By Rob Renzi, Big Bend Cares Executive Director
Tallahassee Democrat, Monday, December 1, 2008 — This year, World AIDS Day, today, is falling on a Monday and I cannot help but think of a typical Monday morning at Big Bend Cares. Every Monday morning, I go to work quite early, and on far too many of these mornings, I see a lone car in our parking lot. A student, usually upset, greets me anxiously, waiting for us to open, desperately wanting to be tested for HIV/AIDS and needing me, or one of our staff members, to say that everything will be OK. If only it were that easy.
The fact is, HIV/AIDS is still prevalent in the Tallahassee area. I don't need statistics to tell me that, because I see it every day. But I will give you some statistics:
In every month of every year, Big Bend Cares enrolls 10 to 15 new clients into care for HIV/AIDS. Some clients are recently diagnosed, some are seeking treatment after long absences, some are new to the area and, yes, some are college students. Local data show more than 1,000 people in this community infected with HIV/AIDS, and more than 70 percent of those cases are in the black community. However, this data reflect only those receiving services from the Ryan White Care Act. The sad fact is there are many others who are infected but do not know their status, and others who are not receiving care at all.
World AIDS Day is for remembrance — to remember those who have been lost to this awful disease, and to remember those who live each day with the pain and stigma of HIV/AIDS. Most importantly, this is a day to remember that every person infected is someone's mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son or friend, and that these families are just as much affected as the person infected with the disease.
For the people serving in this field of work, World AIDS Day is a call for action — for people of all ages, from high-school students to senior citizens, to take personal responsibility for their health and to be tested. It is your obligation to know your HIV status. If you are infected, get treatment; and if you are not, stay that way by practicing safe sex — every time.
So, to the college student shivering in the cold, waiting nervously for Big Bend Cares to open on Monday morning, we do sympathize with you, but sympathy will not change the reality. That reality is, in most cases, your HIV test will be negative, and although you are elated by that news, the following discussion is difficult to hear. We watch your face drop as we explain that this test, or even the next 90 days, cannot absolve you for what happened over the weekend. We explain that it takes months for the antibodies we test for to have increased enough to be detectable. To be 100-percent sure, you need to be retested in six months — and you should never expose yourself or others by having unprotected sex.
On this World AIDS Day, I ask you to remember all of those people we have lost to HIV/AIDS. I ask you to empathize and reach out to those infected with this disease. I ask you to educate everyone you can to protect them from being infected, and most importantly, I ask you to take action to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
Get tested.
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