Searchlight Vol. 3, no. 1

SEARCH People
Nurse Makes Time For Research And People
by Raymond T Borst, Editor

The clinical trials that SEARCHAlliance facilitates
are developed and managed by participating
physicians and medical department staff
However, these trials also require a great many
hours to accurately track results,
including the initial and followup lab work, patient consultations and data entry. With
patients located all over the
greater LosAngeles area, it would
be impossible for the small
SEARCHAlliance staff to f
collect all the results of
a study without the
volunteer help of doc- /
tors, nurses and
medical personnel.
SEARCHAlliance
has been fortunate to have a
core ofpeopie who
specialize in HIV/AIDS treatment in practice
throughout the city who have consistently assisted
with SFARCH clinical trials. This article focuses
on one of these dedicated volunteers.
Some people seem to have an inherent passion for
their work, while others develop that passion
through some personal experience. Robert Granado
did not become a nurse until he was 30, after he was
in a severe accident that broke his neck, forcing him
into a protracted hospital stay. For a while it seemed
that Granado would be permanently paralyzed, but
with therapy he recovered. In the hospital some of
the nurses treated him and other patients badly. "I
became a nurse because I wanted to help people,
and because of the way I was treated by the nurses
when I was in the hospital," he said. "I said to
myself, 'Someday I will be a nurse and treat people
the way they should be treated."' He gives God credit for his survival and for putting him in a place
where he can be of service to people with HIV/AIDS.
"I believe God wanted me to walk; God wanted me
to live," he said. "I feel like God put me in the hospital for a reason. Now I feel like I am more useful
to other people then I was before."
For SEARCH Alliance's recent trial of human growth
hormone (hGH), Granado monitored nine patients
on a weekly basis. He manages his involvement in
SEARCH trials and still completes his regular patient
care by doing the trial work on his own time-usu
ally early in the morning. This helps him keep to his
schedule, and usually accommodates people on trials who like to come in and get their blood drawn
and check-up before they go to work. For hGH
monitoring, Granado would see trial participants
starting at 7:00 A.M., begin seeing regular patients at
9:00 A.M., and squeeze all the paperwork associated
with the trial somewhere in between. Granado
doesn't complain. "The lab work for hGH required
17 tubes of blood, so the trial was really heavy duty
for the patients," he said. He has been involved
with monitoring patients and collecting
research results on several other SEARCH
Xlliance clinical trials including cimetidine
(Tagamet) and oral alpha interferon.
Granado first began volunteering his time
almost three years ago while working for
SEARCH Alliance President, Dr. Paul
Rothman. When Rothman retired from medical practice, Granado stayed involved with
SEARCH Alliance because of his affinity for
Rothman and because he believes in the SEARCH
approach to clinical trials. "Doing research with
SEARCH Alliance I feel like I am doing more than if I
am involved with trials for drug companies who are
primarily doing research to make money," Granado
said. "I try and help with trials and see if something
is going to work and help patients."
Granado attends SEARCH Alliance Medical Review
Board meetings to keep in touch with what is going
on at SEARCH Alliance. It also comes in handy
because patients know he is involved with SEARCH
Alliance and frequently question him
about clinical trials.
"People are always
asking me about the
trials-how they are
going and if something is working.
They want to know if
they should try a drug
or go on a study," he
said. "I tell them to
talk to their doctor,
but patients like to
talk to their nurses
first-and frequently
they will talk to a
nurse more then they Holiday revelers celebrate th
will talk to their doc- December 6th party honorin

tor-because they are comfortable asking the nurses what they think." Granado said he gets the most
questions from those people who were initially interested in a trial but then didn't enroll either out of
apprehension or because they do not fit the enrollment criteria. "In the middle of a trial people want
to know about other patients--if T cells are going
up; how people are doing. After a trial is over they
are always asking about the results."
Although Granado refers patients to their doctors or to
SEARCH Alliance for study results, he said it is common for nurses to get close to patients because in HIV
medicine people have regular check-ups and are frequently in the office. "Patients tell me their problems,
how things are going," he said. Granado responds in
kind. "I try to make a person's visit to the doctor as
pleasant as it can be," he said. "I always try to make
sure that they smile before they leave."
Granado believes people with HIV/AIDS are willing
to be involved in research projects because they
want to do what is good for them and good for the
cause. "They want to be able to help find a cure,
even if they are only helping a little bit," he said.
Although he has opportunities to become involved in
other clinical trials Granado chooses not to. "I don't
volunteer with other groups because they are not
SEARCH Alliance," he said. Granado intends to stay
involved with the clinical trials at SEARCH Alliance.
"Maybe something will happen-maybe SEARCH
will find something that really works for people."

e spirit ofcompassion at Dr. Anthony Scarsella's
g LosAngeles nurses who serve the HIV/AIDS community.

Q Q El E El El

0 E El El El SEARCHLIGHT January/February,1993

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