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Teens With HIV/AIDS: What Complications Can Occur?

 
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Carol Poore shares the complications that can arise for teenagers who are born with HIV/AIDS.

Carol Poore:
We are starting to see a lot of teenagers that have come up through the healthcare system since they were pediatric babies diagnosed with HIV/AIDS from birth, and they are coddled in the healthcare system and suddenly they become 13, 14 and 15 years of age and they need to learn how to take care of themselves because soon they will be adults in an adult healthcare system.

And one of the things that we have been working on in the last few years is we have come up with a very innovative program with a Phoenix Children’s Hospital to work hand-and-glove with that system so that we can take these teens, develop some youth summits and offer guidance in the area of staying on track with medications, learning how to make doctor’s appointments for yourself, learning to ask for help and taking on the mentality of a young adult.

And I would advise any parent or teenagers themselves, if they are in an area that offer support services, to start to think about how they can become familiar with their own healthcare and learning the ropes, finding resources in their own community, if it’s the AIDS service organization or if it is the children’s hospital, to work with the healthcare providers so that they can become better educated in how to transition from youth to teenager to young adults.

About Carol Poore:
Carol A. Poore is president and CEO of Phoenix-based Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, the oldest and largest nonprofit HIV/AIDS research, clinical trial and education resource center in the U.S. Southwest. As president and CEO of Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, Poore leads clinical trial research operations, educators, and a community outreach team including more than 300 volunteers, leading strategy and partnership with the U.S. Southwest’s biomedical research and community-based healthcare organizations.

Visit Carol Poore at the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS

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