillier day living the luxury life in South Carolina =)

To begin our adventures for the morning, the 13 of us piled into our ramshackle vans to manage the "Stork Nest Store" as part of a sorority organization designed to help pregnant women prepare for the birth of their soon to be newborns by providing monthly classes on infant care and a store for which baby apparel can be earned through points of attendance... (orrrr so we thought). Turns out, when we arrived, we were directed to sit in on the class being taught and were only asked to help make lunch boxes for the women enrolled. All of us were caught off guard when the amount of volunteer work we actually did while we were there totaled to about 16.8 seconds, but all of us agreed in reflection later in the evening that this still served as a great opportunity for us to see the kinds of people that take advantage of the programs Columbia offers to help the lower class women, as well as be able to discuss how effective or not effective their methods of teaching were.

After a quick make-shift picnic in the back of the vans of the sorority's parking lot, our group split up so that half of us went to a local middle school to help tutor kids in a program designed to assist "at risk" students for dropping out of school and the other half helped the March of Dimes organization sort through their crammed and disorganized office space.

I (Kathryn) was part of the group who went to the middle school just a few miles down the road from the Stork's Nest Store. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Shelly, a woman who was in charge of a significantly sized case study for a group of about 30 students that met the qualifications for being drop-out risks. She explained that these students met at least one of the "at risk" criteria, which consisted of being lower class, coming from single parent households, having already failed previous classes, or being pregnant, etc. Shelly informed us that she recently had a pregnancy scare with one of her students that was only in seventh grade (as you can imagine, we all silently gasped at this reality). The six of us split up by twos into different classrooms that held the after school tutoring program, and helped students with their homework or relieved their curiosity of what college life consists of. Afterwards, many of us relayed to each other what the different classroom experiences were like, and in reflection we discovered patterns of behavior both from the students and the attitudes of the administrators. We all agreed the children were respectful of us because we took the time to acknowledge their individual needs and personalities--well, as much as we picked up on in the two hours we spent with them, anyway. We also agreed that the teachers working with the students seemed worn out, frustrated, and overwhelmed with the not so perfectly behaved adolescents, and therefore failed to give them the patience these children desperately yet so simply needed. When it was time for them to go home, several of the children asked if we could come back again, and it was difficult to explain that we may not be able to. When reflecting on the experience, we concluded as a group that long term service is crucial in situations that deal with children and the benefits that come with building interpersonal relationships with them. In answering the question, "Well, what can we do?", looking for schools around Prince George County with similar programs as the one we experienced today will allow us to continue serving public health programs and promoting social change in underprivileged schools which both directly and indirectly intertwines with health care status.

WHEWW!  ...break. 

I (Rachel) went to the March of Dimes office. Our group had the unique experience of getting to see the behind the scenes work of a major non-profit organization. After working with smaller organizations funded by March of Dimes for the past several days, it felt good to work with the organization that has helped all of these local programs. We got a brief introduction to what type of work March of Dimes did as well as the different type of fundraisers they held. We learned that the name March of Dimes was originated from the organization's fight to find a cure for the biggest health problem at the time, polio. They were the only non-profit organization that was able to achieve their original goal. After tackling polio, March of Dimes moved on to fighting the second biggest health problem, premature babies. They are still currently working to educate and inform women and their families of ways to reduce the risk of giving birth prematurely. At the office we were divided up to help organize their disheveled and cluttered office. Through cleaning out offices and closets, organizing shelves, and entering data into computers we all got to see exactly how much help March of Dimes provides to local programs, as well as how hard they work to fundraise. We learned that their annual March for Babies alone raised $129 million dollars last year! After leaving the March of Dimes office feeling accomplished we headed back home. On the way we discovered a little Chihuahua roaming aimlessly through the neighborhood. We presumed his name to be taco since it was the only name he responded to. We chased him around calling his name and attempting to lure him towards us with food. After be growled at and and driving around the neighborhood in circles like crazy people, one of our group members decided to jump out and ask neighborhood kids if they knew who the little dog belonged to. After scaring the kids by driving around in our creepy white van, they told us they would take care of it and we headed home. In reflection we discussed that although we weren't doing direct service, it still was nice to help out an organization that is helping so many other people. It was obvious to all of us that any work we could do for them was well deserved. It was nice to get a glimpse into all the hard work this organization puts in, in order to provide grants to a multitude of other local programs.

