Get tested.
Get treated.
Have safe sex.
Know that you too could be at risk.
That is what minimizing the chance of getting HIV or AIDS is about.
An estimated 5,388 people in the St. Louis region live with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, or with full-blown AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. State data from last year shows 83 percent of those affected were male. Blacks are the largest group in the St. Louis region while whites make up the largest group in all other regions of the state.
In seven counties in the St. Louis Metropolitan area, the St. Louis Effort for AIDS (EFA) supports the front lines by offering free, confidential testing and treatment referral to males and females from all walks of life.
“We go to where the homeless congregate…out to where we know the ‘strolls’ are…where we know there is some drug use,” said EFA Executive Director Cheryl Oliver. “It’s an unmarked van. We park it. It has a reputation for being safe and confidential.”
They give out condoms to encourage safe sex.
EFA also tests women who “do something strange for a little piece of change” – survivor sex workers.
“That’s what you do to pay that bill, but you also have a 9 to 5,” said Tabasha Johnson, women’s wellness coordinator at EFA. “People don’t realize they are even doing it. ‘Well, I know if I hang out with this guy, he will give me cash.’”
EFA doesn’t limit its work to hooker hangouts.
Johnson said that means going to grocery outlets, corner convenience stores, laundry mats, and anywhere single women gravitate.
“We are trying to prevent the ones who are not infected from being infected and we’re trying to encourage the ones who are infected to do what is needed to live a healthy life,” Johnson explains.
“We schedule regular mobile testing unit days at a number of sites,” Oliver said. “We really try to set up some consistency and then with our other high risk areas we get out there as often as we can so people know that we are coming.”
“It’s non judgmental. We ask them if they have time to be tested. If they are on the stroll, we understand. If they say no, we offer them a condom packet with our information on it and if they say yes, we begin the routine testing,” Johnson explained.
Testing takes place either in the mobile RV or at EFA’s unmarked building.
There are three types of testing; the saliva swab, the finger prick and by blood drawn from the arm. Oliver said a full blood test is run on anyone testing positive for HIV or AIDS to eliminate false positives from the initial assessment.
“If someone tests positive there is rapid action protocol in place to get their info into the system so they can get case mgt services with 24-48 hours, Oliver explained.
Their primary objective is to get those who need it to a doctor and get on medications.
“And there is a whole list of referral resources. [For] drug use, we refer them into a drug rehab program. If they are homeless, we get them into housing – Doorways. If they have no food, we get them to Food Outreach,” Oliver said.
Sixteen caseworkers at EFA assist clients with other needs they may have.
Finding out about St. Louis Effort for AIDS a few years after she was diagnosed helped Yvette B. of St. Louis connect with others who are HIV positive. Supportive parents, family, friends and that peer connection made the difference.
“I go to support groups and it allows me to listen to other women who are going through similar situations that I am going through, which shows me how I can actually live – and that I wasn’t alone,” Yvette said. “It took me from thinking I was worthless to knowing that I am still somebody and I’m still viable.”
From 2005 to 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD & TB Prevention reports that blacks and African Americans were 64 percent of persons diagnosed with HIV infection between the ages of 13 to 24. Among adults of all ages, blacks and African Americans made up 50 percent of the positive HIV cases. Missouri is one of 37 states and five independent territories included in this data that require name-based confidential reporting of HIV/AIDS cases.
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services data from the St. Louis region (which includes the City of St. Louis and St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson, Warren, Lincoln and Franklin counties) reports 258 new HIV cases in 2009. Among men, Black males made up nearly 58 percent of the new HIV cases and more than 59 percent of the new AIDS cases last year. Among women, Black females claimed almost 84 percent of the new HIV cases and nearly 87 percent of the new AIDS cases reported to the state in 2009.
Oliver said African Americans are disproportionately represented among people living with AIDS with no evidence of HIV primary care.
“Of the 2,384 people living with HIV/AIDS with no HIV care in the St. Louis region, over half, 51-percent, were African Americans,” Oliver said.
Women and African Americans are a growing number of HIV/AIDS cases. Oliver said people can have the virus for years and not know it. She added that women tend to take care of everyone else and take care of themselves last; and, they think they are in a heterosexual monogamous relationship when, in reality, they are not.
“Admitting to the homosexuality – that’s where the problem is. If you don’t admit you are homosexual, you are far less likely to be tested or talk about HIV because there is still so much stigma around this disease in general and homosexuality specifically,” Oliver said.
Or, she said, people don’t identify opportunistic infections that affect the immune system as a symptom of HIV.
“There are skin cancers, pneumonia… The reason the skin cancer is unique is that it is a skin cancer that is typically seen in older adults – Kaposi Sarcoma. It’s related to the Herpes virus but it’s definitely a skin cancer,” Oliver said.
Yvette doesn’t know when she contracted HIV and doesn’t blame anyone either. Although she has up and down days emotionally, she wants to help other women.
“I have dreams to teach women coming into care now – how they can live, and not just go out with a bang,” Yvette explained. “How to live good and take care of themselves.
“It’s important that women know that what they put you on, stick to it. Don’t go on [HIV/AIDS] drug holidays,” Yvette added. “To guarantee I’m going to live, I deal with the side effects (stomach and headaches).”
For an appointment for free testing or more information about the St. Louis Effort for AIDS, call 314-645-6451 or visit online at www.stlefa.org. Walk-in testing is available on Mondays.
