First Day at the Blood Bank and Shopping Part 3 - May 16th

                One nice thing about working on the project here at the Blood Bank is that the working day doesn't start until 10  or 10:30am. But that also means that the day doesn't end until 6pm but that isn't too bad either. Anyway, for the first day Ushma came to my room and took me to the blood bank so that she could show me the way. I got a tour of the blood bank and walked through the process of blood donation. It was cool to see how everything works since I'd never really been in a blood bank before. The floor above the blood bank is where the sickle cell clinic, and newborn screening labs are located. I met Riddhima's cousin Daara who also works at the blood bank. The four girls are basically my mentors for the next two weeks showing me the ropes and teaching me about how the program works. They also perform all the lab work necessary. It's a very nice environment and all four girls seem to have known each other since they were in grade school so they are all very close. They're all 25 or 26 and very willing to teach me and answer all my questions.
            I told Dr. Italia that I would like to spend the first few days observing and learning the ropes before I actually start to work on my project. One interesting tidbit that I learned today is that couples that are at high risk for having sickle cell and thalassemia babies are counseled to undergo prenatal diagnosis. They are encouraged to have a CVS taken and if the results show that the baby is positive for disease the parents are actually counseled to terminate the pregnancy. I found that very surprising because it's very different from how other places work. In Gudalur there is no prenatal diagnosis, the doctors and nurses help parents learn how to care for a child with disease.
         The tribal population here is drastically higher than that of Gudalur. They are also technically Adivasis but the term is not used as often as in Gudalur. There are two different projects in Valsad: one is the screening of the entire tribal population for Sickle Cell Disease and the other is a Newborn Screening Program for Sickle Cell and Thalassemia. My focus is going to be on the NBS program but I'm also curious about the numbers for the tribal population screening. The NBS program has been going on for the past two years here in Valsad. Thirty-five babies have been identified with sickle cell disease through the screening. Individuals are given cards to represent their sickle cell status.

 

All yellow indicates disease       Half Yellow and Half White indicates trait

White means no trait or disease

Individuals are supposed to bring the cards with them for hospital visits and to the blood banks so that people know that if a person with sickle cell comes into the emergency room they need immediate attention and certain medication. The sickle cell center at the blood bank provides medication free of charge for all sickle patients so most patients come back every three months for their follow-ups. One drawback of the Valsad center is that they do not provide pneumococcal prophylaxis to children. Apparently the government doesn't see the benefits so they won't agree to fund the vaccination. If they want a full functioning newborn screening program for sickle cell then they should be willing to offer all of the available treatment that is currently available. 

           There is also another doctor (Abhishek) who serves as a social worker and counselor at the blood bank. He has his own medical clinic at home that he works at after his day at the blood bank is over. He helped make a video to encourage parents to have their children tested through the NBS program. The video explains the benefits of NBS and how identifying disease early can help prevent the onset of certain symptoms by administering medication. The blood bank has a number of informational material to help individuals understand the disease and the symptoms associated with it. 

Some of the pamphlets for prenatal diagnosis, symptoms and disease information

            After work today, Riddhima and Daara took me to a jewelry store for some shopping. All of the girls have been sooo nice and helpful. They've made plans to take me to all sorts of places that they would like to show me. Taking me to a jewelry show can be a really bad idea but I actually didn't buy that much. Just a necklace and two bracelets. Maria and her mom wanted bracelets from India so the majority of stuff that I bought was for Maria, her sister and mom :-) Take a look. The jewelry was gorgeous!! An entire store devoted to bangles, earrings and necklaces is my idea of heaven. It reminded of the time that Priya and Divya took me to a jewelry store in Boston that was glorious. 

There are for Maria and her family

 

 

 

 

And these are mine: 

 

 

   

Click on the pictures and you'll get a much better look at the pattern and colors. Especially the necklaces

so maybe it was more than just one necklace and two bracelets now that i look back......but they were soooo much cheaper here then they would have been in Coimbatore. I don't think I'm going to be going to any more jewelry stores for the rest of my time in India. 

       After spending an hour at the store Riddhima dropped me off at the hotel because I was exhausted. I'm getting really good at ordering room service. It's so convenient. I can get into my PJs and have someone deliver me my dinner. I'm getting really good at communicating with the hotel staff with head nodding, saying yes, no, thank you and please because most of them don't speak English and I don't speak Hindi or Gujarati. It works though. They're really nice and they're going to know me really well at the end of the two weeks lol since I'm going to be ordering breakfast everyday and dinner some nights. 

      I couldn't go to sleep at night so I ended up watching Kaavalan. This is my time to catch up on all my Indian movies since that is what I have on my computer and I have no way of catching up on my TV shows from back home. It was actually a decent movie. Different from all of the recent Vijay movies and the ending was an unexpected but pretty good twist.