AIDS crisis improving, but not solved
Published 12:01 am Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The place was quiet. Even at lunchtime on a weekday, no one walked past the AIDS Memorial of Snohomish County.
Someone had been there recently. Fresh flowers placed at the monument paid homage Tuesday to people lost to the disease. Someone remembered.
Dedicated Dec. 1, 2005 — World AI
DS Day — the monument is on the county campus below the clock of the old Mission Building. It faces Everett’s Wetmore Avenue, away from courthouse foot traffic.
The marker, with a bronze plaque and two columns, delivers a poignant message: “We remember our friends and family lost to AIDS. We honor your struggles, your lives, and your memory.” Still, it looks a bit forgotten. It’s largely out of sight.
That might also be said of AIDS.
It was 30 years ago this month, on June 5, 1981, that the federal Centers for Disease Control first reported on the cases of five young men, all gay, treated in Los Angeles hospitals for a type of pneumonia usually linked to patients with severely suppressed immune systems. Two had died.
That was early warning of what became the AIDS crisis. According to The New York Times, 60 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and half of them have died since 1981.
Kevin McCollum-Blair, 46, remembers the worst of times, when treatment could not prevent death. The Everett man was in the military in 1987 when he learned he was HIV-positive. Recently, he had all his blood work done. “My virus is nondetectable,” he said.
McCollum-Blair was among three people who headed the Aids Memorial Project of Snohomish County, a group that raised money and won support for the memorial. He hasn’t forgotten its aim. He has lost dear friends to AIDS — so many, he said, “you lose count.”
At the Snohomish Health District, Brenda Newell is the HIV and sexually transmitted disease prevention program manager. She has seen an evolution in perceptions of AIDS.
“We’re certainly seeing progress,” said Newell, who has been at the Health District since 2000. “AIDS is now looked at as a chronic disease; if we can get individuals diagnosed early, so treatment is available.”
Progress has come in the form of new-generation drugs that mean fewer daily pills and less severe side effects. With hope for longer, healthier lives has also come complacency, especially among people too young to have seen AIDS at its most deadly.
The worry “is that for younger individuals who did not see the impacts of HIV and AIDS in the ’80s and ’90s, at a certain point it’s not something to be concerned about,” Newell said. “They think if they take medication it’s fine. We need continued education.”
Part of the challenge is overcoming the stigma over HIV testing, which Newell said should be viewed “like any preventative health care.” The Snohomish Health District is offering free and low-cost rapid HIV tests today.
According to the Snohomish Health District, which cites the CDC, in 2009 46 percent of the 42,010 people diagnosed with HIV infection or AIDS in the United States were younger than 34.
In Snohomish County, case management for people with AIDS and HIV is now done by Evergreen AIDS Foundation. The Bellingham-based nonprofit agency gets most of its funding through the Ryan White Care Act. The federal law created a program to fill in gaps in medical coverage for people with HIV and AIDS.
The Evergreen AIDS Foundation has an office at 2709 Wetmore Ave. in downtown Everett. Brian Spencer, the agency’s prevention and outreach coordinator, said that in 2010 there were 10,842 people in Washington known to have HIV, and that the agency now handles more than 400 cases in Snohomish County.
What’s now the Evergreen AIDS Foundation was started in 1985 as Evergreen Support Services.
“Back then it was helping people die with dignity, making them comfortable when they died,” Spencer said.
The AIDS crisis is not behind us. It’s been a long, sad road that’s gotten better with time, research and awareness.
Spencer is 25. From older friends and volunteers in the gay community, he learns about the past.
“It’s a history lesson for me,” he said. “They lost wonderful friends.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Free and low-cost HIV tests
The Snohomish Health District offers free and discounted HIV tests today. At-risk people usually pay $78 for a rapid HIV test at the agency. Today tests will either be free or cost $16, depending on risk behavior. Pay with exact cash or a check. Tests available today at two locations, no appointment needed:
Community Health Center: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1019 112th Street SW, Everett.
Snohomish Health District STD Clinic: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 3020 Rucker Ave., Room 106, Everett.
Free HIV testing also available through Evergreen AIDS Foundation, 2709 Wetmore Ave., Everett.
For more information, call 425-740-3000 or go to www.evergreenaids.org.
