KAREN: Can you give an example of some of that, what you have to go through?

JESSIE: It's hard for a lot of them to watch someone die in front of you. A lot of it, I know, for some of the ones that I've worked with -- I've worked with many health aides, and many doctors, and many supervisors. 

But, I know one health aide that quit because she couldn't take -- There was a little girl that they brought into the clinic where they said that she had had flu-like symptoms. And, then they brought her in because they couldn't wake her. But, I think by the time that brought her in she was already gone.

But, this one health aide, being new, she tried -- we started CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), we started CPR.  And, we had a clinical director there then and we tried to do IV's -- to get that going.  Back then, they used to believe in doing CPR until you can't do it anymore. 

The helicopter came and took her, but I believe that girl was already gone.  But the health aide that was doing the CPR, she went in with the helicopter to keep -- But, it seemed to me like after that she had a hard time being --.  You know, things like that. And then -- Things that they have to take from the people back home.  I don't know, they seem to think that health aides are miracle workers. 

And then we have to take a lot of flack from a lot of people.  You have to be able to let things slide when you work in the health profession, being at home.  Because you get called down for -- If they don't pull through, it's like you get blamed. 

Because I remember that time when the little girl, too, that passed away on us.  She was home when that happened.  When they brought her to the clinic, they had called us the day before at the clinic and asked -- The question they asked us was, what do you do for someone that has the flu, vomiting. Fever and vomiting.  And then you give them, the Patient Ed over the phone.

And, I was the one that answered and told them what we were taught.  Tell them nothing by mouth for one or two hours.  All those. But the next -- and then I told them who was on-call if they should need them.  But they thought she had just had the flu that was going around at the time.  It ended up she had gotten -- very rare to get it but she did. Encephalitis.

KAREN: Is that like inflammation of the brain?

JESSIE: Yes.  And, they told us by then that even if she was near a hospital she probably would not have made it.  If she did, she would be like a living vegetable. I went down to -- in small villages you go to different places to try to support the families, console them.

I had to listen to: “Those people in the clinic, they don't know what they're doing.  They should have seen her.” Well, that was after Barbara had left. “If Barbara were here, she would have known what to do.” Anyway, things like that, it is hard for a lot to put up with.