5 10 13078 https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2669/1992_reACT-Believe_vol5no1.pdf 97994860d42170caa0abc37cd4146ba1 PDF Text Text ������������ https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2669/1992_reACT-Believe_vol5no1_2.pdf 45abf2c63c79b54290457f210a2b78c8 PDF Text Text reACT-Believd M£o| ‘We ^>1 IP not ‘-Rest ■k H h- In IWwter^ . „ ^$jp_ AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.0.3586 TU Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 (807)345-1516AIDS [Aids infoline 345-safe Committee of Thunder Bay .gb^Winter 1992, Volume V, Issue I �RESOURCE CENTRE TALKING SAFER SEX :S * HOME PARTIES Host A Home Party With Some Of Your Friends And Learn More About Safer Sex Explore Safer Sex, Erotica, Fantasies, Fears, Feelings In The Safety And Comfort Of Home What To do: Host: Plan a party and invite some friends for an evening of discovery and learning about safer sex, erotica, fantasies and more. Call David at ACT-B, 345-1516. Friends: Agree to participate when the host asks. Bring whatever you would like to eat and drink while exploring. Give host special topics or ideas for David to cover or bring to the adventure. If you can't host a party, but want to participate, try to encourage a friend to hold a party. AN EVENING FOR GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN OF ANY AGE. This is a project of the AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY. bD LIVING WITH HTV Call for Submissions Are you HTV positive? Got something to say about it? FUSE wants to hear from you! FUSE is a non-profit alternative arts magazine that has published for fifteen years. We have consistently covered events and issues from feminist, lesbian and gay, labour, and people of color communities. We are planning a special issue for late spring of 1992. All contributions will be from people living with HIV. ACT-B has a very good selection of videos, books, and other resource material. Most of these materials can be borrowed In order to continue this service, we need your help in returning borrowed materials on time. Over the past year, there have been several items which have disappeared. The cost of replacing them is very high, and makes it difficult for us to get new materials. Take a look, and if you have any overdue videos or books from ACT-B, please let us have them back. In particular, we are missing the videos "COMMON THREADS: Stories From the Quilt" and "INEVITABLE LOVE". As well, there are several books long overdue. Please help us continue to provide our loan service. B We are looking for personal essays, critical pieces, non­ fiction, illustrations, photo­ collages, pictures, snap-shots... any Itind of response that speaks about living with HIV from first hand experience. (The only thing we don’t publish is fiction and poetry.) Submissions can be made anonymously. If you’re interested in contributing or know someone who might, drop us a line or give us a call. Better yet, show us your stuff. All work will be returned if requested. page 2 Deadline is March 2, 1992. FUSE MAGAZINE 183 Bathurst St. Toronto, Ontario M5T 2R7 (416) 367-0159 �Volunteer Spotlight Can Mosquitoes Transmit AIDS? Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the deadly epidemic caused by the HTV virus, is most often transmitted by contaminated hypodermic needles or through sexual contact. Since mosquitoes feed on human blood and may attack a series of individuals, the question arises: Can you get AIDS from a mosquito bite? Insects can transmit viruses in two ways, mechanically and biologically. With mechanical transmission, infected blood on the insects mouthparts might be carried to another host while the blood is still fresh and the virus is still alive. Infection by this means is possible but highly unlikely, because mosquitoes seldom have fresh blood on the outside of their mouthparts. Mechanical transmission does occur in horses, however, with equine infectious anaemia, a virus closely related to AIDS and transmitted by horseflies. These flies are pool feeders; their bite causes a small puddle of blood to form, and they immerse mouthparts, head, and front legs while lapping it up. If disturbed, however, they quickly move on to another horse, where the fresh blood of the two hosts may mingle. Blood-feeding mosquitoes are much neater and more surgical; they insert a tube for drawing blood, and by the time they are ready for their next meal, even on a second host following an interrupted meal, any viruses from their first meal are safely stored away in their midgut With biological transmission, the pathogen must complete a portion of its life cycle within the carrier, or vector species. Protozoans that cause malaria, for instance, go through an extremely complex cycle inside the mosquito, eventually congregating in the salivary glands, from which they may infect avian, primate, rodent, or reptilian hosts, depending on the malaria species. The HIV virus, however, does not replicate or develop in the mosquito once in the insects gut, the virus quickly dies. Repeated studies since 1986 show that AIDSinfected blood fed to mosquitoes and other arthropods does not live to be passed on and that, fortunately, there is no biological-transmission cycle of AIDS in blood-feeding arthropods, which frequently ingest the virus as part of their blood meal. Natural History, July 1991. : found In "Between the Lines" newsletter ofAIDS Committee of Guelph, Winter 91/92 THI FAR SIDE By GARY LARSON "Whol o dayl ... I mull hcv* ipnod malaria ecron half lh* country." page 3 Anne Ciemny is a remarkable person. She was a working mother, who through necessity learned to organize every minute of her day to make it count. And that’s how she approaches her volunteer commitment here at