“The Time to Act is Now” was the theme for 2015 World AIDS Day, which featured the AIDS Memorial Quilt Panels at The Painted Table in the Tower District.
The purpose of World AIDS Day was to bring people together to gain a better understanding, knowledge and raise awareness of what HIV/AIDS is and how it can be prevented. This is the third year the Fresno County department of public health has brought three large sections of the Memorial Quilt Panels, a quilt with panels dedicated to those who have died from HIV/AIDS.
This year the selected quilted panels being acknowledged were those honoring Ryan White, Pedro Zamora and Freddie Mercury.
White was a hemophiliac who contracted HIV through tainted blood before there was screening of blood. Because of this, he and his family were discriminated against and he was banned from going to school. After he died there was federal funding for medical services for people with HIV. This initiative was named the Ryan White Act, and that funding is still available today.
Zamora was famous for being a reality star in the hit 90s TV show MTV’s “The Real World.” He educated his cast mates and when around San Francisco educating the youth about HIV/AIDS. In 1994 Zamora died and MTV showed the services. And lastly, Mercury was the lead singer for the rock group Queen. He died of AIDS in 1994.
“Each of these panels represents someone’s life,” said Department of Public Health disease specialist Jena Adams. “Some of the panels have the year the person was born to the year they died, and calculate that. How old were they? Where they in their 30s, 20s or 50s? Just take that all in. Some of these panels will tell you the work they did or what they liked to do in their free time. Just really take the time to see what you’re looking at.”
According to the Fresno County Department of Public Health, the amount of total cases reported in the county was 701, and 2,081 for AIDS as of December 2013. There have been over 40 deaths due to HIV and 1,038 deaths due to AIDS in Fresno County. In the United States the total cases from December 2013 for HIV was 50,955 and for AIDS it was 169,588. The amount of death of both diseases was over 95,000.
“It is extremely important for people who have been sexually active and have had more than one partner in their life or have used drugs especially injection drugs and shared works to get tested,” Adams said. “It’s extremely important from them to test and know their status, because someone who is HIV positive may feel fine but your immune system is being wrecked by HIV. So it’s important to know your status and to get into care.”
Tony Lane, one of the founders of the nonprofit organization Positive Life said it’s important to bring awareness to the younger generation that don’t remember the mass deaths caused by AIDS in the 1980s. He said World AIDS Day is to give that younger generation an insight of what they went through.
Positive Life is an outreach support group that deals with people infected or affected with HIV/AIDS.
“Anybody can reach out to us,” Lane said. “If you’re infected with HIV/AIDS, or you’re affected, meaning you have a partner who is HIV positive, and you’re HIV negative, we help on both sides of the issue. All of our services are free and if you don’t have an answer we have the services and resources to get you directed with who can help you.”
The Fresno County department of public health offers HIV/AIDS testing as well as the Fresno State health department.
“It’s a free confidential rapid test that is available through the department of public health from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and results are available within 30 minutes,” Adams said.
