Comprehensive Care Hemophilia

3Comprehensive Carefor HemophiliaSocial WorkerMost families of children with hemophilia meet the social workerwhen they first learn of the diagnosis. The social worker’s job is tohelp parents, siblings and the child himself deal with thepsychological, social and potentially even financial impacts thathemophilia can have on their lives.One of the early issues that you will face is deciding how much toprotect your child. As your child gets older, other issues may comeup such as how to train a babysitter and whether or not bothparents should work outside the home. Discuss your concernswith the HTC social worker, who can help you find solutions.■3-10Pain Management in HemophiliaIn various ways, all members of the core team are involved inthe management of different aspects of pain. The person withhemophilia, and his parents in the case of a young child, areat the centre of the process.• The nurse coordinator ensures that pain is assessed andtreated by the appropriate team member.• The hematologist develops a management plan for bothacute and chronic pain, which may include medications.• The physiotherapist makes recommendations fortreating acute or chronic pain, with the overall goalbeing to prevent secondary complications such as tightmuscles or reduced joint mobility.• The social worker helps individuals and families livingwith hemophilia manage the complications that occurdue to pain, and deal with related physical orpsychosocial challenges to improve overall functioningand social well-being.“We need thesupport andguidance of doctorswe didn’t expect toneed. Our son hassevere arthritis inhis ankle due torepeat bleeds. He isunder the care ofseveral specialists atthe clinic and he isdoing great, nowthat he takes anarthritis medication.I feel good that he isbeing monitored.”All AboutHemophiliaAGuideforFamilies