ACT-B. Because of her skills in office work, she has been so helpful to us in the area of office support. Anne has also made the best of her involvement with us by branching out into new areas. For instance, she has a wonderful talent for writing. Because of that, she is now working closely with John on the Re-ACT Believe newsletter, which you are reading right now! Anne is retired and has six grandchildren. However, no one believes she is her true age. She seems to have boundless energy, and a very positive outlook on life. Volunteering at ACT-B has also opened her mind to the words HTV and AIDS. Take an example from this great lady-it’s never too late to change or learn. Thankyou, Anne! SPEAKER'S BUREAU Become a volunteer speaker with ACT-B. We need speakers who can address Issues knowledgeably and with compassion. Participants need not be professional speakers. The agency will provide training and support. The training will take place early In the year, one night a week for four weeks. Please consider lend­ ing your talents to the speak­ er's bureau. There will be a limited number of spaces for training, and applications will be accepted on a first-come basis. Call David at 345-1516 for more information. �This is for Donald Dunbar whom I will always love and miss dearly in the times ahead and for his miraculous family who showed me that love can indeed overcome all adversity. ACT-B Advisory Coundl Fred Ball Norman Bowers Nicky Tittley Mary McKenzie Marie Portier Eleanor Richardson Steve Roede Director, Public Health Laboratory ACT-B Board Representative Supervisor, P.A.G.H., Infection Control Coordinator, Palliative Care, McKellar Hosp Residential Care Worker Educator & TVO Regional Liason Family Physician Strength Me opened his circle and Cct me in, at a time when openings art hard. Me Bared his soul and shared, his past, his present and dreams. ACT-B Board of Directors Kathryn Arnold Rick Atkinson Norman Bowers Joanne Books Susan Ivany Gail Linklater Mary Ann Morriseau Carol Nicholson April Richardson Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Ted Romanowski Director Treasurer Secretary Director Director Vice President Director Director Director Director President Director Me fought with courage and tears, a conflict, formidable and harsh. Me gained wisdom and insight grew, as motherly love enveloped him. Me taught me patience and love as he accepted me and what I stood for. Me gave new meaning to the word hope, as l saw the world through his eyes. ACT-B Staff David Belrose Sheila Berry Meghan Blanchette John Books Gabriel Kakeeway Lawrence Korhonen Glenna McLeod Michael Sobota Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Secretary Fundraising/Communications Coor. Native Outreach Coordinator Office Manager Support Services Executive Director Gallois’ Revelation "If you put tomfoolry into a computer, nothing comes out but tomfoolery. But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine is somehow enobled and no one dares to criticize iL" Please give us your feedback! Comments, concerns, compliments and criticisms about the newsletter, our publications, or about any aspect of the agency. You can phone or mail. You can remain anonymous if you wish. We’d like to know your comments in order to improve on weak points, and continue to deliver our strong points. Thank you to the agencies and individuals who have given us their comments. They are greatly appreciated. Me showed me the joy a family can Bring, when all else is But a dream. ‘'But most of all he gave me strength, when he reached out and called me friend Donald died peaefuly in his home on November 28, 1991 surrounded by his loving family. We at the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay miss him. Good-bye Donald, Glenna. Write to: AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.O. Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 eA *-6-RSLO-5UULSUC2. CuO.Q.C -4JXCP HOW TO BE A LOCAL HERO (807) 345-1516 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. John Books, Editor, ReACT-Believe Anne Ciemny, Assistant Editor The opinions and medical information offered by ReACT-Believe are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by ReACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. page 4 MAKE GIVING A FAMILY AFFAIR Local Hcro« l<nnw that when even-one in your family helpi decide which causes to support, everyone iluies in the rewards oi Riving Make giving a part of your family plans and family budget.You 'll all be ^ Local 1 lcioct. A New Spirit of ('living A MtMntl in ninuiai •*** <hr~ir^(rB~v~Tr7rv~tr a 8 v a r 'tyre- �DOCTALK - NUTRITION FOR THE MIND AND BODY jv; ’ The following is an edited version of the transcript of Los Angeles M.D. Joan Priestly’s lecture delivered at a PWAlive forum June 5„1991, at the Sabathani Community Center, Minneapolis. From PWAlive Summmer 91 issue. I’m going to talk about my experience with HIV, which I’ve been working with since 1986, and the program I’ve developed, which seems to work dramatically well with people. I’m going to say all the things I’m not going to say later tonight, so this is not just a preview of tonight’s presentation. Tonight is a panel discussion with other doctors, sort of Aids 101, sponsored by Burrough -Welcome. I was invited and paid by Burrough - Welcome, of all things, to talk about why AZT is a virtually useless drug. Joan Priestly’s 5 - Point Program What are some simple things you can do to empower yourself, improve your health, and enhance your immune system? Over the last six years now, I have developed a five-point empowerment program that’s really very simple-tilings that people can do for themselves. Number One Simple lifestyle changes I’ve been saying this for five years now. Mercifully someone got enough