Public Employee Press

AIDS: The struggle continues

Members of DC 37 locals keep the promise by fighting to save lives

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

World AIDS Day is observed around the globe on Dec. 1 when millions of health-care activists, community organizations and some governments mount a campaign to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS and its devastating impact.

DC 37 commemorated World AIDS Day 2008 on Nov. 30 with the Women’s Committee chair and Local 957 President Walthene Primus, Judith Arroyo, chair of the Lesbian and Gay Issues Committee and Local 436 president, and Arlene Tuff of the DC 37 Retirees Association, passing out literature and condoms in the union lobby.

For 2008, the World AIDS Day theme is leadership and the five-year slogan, “Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise,” emphasizes the need for activists to take the lead in aggressively pressuring elected officials and government policy makers to keep their promises to provide universal access to treatment and comprehensive health services for those afflicted with the disease.

Year after year DC 37 locals have been stepping up to do their share to make sure that the promise is kept by helping to raise thousands of dollars at the annual AIDS Walk, a 10-kilometer walkathon that benefits the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. Carmen Charles, president of Local 420 has participated in eight walkathons.

The United Nations estimates there are 38.6 million people worldwide living with HIV. More than 25 million have died since 1981, when the first case of HIV was reported. In 2001, heads of state and government representatives of 189 nations convened the first-ever special session of the United Nations General Assembly on HIV/AIDS, where they declared that the AIDS epidemic constitutes a “global emergency and one of the most formidable challenges to human life and dignity.”

Since 2005, the public hospitals of the Health and Hospitals Corp. in New York City have taken the initiative and expanded HIV testing considerably by making it easier and faster.

Test appointments are no longer necessary and are done in various clinics throughout the hospitals. The new rapid testing provides results in 20 minutes, replacing the old test, which took a week or more to produce results. The faster testing makes it easier to link those who test positive with supportive services in the hospital during the early stages of the disease.

HHC has 11 designated AIDS Centers at hospitals throughout the city that provide comprehensive health services including primary and prenatal care, dental services and case management for those diagnosed with HIV regardless of their immigrant status or ability to pay.

“We make sure that the patients here get whatever services they need,” said Deletha Darrington-Gorden, a Senior Community Liaison Worker at Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem and member of Social Services Employees Union Local 371. If patients fail to follow up and keep appointments she’ll reach out to them and make a visit to their homes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, New York City has approximately 25,000 people who are HIV positive and don’t know it, making it the epicenter of the disease in the United States. Women in the city are increasingly affected and appear to be more vulnerable to infection than men. More than 90 percent of New York City women who are newly diagnosed are African American or Hispanic. Nationally, AIDS is now the leading cause of death forAfrican American women ages 25 to 34.

Younger people are also increasingly affected: According to the CDC, half of new infections now occur in people under the age of 25. That is why HHC has made detection a high priority. As 2007 comes to a close, HHC has tested 135,000 New Yorkers and is nearing its goal of testing 150,000 for the year.

Lesli Lewis, a Patient Care Associate at Metropolitan Hospital and member of Municipal Hospitals Employees Local 420, is part of a team that is helping to reach HHC’s goal. Lewis is responsible for monitoring vital signs, checking glucose levels and drawing blood for the HIV test. “This has given me a whole new outlook on life,” she said. “I don’t take things for granted anymore.” Lewis does her part in raising awareness of HIV outside of the hospital as well by advising her friends and family to get tested and passing out condoms.

Some victories won
Marie J. Desrosiers is a Senior Community Liaison Worker at Metropolitan Hospital and member of Local 371 and is responsible for testing pregnant women during their first trimester. Desrosiers also shares the results of the test with them and provides pre- and post-test counseling. Desrosiers has had to give several women the bad news.

“Sometimes they’re in denial,” said Desrosiers, who speaks French, Spanish and Creole. “One woman wanted to commit suicide and spent seven hours in the emergency clinic.”

Michael Congelosi, a member of Local 768 and a Public Health Advisor II at Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica, also is involved in HIV testing. “There’s no one standard reaction to the test results, it really varies from person to person,” he said.

There have been significant victories in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Yearly AIDS deaths among New Yorkers have dropped 75 percent since the peak in 1994 and maternal to fetal transmission of the virus has been nearly eliminated. In 2003, there were only five such cases. In addition, hospitalizations for AIDS-related causes dropped by more than two-thirds between 1995 and 2002.

“It’s an important issue that transcends class, color and status,” said Carmen Charles. “I believe it’s all of our responsibility to bring an end to this epidemic.”