Elliot Golan / Roundup
The Student Health Center has cancelled HIV/AIDS Awareness Week at Pierce this semester due to its scheduled relocation to the new Student Services Building.
The event, originally set to take place in October, was to occur the same week the Student Health Center is moving, according to Bernardine Pregerson, instructor of life science.
“It was just too much,” said Pregerson. She added that though she hoped it would be on schedule for this semester, that they are on schedule for the spring semester event, which is slated for March.
The week usually includes public speakers as well as free HIV testing.
“While free HIV testing will not be offered this semester, any student can receive a $9 serum HIV test through the Health Center by simply making an appointment,” wrote Beth Benne, director of the student health center, in an email.
Benne also wrote that Pierce will be unable to coordinate with the speakers bureau of Being Alive.
Being Alive is a group of men and women, all HIV positive, who have been to Pierce in the past to speak during HIV/AIDS Awareness Week. Their services include emotional support, a wellness center, education, and a speakers bureau, according to Kevin Kurth, executive director.
“If the date has been moved, we can always send speakers,” said Kurth.
Being Alive speaks at several other colleges in the area, including UCLA, according to Colin Hadlow, volunteer chairman of the speakers bureau.
“Young people just don’t come out of the closet with HIV,” said Hadlow.
Hadlow also told of the sobering statistics at which young people get tested. “Of 700 students, seven will get tested,” said Hadlow.
The Pierce College Gay Straight Alliance intends to take on the load left by the cancelled event, according to Annette Pakhchian, the club’s vice president.
The GSA hopes to host the event on one of the last two Wednesdays in October.
“We hope to have a table set up with pamphlets and condoms to give away,” said Chris Murphy, GSA president.
Murphy also added that he is in contact with Benne to finalize details. This proposed day will also be discussed at the next GSA meeting, scheduled for today in the ASO conference room at 3:00 p.m..
AIDS effects all race and ethnicity groups, with statistics showing no category to be unsusceptible.
The Center for Disease Control lists Black/African American as the ethnicity group they estimate to have the most cases of AIDS through 2007 on their website. The CDC also lists male-to-male sexual contact as the largest transmission category.
The CDC lists as the second and third highest categories through 2007 as that of injection drug use and high-risk heterosexual contact, respectively. High-risk heterosexual contact is defined as “heterosexual contact with a person known to have, or to be at high risk for, HIV infection,” according to the website.
AIDS also effects all age groups. “AIDS is the fifth leading cause of death among people aged 25 – 44 in the United States,” according to Google Health.
“It’s not something we can just brush under the rug. It’s not going to go away,” said Pakhchian.
The Pierce College GSA has formed a team for the upcoming AIDS Walk Los Angeles, taking place Oct. 18. The GSA has put posters up around campus to recruit more walkers to their team.
The walk begins and ends in West Hollywood Park at San Vicente Boulevard. The 10 kilometer walk starts at 10:00 a.m. and is expected to take roughly 2 – 3 hours to complete, according to the organization’s website.
AIDS Walk Los Angeles has raised over $63 million since the event began 25 years ago, according to James Leahy, Team Coordinator and Fundraising Specialist for AIDS Walk Los Angeles.
“We have life long volunteers who have been doing this for 20 plus years,” said Leahy.
Leahy said that people begin arriving early in the morning to begin work and don’t leave till well after dinner, which is often donated by corporate sponsors.
“Organizations are just revving up,” said Leahy.
The AIDS community received good news Thursday, when reports of a successful AIDS prevention vaccine flooded the news.
The Vaccine, a combination of two vaccines that had failed in the past, showed a reduction in risk of HIV infection by more than 31 percent, according to announcements out of Bangkok.
The U.S. sponsored project was conducted by The Thailand Ministry of Public Health.
“Honestly, I don’t really have a comment yet,” said Murphy, of the vaccine reports. He said he had not looked into it deeply enough yet, but that he would in the coming days.
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