“ The humanistic approach of creating a warm, supportive and welcoming environment of care by the medical workers is a major factor in encouraging patients with HIV-AIDS to come out in the open and be treated.”  

This was shared by BS Nursing (BSN) Batch 2013 student, Karyl Gebeck, after participating in the first Nursing Development Program of the College of Nursing that featured HIV-AIDS research expert, Dr. Jessica Scott Jerome.  Dr. Jerome’s latest work on “Perinatal HIV/AIDS in Brazil and the US: Human Rights Based Approach to Health Policy”  was presented to around three hundred BSN and BS Psychology students and  faculty members of Southville International School and Colleges (SISC) last June 10, 2010.

Dr Jessica Scott Jerome, an anthropologist educated at The University of California at Berkeley and University of Chicago, is the author of several publications on HIV-AIDS.  Dr. Scott shared the results of her recent scholarly work that studied and compared experiences of two populations of low-income mothers with HIV treatment and care in Fortaleza, a city in Northeastern Brazil, and in Chicago, Illinois.  This same study has recently been presented at Yale University.

First among the Nursing Development series program for Academic Year 2010-2011, the talk was opened by Dean Carmel Villegas who strongly believes in developing nursing students to be life-long learners. She envisions the students to be well-informed future professionals beyond the field of nursing.  Dr Clyde Rivadulla set the tone of the talk by defining and describing HIV AIDS, complete with vivid pictures.  The many questions raised by nursing students from all levels during the open forum and the learning points highlighted by Ms. Marge Tangog, SISC’s VP for Academics and Research, proved that, indeed, this unique learning venue is a success.  The officers of Southville International Organization of Nurses (SION) headed by Nick Montemayor lauded the activity and said “meetings like this inspire students to pursue global updates in new fields and motivate us to better our research.”

More talks to be delivered by experts from here and around the world such as the latest in health developments and technology including stem cell research, spirit of community volunteerism, and environmental conservation program presentations are already lined up.  For inquiries about the upcoming events, please call The Nursing Department at 825-6374 loc 125 and look for Susan Agustin.