A Visit to UAB Huntsville Campus

Hello again! My visit to UAB Huntsville campus allowed me to experience an additional day of community service with Children's sickle cell clinic. Patients travel to the Huntsville clinic from all around the northern Alabama area to see a specialist.

For this day of service I was able to perform vitals on each patient and help place them in their room, which allowed me to see the ranges of patients in age and disease severity. One observation that I noticed was how small the children were compared to their siblings. Sickle cell disease can delay growth after about one year of age, presenting as shorter or thinner than other children. Puberty may also be delayed. Most children will catch up with their friends after adolescence, however they must keep themselves healthy by eating well and staying hydrated.

The Sickle Cell Foundation was also present at the Huntsville Clinic. They provide educational sessions in the form of videos, lectures, and quizzes for the patient and parents. The goal is to offer additional support to the families by providing patient enrichment services. A great website for support groups and education about sickle cell, and ways to help can be found through the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.

Again the experience was very rewarding and allowed an opportunity to interact while gaining information for my service learning project, which is now coming to a close. In my last posts I will discuss my final academic project (a pretest/post test), as well as my conclusion, rewards, and challenges of the experience.