In commemoration … “World AIDS Day 2020”!!
HIV does not make people dangerous to know, so you can shake their hands and give them a hug: Heaven knows they need it.
~ Princess Diana ~
It Is What It Is
Dr. Rex …. Blogging for change.
In commemoration … “World AIDS Day 2020”!!
HIV does not make people dangerous to know, so you can shake their hands and give them a hug: Heaven knows they need it.
~ Princess Diana ~
It Is What It Is 
I wish I could remember the year, but it was the year the AIDS stamp was released. We decided to commemorate the day in some way and I was asked to lead the committee to plan a walk or anything else for our first time. Learned a lot of things about planning an event, mainly to appoint good people to key positions and then “delegate, delegate, delegate!” We wanted a walk down at the riverfront, and that was pretty adventurous for December weather here. But we ordered 100 of the stamp pins, invited the Mayor, the Bishop, and other key officials, put ads in the paper, had interviews on all local TV stations as well as the newspaper, booked the park at the river for the night with fingers crossed that the weather would cooperate, laid out two possible walk routes to work out whether we had a dozen people to show up or a hundred, then held our breath and waited for the time to start heating the hot coffee and chocolate vats. We had several quilt panels and were so surprised when the people began arriving. Our 100 pins were gone within minutes, the walk route proved to be too short to accommodate the crowd that came in, the water took too long to heat, but we had such a success that night in getting the word out. The lead group in the walk had already returned to the beginning spot before the middle of the group even began walking, the Mayor showed up and gave a wonderful speech, the Bishop of the diocese gave an equally relevant speech, many of the AIDS groups attended with their messages of hope and love, and best of all, after they interviewed me for the television and newspapers, I could fade into the background and watch it all happen, along with the other members of my committee. Unfortunately it has all stopped in the later years with too many people thinking there is a cure so it isn’t an issue any longer. Big sigh! I’m not sure this town even has a place for PWA’s to meet now. And here we are with a completely different pandemic with even worse outcomes than AIDS and folks won’t take simple precautions to prevent the spread. What a difference time makes.
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Wow!! Simply amazing! I remember early 1980s … I was working in the hospital and that’s when the AIDS epidemic began. I’ll never forget. I was still in Puerto Rico w/ no idea that I works be living in the US!? 🙏🏽
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I can remember when it all started too, and my biggest worry at the time was for my brother. He is gay and it seemed to attack only gay men at that time. When Rock Hudson passed away I was visiting my sister in Germany and the news really rocked us. I honestly never thought I would be so involved in the issue, but just wanted as much information as I could find about the disease. I think it was the first time I ever spoke out about anything, preferring my usual place in the musicians area of things, hiding behind my guitar and as far away from the microphone as I could get. Ended up writing a monthly column in the Diocesan newspaper that was widely circulated, being office manager of the Kentucky-Indiana People With AIDS Coalition (KIPWAC), member of the Diocesan AIDS Committee, and then organizing the first World AIDS Day commemoration. What a past! Some of my articles from those days are still in circulation all these years later. I also adopted one of the guys I met whose own mom had passed away years before, and finally had to back away when he died, followed by a local priest who also died a month after Rick. Danny, the priest, was one of the people who ultimately helped get the blood banks to test the supplies, since he developed the disease after opening a new shipment of clotting product. He was such a sweet person, never complaining about his becoming infected but working tirelessly to help everyone else who was ill. Ya know, I think I’m going to write about that time in my life tonight. Thanks for reminding me that we have survived so much over the years.
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Most welcome!! 🙏🏽 yes, write about that!! 🙏🏽
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