In Loving Memory of the early pioneer in the care of patients with AIDS
When the Mildmay Mission Hospital in east London began accepting patients with HIV/AIDS in the 1980s little was known about the disease. Diagnosis was a certain death sentence and there was no treatment, only symptom relief.
However, Veronica Moss, the Christian hospital’s medical director, said she felt a calling and soon developed vast expertise in treating the disease, whose complications included bacterial pneumonia, Kaposi’s sarcoma, and stomach problems.
The disease was dubbed the “gay plague” by the tabloid press and there was little understanding of how it was spread. Medical staff wore full protective clothing when treating patients and ambulance staff often refused to transport them.
Moss, the daughter of missionaries, told the Church Times in 2007 that the first few years were tough.
“We received opposition from all quarters. People hurled stones and bottles at our windows, and at the patients as well, and gave us constant verbal abuse,” she said.
Some of the hospital’s supporters were horrified that it had taken on this cohort of patients and some gay people were suspicious of the charity’s motives. One wrote, “We know that your only agenda will be to put pressure on us to convert and stop being gay.”
Moss worked hard to understand the disease and how best to relieve patients’ symptoms. She and her team spent a……………..