money out of our government to really start studying these things and really research them and there is data in the medical literature that substantiates what I’ve been saying for five years and a lot of holistic doctors have been saying for 20 years. There are certain things that need to be changed when anyone has a compromised immune system: that would be anyone with allergies, with cancer, with chronic fatigue syndrome, and with HIV. Crummy white cells are crummy white cells. If they don’t do their job for you infections and cancers and other things start showing up. How do we repair your immune system so that your white cells can do their very best for you? Stop Smoking. One of the most important things to do is to stop smoking . People with HTV were studied and people who smoked were three times more likely to develop AIDS over one year than people who did not smoke. To stop smoking cigarettes is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Stop Drinking. Next is to stop drinking alcohol. Totally. It’s been shown that the alcohol in one lousy glass of wine, or one can of beer, or one shot of hard liquor is enough to significantly impair your white cells. So 1 ask anyone who has cancer or who has been exposed to the AIDS virus. Would this be an issue for you? Would you be willing to stop drinking alcohol? And you can imagine, most of the people who have already wound up at a holistic office have already handled some of the so-called low-level addictions. They’re in 12-step programs, they’re in AA, they’ve handled this kind of thing a long time ago. For people who have not handled it, I ask them point blank, are you willing to make that commitment to yourself? And if they’re not willing to, then I’m not willing to see them again until they’ve been sober for 30 days. These things have been studied and researched very well; my clients have the best statistics in the country and I know that if people who continue to smoke and drink come on board as clients, they’re going to screw up my statistics. No Drugs. Next of things that really need to be changed are recreational drugs. At least in LA, cocaine seems to be the drug of choice and marijuana is second. Cocaine’s been proven to be a great offender for your immune system. If you want to watch white cells completely go into a huddle under the microscope, just put them in with cocaine. So it’s really necessary to stop doing cocaine and marijuana or other recreational drugsquaaludes, amphetamines, etc. They wreak havoc with your immune system. Other life style changes include destressing. People need to sleep a certain number of hours; they need to stop staying up all night. I ask my clients to do meditations and visualizations and yoga and deep breathing exercises. Anything that can decrease your sense of stress in life will enhance your response to the AIDS virus and that’s about the only guarantee that I can safely make. Safer Sex. Other lifestyle changes include what we euphemistically call safe sex. It’s really safer sex, it’s all we’ve got, using condoms. You don’t want to take the chance of exposing yourself to a nastier strain of the AIDS virus. It’s not correct to talk just about "the" AIDS virusthcre’s a thousand and two different strains and we know the virus is mutating, it’s becoming a nastier, more aggressive bug. People who are becoming infected now are becoming infected with this nastier bug and I predict that we’re going to see a sharper curve in this epidemic because of that. You don’t want to take the chance of reinfecting yourself with a nastier strain of the AIDS virus to say nothing of the other sexually transmitted diseases that we tend to forget about: hepatitis, syphilis, herpes, things like that. As you can see, the issue is not cigarettes; the issue is not alcohol. Those are just manifestations of a larger issue. The issue A* �V," «W- really is to what extent are people willing to love themselves and revere their bodies and participate 100% in turning their lives aroundyv' Number Two ^ . Diet * r' There’s a profound relationship between diet and nutrients and how well your body functions and how well your immune system functions. What can people do to improve their diet and maximize their bodies? Number one I feel with HIV is to get the sugar out of your body. And I mean out, completely. White sugar, cane sugar. Cane sugar comes in a myriad of forms in a whole lot of foods that you would never expect to fmd sugar in, so it becomes a matter of reading labels of everything that you eat. Anything that ends in "o-s-e" - fructose, glucose, maltose, sucrose - is a synonym for sugar and you want to avoid foods that say they have those products in them. Honey is fine in moderation. Why am I a bitch about sugar? Two reasons. One, sugar shuts down white cells. That’s been shown in different laboratories. Two, it’s been shown that the pneumocystis bug that causes pneumocystis pneumonia, which is still the biggest killer with HIV, is a yeast, instead of a parasite. All yeasts thrive on sugar. You want to keep the Candida undo- control and you want to do everything you can to keep the pneumocystis under control, so a no­ sugar diet is actually a pneumocystisprevention diet. Next would be animal meats. In general, I like my HIV clients to have a largely vegetarian diet of fresh fruits, whole foods, non-processed foods, which means all the salads, vegetables, fruits and grains that you can stuff down comfortably on a daily basis, along with quality protein. It’s been shown that people who have been exposed to the AIDS virus, for reasons we don’t understand, require more protein than the general population. This is where I part company with the macrobiotic people. In fact, even some of the macrobiotic people are having a