European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday May 17,1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 her immediate goal to cheat death pharmacist helps patients struggling with cancer by Kaiser Lautem Bureau Lan Stuhl West Germany maj. Marjoric a. Jackson a pharmacist who specializes in administering chemotherapy to cancer patients often fights a losing Battle. I Sec the end More often than i d like to said Jackson the assistant chief of pharmacy at the regional medical Center. That s what makes this Field de the depression has not stopped Jackson from being successful in her work. She is the senior Black female pharmacist in the . Army and is one of Only a handful trained in oncology pharmacy the preparation and administration drugs. Jackson of new Orleans was among the first group of officers to be trained in the Field at Walter Reed army regional medical Center in Washington d.c.,inl984. She is one of about eight to have completed the course and one of Only 14 women among the army s 235 pharmacists. With these achievements behind her Jackson continues to look ahead. My goal in the military is to eventually become the pharmacy consultant to the surgeon general that is the highest position there is in the Field of pharmacy said Jackson who s been in the army for 14 a years. Once i achieve that i am going to try to go further and probably be general of the corps that i m but right now her immediate goal is to cheat death an overwhelm ing task that has made her question her efforts from the Start but never abandon them. During her residency in paediatrics at Walter Reed three of the five child patients in her care died in three months. Then i just said 1 can t do this. I Don t want to do this. This is terrible " Jackson said. But then i realized i had two left and those two were going to be Fine. Those Are the two i had to keep going today she is motivated by a differ ent group of people women with breast cancer. Treating these women at Lan Stuhl involves More than inserting into their arms a Needle attached to a bag full of cancer fighting medication. The treat ment has to include their emotional Well being too. So is your husband going to bring us Back some Crystal from his trip to the Border Jackson asks Brenda har Ville before she injects the chemotherapy drugs into her patient. Harville and other patients appreciate her interest. "1 missed you last time Harville told Jackson. And i was so afraid you would t be Here again this Josette Thurston a cancer patient at Lan Stuhl for six years said when she comes to your room she s already All smiles. She will Tell you to relax and she explains what she s going to do and you can Trust every word she tells members of Lan Stuhl s staff share the patients sentiments about Jackson who s been at the medical Center for two years. She is no doubt the exception rather than the Rule in her profession said or. Mai elder Granger who special izes in blood diseases. Not Only is she available she compassionate and she s concerned about what s going on with the patient As Well As what s going on with the Overall operation of our Jackson said she knows the anguish uncertainty and fear that her patients experience. The Side effects of the treat ment often result in hair loss vomiting and nausea. Jackson explains the effects of the drugs and answers any questions her patients May have. And she tries to allay any fears. You cannot go to them depressed she said. When their hair Falls out you can t go to them when they come i with a Scarf or wig on and say of my god the last thing they want is another depressing face. So when i Sec mrs. Whatever come in. I say of my Good Ness Don t you look Good. How did you tie that Scarf like that " working with her patients is never easy she said. After you see them so often you really begin to love those patients and you can Tell when they re going Down she said. You can Tell before they can. Then you have to say of Marjoric Brace yourself. This person is on the terminal end of their life it require concentration and it requires lots of prayers to god for strength to help you so that you could help people that need and it brings with it lots of tears. I have eone Home on Many Days and before i could get out of the Hospi Tal cars were rolling Jackson said. S&5 photo Daryl Green maj. Marjorie a. Jackson administers chemotherapy to patient a Nadu i Ian ilk. And when 1 get Home 1 just cry. An this is an outlet that you have to allow sometimes however the tears come at joyous occasions. Once Jackson was part of a team treating a Young preg Nant woman. We could not treat her until after her first trimester of preg Nancy due to the effects of the drugs and we took her through her pregnancy and she delivered a healthy baby boy Jackson said. And at that moment she said Cap Tain Jackson look. Here you hold him and i took John in my arms and it was like this is my baby too. And tears were in mom s eyes and my Only carried her through another year and then she died. But we got her to give another Jackson is certain that there Willcome a time when babies no longer will lose their mothers or fathers to cancer. I know a cure for cancer is going to be found and it s going to happen in my lifetime she said. It just has aids misdiagnosis leaves Man s life in shreds chill1cothe, Ohio a a Man who was wrongly diagnosed As having aids says the error Cost him his Job his Home and his Girlfriend and nearly led him to suicide. Michael Peoples 34, believed for 12 Days that he had aids because of a mix up in the Laboratory at the veterans administration Hospital and Learned the truth on March 7, the same Day he said he had re solved to kill himself. A lab technician assigned the same number to two patients Hospital spokesman Craig Koller said Mon Day. We regret it very much. It s something we acknowledge took place and we re very concerned Peoples said he now lives in a Columbus shelter for the homeless since his Girlfriend kicked him out and he lost his Job. Peoples told the Columbus dispatch he was notified feb. 23 he had aids. He said he was so depressed by the diagnosis that i wrote a suicide note and decided i was going to carry it out the Day before my birthday March 8 Koller said the Hospital was trying to Contact peo Ples and his employer a temporary service company where he tagged shipping crates As Well As contacting his Girlfriend to help rectify Koller said the lab technician probably will not be punished. It was an error that was caught and rectified he said. The procedure that allowed this to happen was investigated and subsequently revised. I would say this is a very rare occurrence. It has never happened before. Our lab service close to 2 million lab tests a Koller would neither confirm nor deny Peoples claim that a doctor at the Hospital told Peoples sister and son about the aids diagnosis before the error was caught and before Peoples could Tell them himself. It is against All of our policies and procedures to give out such information to anyone other than the patient Koller said. Peoples who had entered the Hospital for treatment of alcoholism told the newspaper that before the error was corrected his former Fiancee called his employer believing she had been exposed to the virus. Peoples said his employer did not admit that the aids diagnosis had Cost him his Job telling him Only that the Job had been filled while he was in the Hospi Tal. The newspaper did not identify Peoples former employer his former Fiancee or his Girlfriend
