Nursing associate fronts HIV awareness campaign
Posted 10 August 2021 - 15:55
LeaSuwanna Griffith features in Terrence Higgins Trust’s campaign highlighting achievements of people with HIV
A nursing associate with HIV is fronting a campaign to help challenge stigma around the virus.
Life Really Changed campaign combats stigma and misinformation about HIV
LeaSuwanna Griffith, who hopes to become a registered nurse, is one of 13 people featured in the Life Really Changed campaign by the charity Terrence Higgins Trust to celebrate the achievements of those living with HIV.
Ms Griffith, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2003, has worked as a nursing associate since 2020 and plans to embark on nurse training this September. The medication she takes means she currently has an undetectable viral load.
She told Nursing Standard that she took part in the campaign because she wanted to help others understand the type of jobs people with HIV can do and careers advice is often lacking for those diagnosed with HIV.
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‘I have had HIV since 2003 and trying to find a career that didn’t centre on HIV is really hard,’ she said.
‘I am glad someone like me is putting it out there – something I didn’t have when I was diagnosed.’
Helping others was the spur for a nursing career
Ms Griffith, who works for Barts Health NHS Trust, said her employer was supportive of her taking part in the campaign.
She said she wanted to be a nurse because she liked helping others and Terrence Higgins Trust had helped her gain the necessary qualifications and work experience.
Terrence Higgins Trust chief executive Ian Green said effective treatment for HIV people meant people can live a long, healthy life with the virus. 'That also means an HIV diagnosis doesn’t have to stand in the way of you fulfilling your dreams,’ he added.
‘We’re not saying a diagnosis is easy. But we are saying that with the right support along the way for organisations like ours, you can do anything you wanted to do before becoming HIV positive.’
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