debate. The conclusion is that you cannot get enough protein from a macrobiotic diet if you are HIV-positive. Quality protein comes from chicken, fish, eggs, and soy bean products such as tofu and tempeh. It does not come from animal meats. What is an animal to be lacking in people who have been meat? If the animal has four legs, don’t exposed to the AIDS virus? Vitamin C, \ ,j Vitamin A, Vitamin E, zinc, iron, ->Sf eat it. What about chicken? Chickens have two legs, that’s ok. What about selenium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, essential fatty acids, and ** , v~ • fish? Fish have fins, that’s ok. If it has four legs, don’t eat it. So I ask my others. Which nutrients are well known clients to stop eating animals and animal for stimulating your immune system? products, including cow milk, butter, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, zinc, cheese. They can substitute goat’s milk iron, selenium, manganese, and essential or soy milk. fatty acids. I think this is an overlooked Yeast is a fungus. Most fungi thrive on reason why people who have been sugar, it’s another reason to stop exposed to the AIDS virus become sick alcohol. The purest among us, quickly. I have come to the conclusion admittedly, would say no honey either, that using nutrients in high doses can help but I want to be practical. I’m above people maintain their health much longer. all things a practical Capricorn and I Also add to the list B vitamins - all of want to give people a program they can them. live with and that’s one of my gripes Let’s talk about the B vitamins for a with macrobiotics; it’s too rigorous and moment. It’s my contention that some of only the most anal-compulsive among the anaemia and neurological problems us can survive a macrobiotic diet. like dementia and mental deterioration I do suggest to my patients that they that show up with HIV are not due to the stay away from sushi and raw fish. AIDS virus but to cumulative B vitamin There are worms in raw fish that get deficiencies that Western doctors are not into us, especially if your immune trained to recognize and treat. About five system is already down. I would prefer years ago, I literally woke up having people to buy chicken from the health dreamed a B vitamin formula I could use. food store. I actually use a protein All my clients take the B vitamin shot at supplement that calls for raw egg to be least every other week if not every week. added. I personally have no qualms In my 600 or so people, I have not seen about using raw eggs if and only if one case of neurologic deterioration. I’ve they’re purchased in health food stores also had the pleasure of sometimes being from conscientious companies. The big able to cure people’s peripheral firms that sell to supermarkets stuff neuropathy - that’s the burning sensations their chickens full of antibiotics and you get in your hands and feet - by using steroids and keep them in tiny little a daily B vitamin shot injection. By using pens. There are other companies that a shot, you get around the absorption raise much more high-quality poultry problem. and from that, safe poultry comes safe . The second way of using nutrients is as S9 eggs. -'s/r • therapy. The philosophy and doses are Number Three different. What the American Medical vN Nutrients * Association would greatly prefer that you My mqjor area of expertise is the use of not realize, is that nutrients can be used in nutrients. Nutrients are used two ways place of drugs if you use them in high for people who’ve been exposed to the enough doses. Nutrients have drug-like AIDS virus. It’s been shown several effects, but not by just eating oranges. times that people exposed to the AIDS Vitamin C virus have problems absorbing certain Let’s look at the nutrients I use as therapy nutrients. Therefore, they have to do in HIV. I use nutrients instead of drugs something to increase their intake of as my first line of defense against all nutrients: either increase their food diseases. First and foremost is vitamin C. intake or use nutrients in concentrated How much? form as supplements. Someone who Everybody’s body is different. Most can only absorb 20 percent of what a people level off at about 16, 18, 20 normal person can absorb either has to grams. This is four to five teaspoons or eat five times as much food or use a so. How much vitamin C is in an orange, nutrient that’s five times as by comparison? Well, it takes 20 oranges concentrated. Which do you think is to make one gram of vitamin C. If you going to be easier for people? were going to gel 20 grams of C in one What specific nutrients have been found day you have a choice of 20 capsules or -%r page 2 �400 oranges. I’m not sure I believe the hype from the company about Ester-C. Ester-C is a form of vitamin C they claim is four times better absorbed. But it’s six times as expensive. I’m not sure the value’s there. I do recommend people who haye high amounts of gastric upset get Estej-C; it does seem to help that. I use wtiat’s called the Linus Pauling dose of vitamin C because he’s the one who pioneered this philosophy. This is a 15-to-20 gram amount for maintenance. When people have an infection, even just a cold or hepatitis or any of the bacterial infections, they can chug vitamin C by the bottle ail day long and you will not hit your bowel tolerance dose; you will not get diarrhea. Why? Because your body’s needs for vitamin C increase astronomically when you’re sick. I’ve taken at least 100 grams a day of vitamin C and didn’t get diarrhea, and then as the cold turned around, I got diarrhea at progressively lower levels each day. You do not want to chug vitamin C. You want to spread your dose as much as possible over the course of the day so you can get more in