. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Nov 29.

Published in final edited form as: AIDS Care. 2009 Oct;21(10):1313–1320. doi: 10.1080/09540120902803174

Table 3.

Participant quotations about referral from their primary care physician to HIV care after diagnosis and the importance of their first clinical visit for HIV care.

Participant Quotations
“At that point he [primary provider] completely said ‘well, I have no idea what to do. I’m going to try and get you an appointment at the hospital, but you are very sick and you need help immediately.’ And that was absolutely terrifying to me.” “He’s always like, ‘well, there ain’t nothing I can do for you…but give you a referral.’” “I was really scared, and I said, am I dying? …She looked at me and said, ‘Look. HIV is not a death sentence anymore if you take care of yourself.’ And that, I live by that now.” “I went in thinking that it was like a death sentence and I came out thinking, oh wow, my doctor rocks, you know? … To talk to someone who knew what they were talking about for a change. Someone that I understood and someone that knew all the treatments and knew exactly where I was and things like that. I mean I walked out ten times the person that I was, you know. I think I probably walked in looking at the floor and walked out looking at eye level.” “When I first came up here, not knowing what a CD4 count or none of that is, when I come up here I find out my CD4 count, a normal person’s is supposed to be high, I found out mine is under 100, you know, and it’s like that’s a risk of AIDS right there already, and it was really scary. But then once I came in here and talked to [physician], [I] was a lot more relieved. It was a lot easier when I walked out the door.”

Participant Quotations

“At that point he [primary provider] completely said ‘well, I have no idea what to do. I’m going to try and get you an appointment at the hospital, but you are very sick and you need help immediately.’ And that was absolutely terrifying to me.”
“He’s always like, ‘well, there ain’t nothing I can do for you…but give you a referral.’”
“I was really scared, and I said, am I dying? …She looked at me and said, ‘Look. HIV is not a death sentence anymore if you take care of yourself.’ And that, I live by that now.”
“I went in thinking that it was like a death sentence and I came out thinking, oh wow, my doctor rocks, you know? … To talk to someone who knew what they were talking about for a change. Someone that I understood and someone that knew all the treatments and knew exactly where I was and things like that. I mean I walked out ten times the person that I was, you know. I think I probably walked in looking at the floor and walked out looking at eye level.”
“When I first came up here, not knowing what a CD4 count or none of that is, when I come up here I find out my CD4 count, a normal person’s is supposed to be high, I found out mine is under 100, you know, and it’s like that’s a risk of AIDS right there already, and it was really scary. But then once I came in here and talked to [physician], [I] was a lot more relieved. It was a lot easier when I walked out the door.”