Joe on His Way to His CheckupTuesday November 18, 2008 I was able to accompany our Health Department in taking Joe, a 5 year old little boy, on his monthly check ups. Joe lives with HIV/AIDS and has to get his CD4 count checked regularly. CD4 count is an important measure of T-cells in the blood indicating the health of your immune system. We also picked up his Anti-Retroviral Viral (ARV) drugs for the month. ARVs slow the development of the HIV/AIDS virus. Our Health Department of Family Legacy Missions Zambia has teamed with the "Tiny Tim" program at the CorpMed Hospital in downtown Lusaka to help orphaned and vulnerable children who have AIDs get free access to healthcare and ARV drugs. We ensure that a guardian or teacher accompanies the child as well. This time Joe's grandmother came with us. She takes care of Joe and his sister as both of his parents have died, most likely from AIDS. On this check-up Joe was full of energy and appeared like any healthy 5 year old. He didn't even flinch when they took his blood for the CD4 count. I brought him a lollipop for being such a good boy!
Joe and His Grandmother On The Way to His Checkup
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