without getting diarrhea. Zinc Zinc has a profound effect on your immune system. People who are sexually active need zinc because you lose a certain amount of zinc in semen every time you come. If you’re on a junk food diet and sexually active, you can build up a deficiency very quickly. ...zinc deficiencies and protein calorie deficiency-malnutrition-show exactly the same T-cell changes and white cell changes you see with AIDS. Garlic, of all things, is next. Garlic is nature’s sulphur drug. Intravenous garlic has been used all by itself to treat cryptococcal meningitis. It’s very effective against yeast and parasites, and all my clients swallow several capsules of garlic a day. You wouldn’t care to eat this many garlic cloves; you’ve got to do it by capsules, the capsules I use are deodorized so people don’t lose friends and clients. Next would be a general purpose product I use. which again is made by Jarrow; he’s humble enough to put his name on all his products. This is called the Jarrow Pack. Next is Quersitin. We’re getting a little more sublime here. Quersitin is a biocaldinone found in orange rinds. It is the only known substance I have found to date after five years of looking that blocks the AIDS virus directly, the same way AZT blocks the AIDS virus . It is a reverse blocker. This is truly a natural person’s AZT substitute, without the expense or the horrendous side effects. How much? 1000 milligrams a day. Next would be the essential fatty acids, which come in two forms. One is called EPO and the other is called EPA. EPO stands for evening primrose oil. EPA is the fish oils you may have read about used for heart disease or high blood pressure. These are a form of prostiglandyns. They help your body ward off inflammation. Other things I add in, depending, include SSKI, one of the oldest prescriptions products around. It’s potassium iodine. Iodine is an amazing natural antibiotic. Remember the days of mercurichrome? It’s specifically active against the herpes virus. I have people come in with the herpes virus who are resistant to acyclovir and foscamet and 1 have them dribble SSKI on the herpes outbreak directly and that’s the end of the herpes. Amazing stuff. It does sting, and I mean you’ll leave fingerprints in the ceiling for about five minutes. But hey, it’s the end of herpes. I also use Compound Q and dmg. NAC is one of the hottest things hitting the holistic scene. NAC is an amino acid that happens to be a prescription product not sold in this country. It becomes in your body glutothione, an amazingly active product against the AIDS virus. It helps your white cells work their absolute best for you. People with AIDS have been studied and shown not to be able to manufacture glutothyione, so this is one more type of replacement therapy. You can get NAC from the buyers’ clubs. Buyers’ clubs are an extraordinary phenomenon. They are organizations formed by AIDS activists around the country that have gradually become more feisty, vocal, courageous, and open. The buyers’ clubs started by selling nutrients. They now bring in drugs that are used in other countries and sell them quite openly. If this was cancer, we’d all be in jail right now, but because it’s HIV and the AIDS activist community has been so active and vocal and determined, they have to some extent, developed enough voice and power that they have the government on the run. That’s the only way to say it. The buyers’ clubs have brought in drugs used in other countries and they sell them at very reasonable prices; they may be expensive products, but the mark-up is minimal. The buyers’ clubs have gotten their hands on dDC and the buyers' clubs are selling it to anyone who wants it This is unheard of. Whenever I want some quasi-legal drugs from another country, I call my friends at the buyers’ clubs and they bring it in for me. They are a wonderful outlet for expanding the options of your treatment plan. They have gotten their hands on peptide T, which is an extraordinary product that has had tremendous political roadblocks set up by our own government. The buyers’ clubs are selling erythromycin, the only known effective treatment for a very damaging infection called MAI. Thank God for them. I’ve had a lot of people turn their lives around when they started getting these products through the buyers’ clubs. I encourage you to contact and support them. In the handout on ddC are the numbers of all the buyers’ clubs around the country. Number Four: Drugs There certainly is a place for drugs in the management of some diseases and especially in the management of HIV. Let’s talk for a moment about AZT. I personally do not use AZT in my practice. When someone needs to take an anti-viral drug, I send them to the buyers’ club to get ddC. I personally think ddC will be proved to be the star performer of all anti virals being studied right now. I also think AZT will be dead in the water when ddC is approved. No one thing is going to work for everybody. My personal feeling is ddC is everything AZT has not been for the vast majority of people mainly safe, less expensive, non-toxic, and effective. One of the main side effects of ddC is peripheral neuropathy, which is a tingling in your hands or feet, but some * neuropathy is caused by the AIDS virus. c Hardly anyone dies from AIDS-they die 1 from opportunistic infections that come J �along once someone’s immune system is so compromised they can’t fight them off. One of the biggest ones is PCP pneumonia. My clearcut recommendation is Bactrim. One double strength, three times a week. It has been virtually 100 percent effective in preventing PCP pneumonia. Anyone whose T-ceils dip below 200,1 put on Bactrim. For the handful of people who can’t tolerate Bactrim, the next drug I use is an old timer called dapsone, an anti-leprosy drug. I use 100 milligrams twice a week. For those who can’t tolerate dapsone, thank God we have pentamidine. They are the ones who should be using pentamidine. My contention is that people with AIDS are living longer because it is finally understood that we have to fight infections. The most effective drug I’ve found against yeast is fluconazole, or diflucan. 