TB Notes Newsletter
No.
3, 2007
TB EDUCATION AND
TRAINING NETWORK UPDATES
Member Highlight
Patty Puppet is a First Nations and Inuit Health (FNIH) TB
Educator for the Manitoba region of
Canada. She became a TB educator
after being diagnosed with active TB disease. Patty is very
knowledgeable about TB and educational methodology and was
well-trained by the staff at FNIH.
 Patty comes from
Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was made by Patient
Puppets, Inc. to help teach people about TB. Miss Puppet has been so
successful at her job that more TB puppets are going to be made and
given to various nursing stations in the region. Some interesting
facts about Patty: she has TB disease although she was vaccinated;
if you look on her left shoulder you can still see her BCG scar; and
she has a big red bump on her arm showing her positive TB skin test
reaction. Patty was diagnosed with active TB disease after having a
chest x-ray and a gastric wash. When she opens her chest flap, you
can see swollen lymph nodes and a cavity in her lungs. If you
examine her really closely, you will see a small amount of pleural
fluid in the lower region of her right lung. Currently Patty only
has to take her TB medication 2 days a week. Children enjoy watching
her take her medicine because there is a small pocket at the back of
her mouth that enables the pills to disappear when she swallows
them.
If you’d like to join Patty as a TB
ETN member and take advantage of all TB
ETN has to offer, please send an e-mail requesting a TB
ETN registration form to
tbetn@cdc.gov. The
TB
ETN
registration form
(PDF) is
also available online .
You can also
send a request by
fax to
(404)
639-8960
or by mail
to
TB ETN, CEBSB, DTBE, CDC,
1600
Clifton Rd., N.E., MS E10,
Atlanta, Georgia 30333.
Please visit TBETN if you
would like additional information.
—
By Jeuneviette Bontemps-Jones,
MPH, CHES
Div of TB Elimination
Cultural Competency Subcommittee Update
The Cultural Competency Workgroup held its second special topics
discussion on “TB in the African American Community” during
its February 2007 monthly workgroup call. Ken Johnson, a TB Program
Coordinator from Fulton
County, Georgia,
and Pamela Lamptey, a High-Risk Project Leader from the TB
Prevention and Control Program of the Chicago Department of Public
Health, were invited to facilitate the discussion and share their
experiences from the field. The goal was to learn about and discuss
TB control and prevention efforts in the African-American community
and share resources.
Workgroup member Valerie Gunn, from the NJ Medical School (NJMS)
Global TB Institute, opened the discussion by describing an
interview she had conducted with Dr. Reynard McDonald, medical
director of the NJMS Global TB Institute. Valerie shared with the
group Dr. McDonald’s opinions on TB in African Americans as a doctor
in a predominantly black community and as a black physician.
Ken then discussed some of the statistics of
Fulton
County, and shared what the County has done to reduce
the burden of TB in blacks. In particular, Ken discussed the role of
stigma in the diagnosis and treatment of TB and ways that the TB
program in Fulton
County has worked around this. Ken’s take-home message
was that it all goes back to educating the patient and family, and
in the process reducing stigma, identifying contacts, and ensuring
treatment completion. Ken reinforced the idea that, as with all
communities, compassion and respect are crucial components in
developing trust within the African-American community.
Pamela also shared her experience working with the
African-American community in
Chicago. She began by saying that her focus is on increasing
education and community awareness about TB. Pamela talked about her
work with nontraditional partners such as owners or staff of
business storefronts, daycare centers, coffee shops, and public
libraries, to get the word out about TB.
More than 30 workgroup members participated in the discussion,
and a lively dialogue ensued about ways TB control staff can better
serve the African-American community. Dr. Cornelia White of DTBE
encouraged all TB ETN members to visit
the TB in African Americans website, to join
the Stop TB in the African-American Community listserv, view the
TB Challenge: Partnering to Eliminate TB in African Americans
newsletter, and access additional resources.
—Submitted by Kristina
L. Ottenwess,
MPH
Training Specialist
Southeastern National TB Center
University of Florida
Cultural Competency Tip
“If we were to reduce the six steps of culturally informed care to
one activity that even the busiest clinician should be able to find
time to do, it would be to routinely ask patients (and where
appropriate family members) what matters most to them in the
experience of illness and treatment.“
Kleinman A, Benson P. Anthropology in the clinic: the problem of
cultural competency and how to fix it. PLoS Med 2006; 3(10):
e294.
Last Reviewed: 05/18/2008
Content Source: Division of Tuberculosis Elimination
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
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