Health Ministry

• Sisters of Charity Health Services
• Complementary Medicine
• Ministry to those dependent on alcohol and drugs
• Ministry to those living with HIV/AIDS

Ministry to those living with HIV/AIDS

In 1984, the administration of St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney made a decision to admit patients suffering from a relatively unknown and frightening disease, HIV/AIDS. Much earlier in the Congregation's history in Australia, the pioneer Sisters had pointed the way when they admitted to hospital and cared for needy patients suffering from cholera and typhoid. Also, in more recent times, St Joseph's Hospital, Auburn had opened its doors to patients with highly contagious tuberculosis.

Initially in Australia, the majority of HIV/AIDS sufferers were homosexual. This occasioned a public outcry against the gay community. In many other countries, especially in African countries, the disease is pandemic among the heterosexual community. In western countries, many drug users sharing needles became the greatest HIV/AIDS victims.

In the early days of admission of HIV/AIDS patients to hospital, no accurate diagnosis was possible until the patient was extremely ill. As there was no effective drug therapy at this time, life expectancy was relatively short. Sadly the patients were often young and at the height of their careers.

Against this background there was a need for Pastoral Care. PLWHA (people living with HIV/AIDS) needed all the support they could get. They craved emotional support to help them to come to terms with the events of life that threatened to overwhelm them. For people who were facing the likelihood of imminent death, spiritual issues that had lain dormant for many years became of supreme importance. In the limited time that seemed to be all they had, many tried to find meaning and purpose in their lives once more. Perhaps it meant finding exploring their image of, and relationship with God. This was not necessarily the God of their youthful days, but a gentler, more understanding and forgiving God, who loved them no matter what they had done. Maybe it meant reconnecting with the Church of their youth. Maybe it meant turning again to the prayers they had never quite forgotten, which had comforted them over the years and which now became very important once again. Maybe it was learning and acknowledging they were persons worthy of dignity and respect, and that they were valued by others for who they were, not for what they did. For some, this was a new and cherished aspect of themselves, never appreciated before.

Because of the early social stigma attached to HIV/AIDS in Australia, there was little sharing of information, and diagnosis was a closely guarded secret. Ignorance abounded and media reporting emphasised fear. There was a great lack in the mounting of public information forums. As time passed however, accurate diagnostic information became available and staff members in hospitals and hospices were able to carry out their duties with a better knowledge of the disease and a reduced fear of infection.

In Australia, in time, caring groups and organizations were set up to provide for people living with HIV/AIDS. Some volunteers offered practical help, for example, Community Support Networks, while others, such as Ankali, offered emotional support and companioning. The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, named after a well-known person who died with HIV/AIDS is one of the group giving financial and other material support. As the social stigma lessened and knowledge replaced ignorance, many people offered their services freely. The volunteers became part of the network enabling victims of the disease to live more comfortably at home and even to die at home if such was their wish.

The carers themselves needed support to continue caring physically, emotionally and pastorally for victims, parents and relatives and for each other. Thus the Tree of Hope as a Centre - especially for carers of people living with HIV/AIDS - was established by a Sister of Charity who had worked at St Vincent's for the victims of HIV/AIDS for over ten years. The Tree of Hope is a quiet place where people come to draw strength, courage, support and hope through prayer, discussion, reflection and information sharing. This Centre is open to both victims and carers.

These carers communicate with people living with HIV/AIDS by personal contact through home visits and by the telephone. The telephone contact is very significant, especially in country areas as there the stigma is very common.

Since drug therapies have helped control the infections that HIV causes, many think that there is no longer any need for support. Some PLWHA (people living with HIV/AIDS) find the new drugs very successful, and HIV has become a manageable disease for them, at least for the moment. Others experience severe side effects, and so are unable to tolerate these drugs which others hail as miracle drugs. Treatment is discontinued and they wait hopefully for the next discovery. In either case, life is precarious and the future is uncertain. Anxiety and uncertainty raise stress levels, and many are quite depressed thinking about what will happen. They find it hard to have any sense of control and live day to day wondering what the next morning will bring and whether they will feel well enough to cope with the events of the day, or if things will be just too hard. The drugs in use are very new, very powerful, very toxic. Research is continuous and people live in hope for a cure, or at least for some drug that will help them to experience a better quality of life and some peace of mind.