All in all, it was another successful and eventful day that challenged our flexibility, creativity, and work ethic. Together we are taking small steps to create the social change that will undoubtedly create a ripple effect amongst South Carolina and hopefully spread throughout the nation.

Thank you patient readers for listening to our novel!

Kathryn & Rachel = )

Fiesta de PASOs

So it wasn't really a fiesta, but all of us got to go to an AWESOME organization called PASOs (Perinatal Awareness for Successful Outcomes). PASOs is a program that offers prenatal classes that are in Spanish to help improve pre and postnatal education available to Latina women, thereby ensuring the best possible birth outcome for both the mother and child. The women helping us there, Julie and Margarita, were so incredibly friendly and even had breakfast for us AND gave us all PASOs water bottles. Obviously both of these gestures were completely unnecessary but shows how selfless and giving these women are, and even though they have very limited financial resources, they still were so generous towards us. For the day, our group of 13 all got split up into different groups, which we will go into more detail about later (there are 2 of us, so each will write a paragraph about what we did so enjoy :))

I (Camille) got to work with another girl in our group Crystal "revamping" the organizations poster presentation board (like science fair style) to make it bilingual and sturdier/more permanent. It was a great experience, even though Crystal and I did not get to work directly with anyone in the Latina or PASOs community, however it gave us the opportunity to read more about the program and realize how much PASOs offers aside from just prenatal classes. For instance, it has a facet of information and helpful staff to help with STD/HIV information, safe sex, how to conceive, signs of preterm labor/birth and much more. It really made us realize how some information that may be easily accessed by some (or just seems to be common sense), may be knowledge/information that is much harder to obtain, and in some cases even rare to obtain, by others. It was really good to know that even though what we were doing was "indirect" (not working directly with someone or getting to see the direct outcome of what we were doing), it would help raise awareness and help others to find and be more inclined to utilize PASOs. Also, even if our poster helps one mother seek the education and help to make her pregnancy the best she can, it is nice to know that the information she retains could be passed on to others and encourage other Latinos to seek out this help and be heard more in the health system. PASOs is also so amazing because it helps defend Latinos so they can have their voices heard and be better represented in the health care system. Overall, helping at PASOs has been my favorite experience so far and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the week has in store for us!!

Hi All! I (Aarisha) and Hannah got the opportunity to drive around to different parts of Lexington, SC to promote the organization and make people aware of their wonderful mission! Our prime target was Hispanic families, especially pregnant mothers, so we went to different Hispanic tiendas (stores), mercados (markets), y restaurantes (restaurants) to pass out flyers and put up posters. The best part of this experience for me was being able to put my Spanish to practice! It is such a different experience speaking to actual native speakers, and though Hannah and I both were nervous at first, we warmed up pretty quickly and interacted with store owners and customers to spread the word. This trip really made us realize the effect of language barrier, and allowed us to experience the problem from a different perspective. Personally, the biggest lesson today was that you can have a wealth of information to help people, but if your target audience do not have access to it, the information is useless. Hence, our collective service today, whether it was searching online for free health care items, making copies of fliers, organizing valuable resources, or just talking to strangers to promote awareness, made a great impact in assisting in the growth of the organization. Our work also undoubtedly will help Hispanic families have easier access to information that could improve their health.

Afterwards, we had an awesome dinner party, where we made home-cooked tacos and guacamole to fuel us for our always-deep reflection. We all got so much out of the day, but the reflection helped us think critically about our awesome experience and the meaning of service. We all seemed to agree, on most part, that the service projects that tend to push us out of our comfort zone are those that become the most memorable and influential. We dissected different aspects of service, such as long-term vs. short-term projects. Although both types are helpful and beneficial to the society and the volunteers themselves, long-term service projects are the ones that are needed to drive social change and require the most time, effort, and passion. Furthermore, we debated whether paid positions counted as service, and our consensus was that in some situations they do. For instance, many people dedicate their lives to their cause and as a result, make a career out of their passion. This was most prominently seen at The Nurturing Center, where all of the employees gladly took a pay-cut in order to prevent any of the team members from being let go. This really helped us rethink our roles as volunteers and in driving social change and the importance of both indirect and direct service. We look forward to both types of service in the upcoming week, so be sure to check back to read about the hot gossip going on in ASB-SC!