100 milligrams a day, for one week. It’s safe and nontoxic for this period of time. It’s magical against yeast. I don’t use any other drugs against yeast Yeast is naturally found throughout our intestines. It’s a matter of keeping it in balance and not letting it overgrow. Anytime anyone takes antibiotics, they should also take acidophilus, which helps keep the good guys in your intestines. It stops the antibiotics from eliminating more and more bacteria. When the good guys are eliminated, yeast can overgrow. There are other drugs being invented to fight opportunistic infections and I think that’s the way of the future. It’s not as exciting, and there’s no Nobel Prize in it for the researchers, and that’s why I think everyone’s concentrating on the virus. They forget people don’t die horn the virus but from opportunistic infections. Thank you for the relentless actions of ACT UP telling doctors that they have to switch their research focus into more productive areas. We are gradually developing protocols like this for all the major opportunistic infections. KS is a real head slammer. I don’t know what to do for KS and neither does anyone else in America. There is a French product that costs about $1000 a month that is being imported... No American drug company will profit from it, so it’s not being actively researched. I may also be working with a KS treatment from mainland China service. If you think about it, look at all that has never been allowed out of the talent and education we have in this China. Of course, the Chinese have room today. What would happen if you about five AIDS clients, so they don’t went out and put all your attention on have a lot of people to experiment with. some other major issue? I specifically ask The problem is that we don’t know if people to do work that has nothing to do KS is a cancer or an opportunistic with AIDS. It puts them in contact with infection; we don’t know what’s going people they would never otherwise meet, and people meet them who wouldn’t meet on. them otherwise. It keeps them from Number Five: Nutrition for the mind. thinking about their disease 24 hours a day. If you think about it, there’s a whole 1 had a woman come to my office who had breast cancer, and the doctor told host of other issues that really need our her she had four months to live. She attention, whether it’s animal rights or said. Great, I’m going to make those homelessness, deforestation or the ozone four months the most fantastic of my layer, nuclear waste, whatever. A lot of entire life. She blew off her marriage, these other issues can loll us all, quickly. changed her job, took ceramic classes, I ask my clients to do anything they can started working with Louise Hay; she to develop some sort of spiritual worked with a host of other people alignment, something, any sort of power based in Los Angles who do what I call beyond themselves that they feel they can inner transformational work with people. tug on in times of need. She wrote out forgiveness exercises, I should change this talk around and do number 5 for an hour and a half and then joined a 12-step program to stop alcohol, she cleaned up her diet, and her mention in passing that you can take cancer went away. Her doctor said vitamins and change your diet. This is "spontaneous remission," which is how one of the most important things people can do for themselves. we discount the incredible work that people do for themselves. I think using the emotional, mental, and spiritual side of things is as important - V ' as swallowing tons of nutrients. It took vV*»Yy a long time to recognize that the best vitamin program in the world, and the best diet in the world couldn’t begin to overcome a hateful attitude. I tell my clients, if they haven’t come out to their The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay parents, they should do so. It’s part of does not recommend, advocate or owning and loving who you are. If they endorse the use of any particular have not told significant people in their treatments) or therapy described in life that they are HIV positive, I ask ReACT-Believe. The AIDS Committee them to do so. We have people I work of Thunder Bay therefore, does not with who can help role-play and accept the risk of, or responsibility for, fantasize and work up to handling those any damages, costs or consequences of issues. My experience is that these kind any kind whatsoever which may arise of things are a sword that hang over or result, either from use or reliance people in this situation until they deal on the information contained herein, with it one way or another. Other or due to any errors contained herein. things people do is general emotional Persons relying on the information clearing. 