HIV/AIDS From the Perspective of a Nurse

Excellent article from Ten years a Single Mom

10 Years a Single Mom

When I was 20 I became a Nurse.  This was 1987.  When I was in Nursing school, we weren’t even taught about HIV/AIDS…it was that new.  These were the days before gloves were even used.  I remember there being only one box on my Med/Surg unit and it was located in the dirty utility room.  All care was given with bare hands.  We got all forms of bodily fluid on our hands daily and just went over to the sink and washed it off.

As I worked, I began to see the hysteria on the news.  It was a “gay man’s”, disease and thought of by most with contempt.  There wasn’t HIV, only AIDS because the tests to detect the virus were not being widely used and were inaccurate at best.  Generally, the first indication of the disease was at the point where it is was a death sentence.  People…

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