- Aarisha and Camille

A day in Charleston.,.

After waking up in our new "home" thanks to one of our awesome ASBers (EriK). We prepared for an adventure in Charleston, SC.
We drove for two long hours and finally arrived there to do some sightseeing. We browsed through several cute shops and looked at all of the southern style mansions. We learned a great deal about the southern culture and witnessed the lifestyle of those in the Charleston community. We noticed that the community is largely composed of retired persons and young college students, who were actively running in the afternoon. We had a nice dinner at a local deli, and made our way back home later that night.
Although we had a fun morning as tourists, we decided to watch a documentary regarding the effect of racism on prenatal health. Following the video, we had an intense discussion about how racism affects all facets of an individual's life; we addressed the issues of racism, and ultimately decided that the most effective way to address racism was through awareness and time. We used examples from our own lives and observations to make conclusions about the trends of racism still prevalent today.

Time to go to bed to get some rest before another eventful day tomorrow.
Goodnight readers!
Stephanie & Crystal

Eric and Lauren's ASB Exp 3-14-10

Hi everyone!! Greetings from the Palmetto State!

So far, everyone is great and we've had a lot of fun. Today, we went to the Nurturing Center and cleaned classrooms. TNC is a organization that was created by a group of six women over twenty years ago to help at risk families (including foster children) deal with abuse, neglect, and to help inform parents of parenting skills. Also, we found out that the meal that is provided by TNC is often the only real meal of the day for some families. Services are free for families and are funded by DSS, Medicaid reimbursements, and private donations. One of the most interesting parts of the day occurred when we saw a painting we assumed was done by one of the children. It was a dark black color with an eye and tears. The poem description under the painting mentioned that this women (the mother/artist) was abused by her baby's father and mentioned all of the pain that she put through. That was a pivotal moment for many of us thus far on the trip. It was real in the regard that it put in perspective how emotionally damaged the parents are, versus all we realized before was the effects on children. They were stuck developmentally in a simple childike social stage. Afterwards, we checked out the capitol city of Columbia, SC. There we saw the remnants of the civil war and where the capitol building was struck by Sherman in the Civil War as well as seeing a Confederate flag in front of the building, which struck us as very odd.... We learned streets are named after Confederate officers. The culture of the South is something we did not anticipate seeing. But they are still very much translated into today. When we got home we watched the movie Food Inc., which explores the origins of the thousands of food products that we see in the grocery store every day. It was incredibly eye opening to see all of the 'dirty politics' involved in the business of food. We all felt that it was unfortunate how farmers are treated by the huge corporations that own almost every brand name on the shelves of the supermarket. Because fast food companies are so heavily subsidized, the only food that people in poverty can really afford is stuff like McDonalds. A family in the film had no choice but to feed their kids fast food constantly because the cost of the father's diabetes medicine drained too much out of their bank account to buy fresh vegetables. It probably wasn't a good idea to watch that movie before dinner, but the events of the day left everyone incredibly humbled. It was a great first day on ASB, and set the scene for what looks like is going to be an incredible week.

Until tomorrow!

Lauren, Eric, and ASB South Carolina 2010

17 Days Left!

Hello All,

Just two and a half weeks left until we depart from College Park on our journey to South Carolina! Geesh, I can't believe the time is almost near! : )

This blog will help us reflect on and share our group experiences when dealing with the social issues of pediatric health care in the surrounding Columbia area. We will be able to publicly discuss the challenges we will undoubtedly face and what events will leave the largest impressions on us as a whole. Uploading videos and pictures of our experience would also be great contributors to capturing memories to look back on or share with friends and family. Documenting our knowledge of what can be done to help the global issue of health care for children is only one of the wonderful aspects that participating in this trip will bring--not to mention the (hopefully) nicer weather and growing closer friendship bonds with the members in our group!

I hope everyone is as excited as I am for the trip!

See you all soon : )
Kathryn