12-step programs are excellent provided must do so at their own risk. for doing this, for making amends and Please consult your health getting rid of old emotional baggage. professional. My contention is that this old stuff literally hangs out in your body and can work against healing. I ask people to do acupuncture and massage work, to go out jogging to do anything that will put them in physical contact and touching situations with other people. I ask my clients to go out and do page 4 �Why I Volunteer With ACT-B First, a bit of my background. My name is Anne Ciemny and I was bom in Thunder Bay and have lived in Thunder Bay iny entire life. I am a mother of two girls, ages 31 and 33 and a grandmother to six grandchildren, 4 grandsons and 2 granddaughters. I have worked in a family business for 25 years in the office, in the warehouse doing all variety of jobs and for the past 12 years, I worked solely in the office looking after Accounts Receivables and typing. What brought me to the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay? Two years ago I became separated from my spouse and I had to leave the family business and I became retired. Here I was a workaholic, retired, and now I had the choice to do what I wished. I knew Sheila Berry, the Volunteer Coordinator, as she had worked with me in my family business, and so I went to see her at the ACT-B office and I became a volunteer office worker where I was able to continue to function as a typist, keep up my skills and also volunteer my time. My involvement with AIDS was not highly received by my age group and many of my friends, but I had a positive approach when I told everyone I was volunteering there, and their attitude changed and they complimented me on doing the volunteer work. Peoples attitudes are changing now because HIV & AIDS disease is affecting all of the community. What has volunteering done for me? I used to sterotype people before coming to ACT-B. I have learned there are gay men and lesbian women I work with who are just the most caring and wonderful individuals who I have the deepest respect for and if I hadn’t come to the AIDS office, I would have missed out on knowing them. Also, I do not prejudge any more. I keep an open mind and do not put people in certain categories. I have learned so much about the HIV/AIDS disease and met people who have the disease. I have learned that we must educate, especially the young people, and we all must have compassion and show love to those affected, just as we would do with someone with polio, or alzheimer’s disease. I have four grandsons and love them very much. If one of them should ever contact AIDS, my love would not be turned off. I could; deal with it now. The one thing these people need is love. I am appreciated for the work I do in the office and I do many varieties of duties such as folding brochures, pricing items for flea market sales, counting condoms and mostly typing into the computer, which is my greatest love. After 37 years of marriage and being with one partner always, I find if and when I enter into a new relationship, I will insist that my partner be tested for HIV & AIDS. I care about my health and my body and I cannot assume what my partner may tell me about his past is the page 5 truth. What we are asking the young adults to do to practise safer sex, we, the 55+ group must take the responsibility to do the same. This disease hits any age group. I also volunteer at the Heart & Stroke Association and the people there are also very caring, thoughtful, and appreciative. Volunteers are really treated "very special". I fmd it to be a rewarding experience and I enjoy the "good" feeling I get out of "giving of myself' to others in need. It has made me a better person and given me an inner joy that I never knew existed. Please try it sometime! Thank You Anne Ciemny. HOWTOBE A LOCAL HERO CALL A FRIEND Chances arc, many of your friends are already Local Hemes, giving their time and money to causes that will interest you too. If you're looking lor ways to help your community, they can be a great souice of inspiration. Pick up the phone. Be a Local Hero. ^ AHA - ttsasr A New Spirit of Giving A ''n* to ' •'lunwcrini; You need not shoulder all the load As you travel that rocky, uphill road. Sit awhile - look around Try to find a more even ground Rise up - reach out your hand over here I’ll share your load, I’m a volunteer. by Norm Bowers. Volunteer & Board Member. �NOTICE TO ALL WHO SEND FAXES TO THE AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY PLANTS |p * i ACT-B DOES NOT OWN A FAX MACHINE. OUR AGENCY HAS BEEN USING A FAX SERVICE FOR RECEIVING AND TRANSMITTING DOCUMENTS. WE HAVE DONE AN INTERNAL REVIEW OF THE COST AND NECESSITY OF THIS SERVICE. WE HAVE DECIDED TO STOP USING IT. THE AIDS COMMITTEE WOULD LIKE TO SPRUCE UP THE OFFICE WITH SOME PLANTS. IF YOU HAVE A PLANT THAT YOU NO LONGER WANT OR WOULD LIKE TO DONATE ONE, BRING IT TO US. IT WOULD HELP MAKE THE RESOURCE CENTRE FEEL MORE INVITING. FLOWERING PLANTS, IVYS, CACTI, FERNS, TALL PLANTS, SMALL PLANTS, SOME THAT LOVE SHADE, SOME THAT LOVE LIGHT (WE FINALLY HAVE LOTS OF WINDOWS), FLOWERING WHATNOTS... ALL ARE WELCOME. PLEASE TAKE CAREFUL NOTICE: THE AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY HAS CANCELLED ITS FAX SERVICE. THIS CANCELLATION OF SERVICE IS EFFECTIVE AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1991. PLEASE REMOVE OUR FAX NUMBER FROM YOUR COMMUNICATIONS LISTS. Should you need to contact us for some urgent reason, you may do so by telephone. THE AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY wishes to thank the businesses and individuals who donated to our holiday baskets. The baskets were distributed to people living with AIDS in Thunder Bay and/or their families. CINEPLEX ODEON VICTORIA AVE. CINEPLEX ODEON VICTORIAVILLE DELI EXPRESS FANNY’S FABRICS MAGNUS THEATRE ROBIN’S DONUTS SAFEWAY COURT ST. SAFEWAY REGIONAL OFFICE < SECOND CUP KESKUS ZELLER’S COUNTY FAIR ZELLER’S INTERCITY Leona Bergkvist Joanne Books Marion & Norm Bowers Anne Ciemny Marilyn Dunbar Ray Gagnon Karen & David Goose Brad Hetsler Gail Linklater Richard & Teresa Michano Jeanette Munshaw Barbara Rivard Diane Roberts Laura Spiller Mike Topp Margaret Traer Stan Weinsheimer Hazel Wohni And thank you to Ernie Jeffery and Joyce Barnes for the Christmas tree. page 6 �MAGIC Wait And See As the world is becoming more and