Stories from the field
Our field staff visit families in their homes to stop TB before it spreads. They sit down, talk through how TB is passed on, screen for symptoms, and connect people to testing and treatment, then follow up to make sure no one is left behind.
The stories below come from these visits: the families we've met and the lives we've touched along the way.
The words are from our field staff edited for flow and clarity.
I visited a slum in Islamabad where eight family members shared a single, cramped room. The room was small, but the problems were very big. When TB took away the father and son's ability to work, the family's biggest worry was their two youngest, a 9-month-old and a 2-year-old.
When I visited, I screened both children, connected the family with a doctor through telemedicine, and they received preventive treatment without leaving home. The relief on their faces said everything.
Door-to-door screening doesn't just find disease early; it reaches the families who can't afford to come to us.
When a woman was diagnosed with pulmonary TB, she came to meet me with her husband. As we talked through the family's history, I learned that two of her four children were under five, and very close to both parents, which put them at real risk.
Her husband was deaf and communicated through sign language. He was anxious, unsure of what was happening and why no one was explaining it to him. I know sign language, so I was able to speak with him directly. His face changed at once. He was happy, and he told me that very few people take the time to understand him or explain things to him clearly....
A young woman came to us with pulmonary TB, and her family was already living on the edge. They rented their home, money was short, and the rent hadn't been paid. When the landlord found out about the TB, he asked them to leave. Frightened for her two-year-old grandson, the patient's mother had already sent the little boy to relatives for safety. She came to the hospital on foot, because she had no money for transport, and the worry on her face said everything.I told her not to lose hope, and I offered to go with her right then to screen the child.
A big thank you to our field staff for sharing these stories with us!