Patient Advocates
Vanessa Carter - Patient Advocate for Antimicrobial Resistance
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Vanessa Carter has become integral to the link between healthcare professionals and public understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). She is an Antibiotic Resistance and One Health activist, and is the founder of Health Communication and Social Media South Africa (hcsmSA).
Following a very serious car accident in 2004, Vanessa underwent extensive facial surgeries, ranging from cosmetic to reconstructive to craniofacial and more. She describes the difficulty imposed on her to research and organise these various required surgeries, without the medical background to understand the terms, but with the pressure of knowing that complications could arise if the areas of surgeries overlapped. Trying to coordinate communication between the super specialists, who were providing conflicting advice, proved to be incredibly difficult.
Following 6 years of failing surgeries, Vanessa contracted a serious MRSA infection. The superbug MRSA was resistant to the penicillin antibiotics she was taking. An investigation showed that next to a colonised prosthetic, taking antibiotics in the way she had may have contributed to further complications due to the antibiotics feeding the resistance of the MRSA. She eventually found help from the right experts, and after removing the infected prosthetic and rotating antibiotics, her final surgeries were successful after a 3 year battle with MRSA.
Since her infection, she educated herself on the nature of bacteria, antibiotics and antibiotic resistance as well as infection care. Next to infection control, one of the main causes of antibiotic resistance is antibiotic use, and throughout her journey of facial reconstruction, Vanessa found a staggering lack of access to information for patients. The frustration of knowing that she could have potentially made a difference to her own recovery by being given this information has led to her passionate advocating for patient knowledge, and the inclusion of patients in the broader medical conversation. After all- most antibiotic use is dictated by the behaviour of patients, therefore it is imperative to provide as much information as possible to the wider population in order to reduce antibiotic resistance.
Read more about Vanessa’s story here: https://vanessacarter.co.za/
Sources
YouTube: Stanford Medicine X 2017: Medicine X Story of Impact, Vanessa Carter