MEET OUR GRADUATES: Alex Ramos, Sickle Cell Advocate

Since he was a little bit boy, Alexander Ramos dreamt of turning into a police officer. But when he misplaced sight in one eye after suffering two strokes, he had to place an finish to that dream. On the time, he was in highschool and the strokes have been introduced on by a genetic disorder - sickle cell anemia. This may Ramos will likely be graduating from Rhode Island College with a B.A. Though his dream of being an officer ended, his love for the authorized field remained. On the recent Cap and Gown ceremony at RIC, Ramos was honored with the Maryann Hawkes Award in Justice Studies in recognition of his wonderful GPA and his advocacy round bettering the quality of care for individuals with sickle cell anemia. People with sickle cell anemia have abnormal crimson blood cells. Instead of being round, the cells are crescent-formed or sickle-formed and carry less oxygen than typical red blood cells.



These cells are more exhausting and sticky and don’t move as easily and smoothly via the blood vessels, which can result in blockages. When the blood movement is blocked, it brings on extreme pain or BloodVitals experience what is named sickle cell crisis. "These crises had been pretty frequent for me," he says. However it wasn’t till his sophomore year at Rhode Island BloodVitals monitor College that Ramos started advocating for patients like himself. Ramos desires that to alter. There’s also a lack of sensitivity in emergency rooms towards individuals having a sickle cell crisis, he says. Episodes of severe ache are a major home SPO2 device symptom of sickle cell anemia. The pain can be sharp, stabbing, intense, or throbbing and may affect any a part of the body. It could actually last from a couple of hours to some days. "But when sickle cell patients visit emergency rooms they’re usually accused of being drug seekers," he says. As a consequence, they expertise lengthy wait instances.



Ramos recalls once arriving at the ER at noon and never being handled until two within the morning. Two years in the past he joined the Rhode Island BloodVitals experience Sickle Cell Patient Action Committee (PAC). "We’re a bunch of sickle cell patients who're advocating for change within the Rhode Island healthcare system and, by extension, the nationwide healthcare system," he says. "A few years in the past when the group was getting started, I took Professor Mikaila Arthur’s "Disability and Justice" class and did a undertaking where I created a call-to-motion letter addressed to Lifespan, which is now Brown University Health. It described the problems patients have been having within the ER. I urged methods to improve care for patients. I sought PAC’s assist in drafting the letter. The response was optimistic. "Since then, there have been reviews from patients both in and out of doors of PAC who've reported better care," he says. "I myself have seen improvements in things like wait occasions.