Kelly Hill was 23 years old and living in Bellingham when she tested positive for HIV in 2000.
Her boyfriend had been getting mysteriously ill and finally found out he had AIDS. When he broke the news to her that she might be infected too, she was in shock, she said. She never thought it would happen to her.
During the week of Nov. 17-21, Western’s Resource and Outreach Programs (ROP) will host a variety of activities to open students’ eyes to AIDS issues facing Bellingham and the entire globe during Western AIDS Week.
“The biggest goal of Western AIDS Week is to make Western students aware of the impact of HIV and AIDS on their lives as well as their community,” said Casey D. Hall, Western senior and director of Resource and Outreach Programs.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is spread through unprotected sexual contact, through infected blood, as well as from mothers to their babies during birth. It can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), a lifelong disease, which gradually weakens the body’s ability to fight infections.
Ashely Thomas, Western junior and Sexual Awareness Center coordinator, said AIDS is the greatest humanitarian issue of her generation and the generation before her, yet is often completely forgotten about on Western’s campus.
Thomas said members of the Slum Doctor Programme, a local grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of those impacted by AIDS in Africa, will give a presentation on Nov. 21 about their work and what is transpiring in the world and the local community concerning HIV and AIDS rates.
“I really hope that there will be a positive response [to the week] and a raw realization of what’s happening in our world with this disease and how easily preventable it is,” she said.
Students will have many opportunities to learn about HIV prevention throughout the week.
ROP representatives will be on Vendors Row all week promoting the Sexual Awareness Center’s “Safe is Sexy” campaign, a campaign designed to make students aware of how safe sex saves lives, Thomas said. Representatives will be handing out contraceptives, red ribbons and safe sex buttons, as well as providing pledges that encourage students to promise to practice safe sex at all times, she said.
The campaign aims to fight the stigma on campus that safe sex is not cool, she said.
On Nov. 19, the Sexual Awareness Center and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Alliance (LGBTA) will put on a workshop titled, “The Sex Education You Wish You Had: A Queer-Inclusive Safer Sex Workshop.”
Shanti Zunes-Wolfe, Western junior and LGBTA assistant coordinator, said the interactive workshop will discuss information relevant to AIDS, present methods of protection for different kinds of sex and facilitate a practice session for students to rehearse talking about safe sex with a partner.
Catharine Vader, Student Health Center self-care coordinator, said learning how to communicate with a partner is a vital component in preventing sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV.
“In our society, we don’t see many examples of how to have a healthy conversation with someone about our sexual choices in our life,” Vader said.
Because there are virtually no symptoms at first, people can't wait to experience symptoms before getting tested, she said.
“It can happen to anybody. If you have had unprotected sex, it can happen to you,” Vader said. “And there’s no way you can tell by looking at someone, or how nice they are or how much you love them if they have an STI or if they have HIV. The only way to tell is to get tested.”
Hill decided to get tested after taking a month to process what her boyfriend told her. A year after being diagnosed, she said she began speaking publicly to provide a reality check to those harboring stereotypical ideas about the types of people living with AIDS. She is now the outreach coordinator and peer counselor for an AIDS support network in Seattle.
“Mostly, I just strongly encourage people to get tested,” she said.
The health center offers confidential HIV testing to students for $16, a cheap price unheard of elsewhere, Vader said. Along with the test, students receive an information session in which they can assess their risks and behaviors.
Along with Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood, the Women’s Center will be facilitating an informal roundtable discussion on Nov. 19 about how a disproportionate number of women contract AIDS, said Kimé McClintock, Western senior and Women’s Center co-coordinator.
McClintock said she hopes people take the time to go to events that interest them because AIDS is something the majority of students don’t have to think about every day.
“I think it’s really important that we take the time to make a conscious and deliberate decision to think about AIDS and the fact that it is an epidemic that affects all of us globally,” she said.
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