By Mia Stephens

Pain and chronic fatigue are two well-known challenges for patients with sickle cell disease. And those two often lead to a third: employment stability.

On Sept. 17, and coinciding with National Sickle Cell Awareness Month, VCU Health held its Second Annual Transition Career Fair, focusing on patients ages 17-30 who are affiliated with Sickle Cell Disease Program. The purpose of targeting this age group centers around the vulnerability of patients at this age, and ensuring they know there are career opportunities for them. The highest mortality rate for patients with sickle cell disease falls within this age group.

“Being able to host an event like this, for the patients, gives us a place where we feel like people will understand us, because they know what’s going on in our lives and our condition,” said Tej Powell, a patient in the VCU Health’s sickle cell disease program. “It helps us to make those connections that maybe we feel like we can’t make or are too scared to.”

The career fair, held in the Adult Outpatient Pavilion offered on-site job interviews, mock interviews to develop skills, resume development, career counseling and fashion advice for the job search process. Some of the patients, who are consignment artists, were also invited to display and sell their art to attendees.

Pain management is a major obstacle for sickle patients seeking employment or vocational opportunities. If they are faced with an unexpected health crisis that might result in a visit to the emergency room or hospital admission, their employer might not understand the severity of the disease.

“Patients oftentimes experience chronic fatigue, so even if you take away the pain, the fatigue will still exist, which directly impacts their ability to get employed and stay employed,” added Thokozeni Lipato, M.D., assistant professor and infusion center medical director of the Sickle Cell Disease Program. “Having a job fair at the center where patients get their health care is important because they’re already used to coming here. They already trust us as a program, and this is another service and opportunity that we can offer them.”

Wally Smith, M.D., program director, says the fair is an opportunity to also educate vendors about sickle cell disease and the condition’s impact on potential employees. (Tom Kojcsich, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

This is the second year, the program partnered with the Better Business Bureau to invite local vendors to not only connect with patients but learn more about the disease.

“I think the vendors being here learning about the disease is as much of an education and a service to the community as the patients coming and getting a job,” said Wally Smith, M.D., program director and Florence Neil Cooper Smith Professor of sickle cell disease.

For Powell, employers’ understanding and support is a critical component of job success.

“It's important for employers to understand that sickle cell patients may have special needs, but we are just as hardworking and dedicated as others; if not more so because we have seen first-hand the determination and persistence it takes to not only get healthy and stay healthy, but to create a self-sustainable and independent life worth living.”

More than a dozen vendors attended the career fair including Brightpoint Community College, The Liberty Group, American Red Cross, FedEx, Mr. Fix-It and Aerotek, a recruitment and staff agency. Chris Grubbs, recruiter lead from Aerotek, heard about the event though his mother-in-law, an oncology nurse at VCU Health – and was thrilled to help patients find their next employment opportunity.

“Our motto is, our people are everything – and our people are our people that we hire,” Grubbs said. “I just want to get to know people’s stories here and then call them later and really just see what I can do to help – either find them a long-term career or even something short-term.”

For program manager Shirley Johnson, LSW, that attitude is crucial among employers.

“By them coming here – meeting our team and hearing stories about successful patient experiences and just seeing how our patients are at different levels of their disease – I think when they go to hire them, they’ll be more empathetic to understand that they’re going to give 110% when they’re there,” she said.

Smith noted that stable employment is a crucial element of overall health for sickle cell patients.

“It is important for patients to not only think of health just related to the body,” he said. “Getting people psychosocially ready to manage their disease and to live a life that’s productive is just as important to their health as teaching them how to take their medicine.”

Reflecting that ongoing commitment, the VCU Health team plans to host future career fairs each September. Powell hopes sickle cell patients like him will benefit from the deepening engagement between the program and employers.

“I recently graduated college, and it’s still difficult finding a job that would help advance my career in any kind of way,” Powell said. “This program is something really special because it has something just for us within our reach, so patients like myself feel like we’re included and that we have a voice.”

VCU Health’s team of sickle cell disease experts provides comprehensive care and services to support individuals living with the disease. (Tom Kojcsich, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)