Leelamma

We have our first patient admitted at the Jeevan Sahara Kendra Community Care Centre.


The call came on Friday. From a church-member in a house-church that meets in Mulund. He knew a poor family where the mother was sick. She had been repeatedly to hospital and had used up all the money they had. She was still sick. Could I put her in touch with a large private hospital and get admitted under charity there.

I knew that this hospital was full up - having just started the operations last month and still not running at full capacity. So I suggested that he bring the lady to Jeevan Sahara and Dr. Sheba would assess her and see what could be done.

They came the next day. The lady - we will call her Leelamma - brought her reports. Amidst all the papers was one statement. HIV seropositive.

Leelamma was HIV positive and no one had told her about it. Her husband who was with her had not been tested. We tested him.

Leelamma is in stage 4 HIV sickeness. What we call AIDS. She had a fever of 102 when she came. We wanted to admit her immediately.

She did not. She said she wanted to go home. That she was not ready. That her children needed her. That she wanted to go to church on Sunday. That she would come back on Monday.

We didn't force her. But we told her and her husband that Leelamma was very sick.

On Monday morning they did not show up at 9 am. At 11 I called up the man who had referred her intially. He looked it up (and probably gave her a nudge to get going). At 12.30 Leelamma and her husband showed up.

Her husband is also positive. We told him the news.

Leelamma was admitted.

Last night she spent her first night at the JSK community care centre.

This morning - as I type this - the first strains of songs from our morning staff prayers have started. Leelamma and her husband are sitting with us.

Another step in our journey.