Fifty-five year old Geoffrey Sikana married with four children lives in Kuku Compound in Lusaka. After continuous illness without being tested, Geoffrey's relatives started to discriminate against him. "I was discriminated against by my relatives but my mother in-law took us to her house and fed us".
While living with his mother in law, Geoffrey became sick. "I had serious chest pain, breathlessness and difficulties in passing urine" says Geoffrey. Due to lack of finances, Geoffrey was not able to get medical attention. "This made me seriously sick losing sensation on the right side of my body leaving me unable to feed and walk", he says.
Geoffrey became very ill and depressed until a community volunteer caregiver told him about Jon Hospice. The caregiver informed the outreach team about Geoffrey. "When the team visited me, they told me about the palliative care services offered at Jon Hospice funded by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and I was immediately referred for admission".
At the hospice, Geoffrey was counselled and tested for HIV; the Clinician also referred him to a private Clinic for chest X-ray and Kamwala government Clinic for Sputum investigations. Both results were positive and Geoffrey was commenced on Tuberculosis treatment and later ART. "I was seriously ill and my CD4 count was 15. The hospice gave me medicines regularly, good nutritious food, love which helped me get better and I was later discharged". The outreach team has continued visiting Geoffrey who has since gone back to his home, working as a driver and able to earn a living through his monthly salary. He says "My family will ever be grateful for the care and support that I received from the hospice as they put life in my days and not just days in my life".