The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff marked World AIDS Day Thursday with a program sponsored by the campus chapter of HIV/AIDS Peer Educators.
A crowd that included UAPB students and staff as well as students from Jack Robey Junior High School, Pine Bluff High School and Dollarway High School, were told that people most at risk group for contracting the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV), the precursor to acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS), are those in their teens to early 20s.
“Students in college, high school and junior high school are most at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS,” said Letsie Bass, the founder of HAPE and director of Student Health Services at UAPB. “I put Sigmund Freud’s concept of the personality, which are the id, the ego and the superego, in the event program because it is very instructive to our message today, which is that all behavior has consequences.”
“The id is the most basic element of the personality and controls infantile behavior,” Bass said. “You do things without considering the consequences. The ego becomes reasonable and allows you to think about what the consequences of your actions are. Our program was written in a deliberate manner to serve as an educational tool for you.”
The keynote speaker was Regina Waits, HIV/AIDS regional resources coordinator for Region VI of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Waits said that President Barack Obama’s National HIV Strategy includes coordinating HIV-related policies with six federal agencies that include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Justice, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Labor.
“The President wanted to ensure that all federal agencies were sharing information with each other regarding issues with HIV/AIDS,” Waits said. “We are working to ensure more affordable housing options for lower income HIV positive patients because there are drugs that they must take that have to be refrigerated and if you are homeless then you have nowhere to keep those medications.”
“The biggest thing that we do is promote HIV testing because you can no longer afford to not know your HIV status as part of your overall individual health care plan,” she said.
“Every nine and a half minutes someone becomes infected with HIV,” Waits said. “One out of every five people who are infected don’t know that they are infected. There are an estimated 56,000 people who are infected with HIV every year in the United States.”
Waits said that her office is responsible for offering technical assistance to regional and local entities in support of the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
“There are a total of 10 public health regions in the United States and the goals of each Regional Research Network are to educate and to promote the national strategy,” Waits said.
“HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects African American men and women,” Waits said. “We have four goals as we move forward with the national strategy, and these include reducing the number of new infections, increasing access to care, reducing disparities among population groups in treatment and facilitating a more coordinated response to HIV/AIDS by federal agencies.”
Bob Coffey
Bob Coffey, an Arkansas HIV advocate who is also HIV positive, spoke to the audience about what it means to live with HIV.
Coffey said that he had two HIV-positive nephews; one who died two months ago because he refused to take his medications as a result of AIDS-induced dementia and another who has been taking his medications and is doing fine.
“The reason we are spending money and doing programs like this is to keep people from getting HIV,” Coffey said. “I was HIV negative in March of 2003 and confirmed HIV positive in September of 2003. I got HIV at the age of 51. I have been counseling people about HIV since 2001. What is wrong with this picture?”
Coffey said that the medication he takes costs $1,500 per month, which breaks down to $50 per day.
“I have insurance so it only costs me $12 and the pharmaceutical companies are helping with the cost for people who don’t have insurance,” Coffey said.
Coffey asked for a show of hands as to how many people owned a cell phone. Coffey asked a young woman sitting in the front row if he could have her cell phone and she handed it to him.
Coffey passed the phone to another man sitting on stage and used the analogy of being separated from a cell phone to explain being separated from one’s health due to becoming infected with HIV.
“Your phone is your health,” Coffey said.
“If I gave you money for a new phone would you go out and buy one?” Coffey asked the woman, who replied that it was more complicated to replace a phone than just having the cash to buy a new one.
“Even if I had all of the money back that I have spent on treatment since I became HIV positive I can’t get my health back,” Coffey said. “There are people that you have in your cell phone, just as there are people in your life when you become infected with HIV,” Coffey said.
“If you don’t trust someone with your cell phone why would you trust someone with your body?” Coffey asked the audience. “You should never trust anyone with what is most precious to you unless they treat you with the utmost of respect.”
AIDS Walk
Immediately after the presentations, the audience took part in an AIDS Walk down Reeker Street and L.A. ‘Prexy’ Davis Drive to the Kenneth L. Johnson Health, Physical Education and Recreation Complex, where a mass balloon release was held.
“The walk and balloon release are a way to commemorate the lives of those who we have lost to AIDS,” said UAPB Public Information Director Tisha Arnold.
Free HIV testing for adults 18 and older was offered at the HPER Complex.