Greetings everyone:
My name is Hannah Brancheau, and I am a third semester nursing student at UAB. I’ve been delighted to find myself in the honors program at the school of nursing, which has provided a unique chance for me to learn while at the same time serving! This Fall, I will be participating in a service learning project at the 1917 Clinic in Birmingham, AL. Basically, I’ll be providing a service to them while also learning something myself.
The 1917 Clinic serves a very unique group of people—people living with HIV and AIDS—and provides a great number of services for these people. My passion is for women and children, and so while I am at the Clinic I will be working specifically with the women’s health providers.
What, you may be asking, will I be doing with these providers? Thank you for asking! I’m going to be doing quality improvement that aims to increase the compliance rate of women to their pap test—basically, encouraging these women to stay up to date on all of their GYN services!
Believe it or not, this is a major concern for women living with HIV and AIDS. Any women living with HIV is 5 times more likely to develop cervical cancer than an HIV negative woman. And when it comes to cervical cancer, early detection is key! The earlier treatment can be initiated, the better, and the pap test is the primary mode of screening.
I’m looking forward over the next few months to updating this blog as a means to help you understand more about women living with HIV and AIDS, as well as to update you on the project that I am participating in. I’m looking forward to the opportunities this semester will provide and I hope you enjoy the ride with me!
