Bryan Melara / Roundup
Beth Benne, director of the Student Health Center remembers a horrific experience of a patient who had leukemia but died of AIDS as a result of a blood transfusion gone bad.
Experiences like the one Benne faced working as a hospital nurse at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena have made her passionate about spreading HIV and AIDS information and making students aware.
“It made me self-conscious because I know it was blood that either I or one of my fellow nurses hung,” she said. “That would impact anyone. It’s like someone who kills someone else in a car accident.”
Events like AIDS week last week and offering free HIV testing once every spring and fall semester, are just a few things Benne does to raise student awareness.
“I am passionate about it,” raved Benne. “People are still dying from AIDS, this is a preventable disease if you use your head.”
At Pierce Benne emphasizes a lot on HIV due to the fact HIV is the disease that causes AIDS and can be controlled if diagnosed early on.
An estimated 30 to 50 students were tested over a three-day span during this semester’s AIDS week.
“We always have a great turnout,” said Benne.
Year-round the Student Health Center offers HIV testing for $9. According to Benne an HIV test at a doctor’s office would cost about $50.
Testing on campus is conducted by two agencies which were selected by Benne. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) which has worked with the Magic Johnson Foundation in the past and Bienestar.
During AIDS week RVs from both agencies set up in Lot 1 with umbrellas, tables and HIV/AIDS information pamphlets.
The AHF reported they performed 62 tests in two days alone.
Benne was unable to get results from Bienestar for their results.
In addition to free HIV testing, speakers from the Being Alive bureau visited classes on campus and informed students about topics ranging from the risks and consequences of having unprotected sex to the different ways the virus is contracted to different kinds of treatments that are available for full-blown AIDS.
Being Alive is a speaker’s bureau made up of men and women infected by AIDS that tell their stories. The bureau has been been active for over 10 years and speak to schools, corporations and institutions according to their Website www.beingalivela.org.
According to Benne, professors make requests to have a speaker lecture their class.
This semester a total of 14 classes were visited by guest speakers. Benne wasn’t satisfied.
“It disappoints me that students aren’t being as informed,” said Benne.
In 1994 Benne was appointed chair of the AIDS/HIV Committee of Pierce College.
That year AIDS, also known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, was an epidemic that cost 49,311 people their lives, according to a 1994 AIDS statistics report by the Center for Disease Control.
Today the alarming rate of people infected by the AIDS virus has significantly decreased as a result of awareness information weeks like ones Pierce hosts.
Medical innovations have also played a positive role in the increasing number of people getting tested.
Older testing methods required a needle being inserted in the main vein of an arm to draw blood for results, which caused panic in anyone with a fear of needles.
Newer methods like the OraQuick or the Orasure are less intimidating and give results in less than 30 minutes.
The OraQuick and Orasure methods require no use of needles, instead a device is placed inside the tester’s mouth for about two minutes.
Stavv Goldreich, 21, creative writing major admitted to having a Sexually Transmitted Disease, but getting tested during the early stages helped her get rid of the disease.
“I wasn’t aware with the risks that came with having sex,” said Goldreich. “Events like these are a good thing.”
Last fall semester AIDS week was cancelled due to the Student Health Center relocating to the Student Services Building.
This semester the event wasn’t as publicized, and as a result didn’t get as much promoting as it usually does. Benne admitted personal issues she dealt with during the week played a factor.
“I did not do the promoting I wanted,” Benne said. “I was tickled when they told me we had about 30 students test a day.”
Benne plans to bounce back next semester by publicizing the event and posting signs around campus as she has done in the past.
“It’s a lot that can be done,” said Devonte Sykes, 17, business major. “But you can’t stop someone from having unprotected sex.”
For more information on HIV and AIDS visit www.aids.gov.
—
bmelara.roundupnews@gmail.com