You Can Make My Job Easier*
By Dr. Reed Tuckman
As the Commissioner of Public Health for a major city, I have a responsibility to provide leadership in developing and implementing the public policy response to [the AIDS] epidemic. As a citizen, I share with every other American the responsibility to protect my own individual health and to participate in an informed and compassionate manner in the shaping of our collective local, state, and national behavior.
Ultimately, our success will depend heavily on cooperation between the American people and the professional public health community. As one of those public health professionals, I’d like to suggest ways that you can make it easier for people like me to do our jobs during this emergency.
You should learn the facts about how AIDS is transmitted and how it is not transmitted. It is tragic to lose lives because of ignorance and misinformation. It is equally tragic for us to make incorrect choices that harm others because of this same ignorance and misinformation.
Share that knowledge with your family and community. Invite public health professionals to address your church and other organizations. Parents have a special responsibility to talk with their children and advise them about the consequences of their behavior in a manner that is sensitive to both the child’s age and the family’s values.
Many cities need community-based treatment centers for drug users and homes for persons with AIDS who cannot care for themselves but don’t need to be hospitalized. It is difficult enough to provide such services without having to face neighborhood opposition. This is a critical moment in the history of this country; it is time to draw together, not push each other away.
Beware of any discriminatory actions directed against persons with AIDS or persons who are infected with the virus. If people are concerned that their [infected] status could result in the loss of their home or income, could cause their child to be denied access to an education, or could subject them to the scorn of their neighbors, then people at risk will be reluctant to cooperate with the public health system.
Many communities need volunteers to assist in AIDS-related work. Offering help with simple chores such as shopping or housecleaning could be of enormous benefits to the person with AIDS and to the community in general.
Finally, too many babies born to infected mothers are condemned to confinement in our nation’s hospitals. We need foster parents and other people of good will to volunteer to care for these precious little lives.
When the history of our time is written, let America be proud that we responded to our challenges in a competent and compassionate manner. Let it record the collective effort of a society that expressed the noblest qualities of its civilization.
* This article appeared in a book You can do something about AIDS which was first published in 1988.
Summary of You can make my job easier
Dr. Reed Tuckman’s essay, “You can make my job easier”, which is included in You can do something about AIDS (1988), makes several suggestions about what people can do to help in the war against AIDS. People should not only learn how AIDS is or is not transmitted, says Tuckman, but they should also share that information with their family and community with the help of public health professionals. People should also recognize the need for community-based treatment centers for drug users and AIDS victims who do not need hospitalization. Just as importantly, people can be aware of discriminatory actions that would threaten infected persons and keep them from cooperating with the public health system. Tuckman urges his readers to be volunteers to assist in AIDS-related work, even to care for the numerous babies that are infected with the disease. If Americans do these things, Tuckman believes that they will meet the challenge of AIDS “in a competent and compassionate manner.”
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