more aware of the AIDS issue, I see that a lot could have been done sooner. Because of the way it was perceived as a disease of the oppressed, a lot of people chose to ignore it. They joked and laughed as homosexuals were dying of the disease. Until a few high profile atheletes began to succumb, then, some people began to take notice. To no avail, litde was still being done. This may sound like old hat news to those who are aware of this issue, it isn’t to a lot of Native communities in the Northwest area of Ontario. I shudder to think some Native leaders and their voters chose to ignore this issue because of their negative attitudes. Perhaps, we as First Nations people need to know how to heal before we go on to govern ourselves. The disease is now everywhere and we should always think ahead of the growth of the illness. AIDS like alcoholism is non-discriminatory and may prove to be more devastating than the latter. So, Anishinabe, take note...The basketball and hockey players have. Gabriel Kakeeway As a dedicated volunteer at ACT-B I could not allow my­ self to exclude an article on the impact MAGIC JOHNSON had on me. Before his astounding appearance on TV that November day when he announced to the world that he had HIV VIRUS, I really did not know too much about this SUPER BASKET­ BALL PLAYER. However, when I heard HIV/AIDS on the news broad­ cast, I immediately glued myself to my TV screen and drank in all the news broadcasts. His per­ sonal appearance, and special news casts and special appear­ ances connected to this story that day and the following days that week kept my interest. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that terrible happenings have a way of turning out good, if you truly believe. We have lost the best basketball player in all the history of basketball, but we have gained a great AID to the dreaded disease of HIV/AIDS. What better help could we have received than this MAGIC HERO of all people to tell the world he has abecome inflicted with this disease. Now, more people are listening, now many are seeking information, as they realize it is time to put aside the fear and replace it with education and action to prevent further spread of the disease. I applaud this beautiful, positive man for what he did, for what he is going to do, and for what all of us all over the world will gain from his experience. Spiritually, educationally, and financially, MAGIC JOHNSON has really come to our AID. We have the "MAGIC” on our side now! HURRAH FOR US! Anne Ciemny Assistant Editor. HIV Testing and Insurance Recently, we have become aware that more and more insurance companies are requiring HIV tests of people applying for insurance. Often urine samples are used for the tests, and sent out of the province. The urine tests are not licensed in Ontario and are often unreliable. We are also concerned, because people tested this way are not adequately supported through the knowledgeable counselling which is vital to the testing process. Not all insurance companies operate this way, so wr encourage you to shop around Be sure of what is happening before you agree to testing. If you have questions, please give us a call. �The QUILT is Coming to Thunder Bay October 8 -11, 1992 to the P.A.C.I. Gymnasium The AIDS Committee Is bringing the Quilt to Thunder Bay to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS In our community. This will be both an educational event and a fundraiser for the agency. What is the Quilt? It began as the Names Project in San Francisco in 1987 as a response to the human tragedy of lives lost to AIDS. The Canadian division of the Quilt is housed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It first toured in 1989, and continues to travel throughout Canada. Consisting of over 400 panels, it represents only a small percentage of those people who have died from AIDS in Canada. Each panel is lovingly commemorated to a lost friend, son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, father, friend or partner who has succumbed to AIDS. The Quilt is truly a work of art; a mosaic fabric representative of the diversity and uniqueness in each of us. The panels serve not only as loving memories, but also as tools to convert ignorance and insensitivity into understanding and compassion. VOLUNTEERS are needed for events leading up to bringing the Quilt here, and also for on site responsibilities, such as opening ceremonies, shifts during the display, closing ceremonies and cleanup, attendance and publicizing,etc. If you want to be a part of this great event, call Sheila at 345-1516. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 5 Issue 1 - Winter 1992 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2670/1992_reACT-Believe_vol5no2_[1992v2n4].pdf 3ca70bc54f860f9dc04ce0ecb9e2673c PDF Text Text ������������ https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2670/1992_reACT-Believe_vol5no2_[1992v2n4]_2.pdf 0fa933e1683bc867d4151f6c77213523 PDF Text Text reACT-Believe The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Spring 1992, Volume 2, Issue IV AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.O. 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE �GET READY! GET TESTED! ANONYMOUSLY! After years of advocacy by ACT-B and sister organizations in Ontario, anonymous testing for HIV antibodies will be available at various sites throughout the province. What does this mean? Testing for HIV antibodies has been available since 1985. A positive test result (being HIV +) must be reported to public health in Ontario. That means that your doctor or the STD Clinic (two of the most frequent sources for testing in Thunder Bay) would have to report your name if you had a positive test result, even if they "assured you of confidentiality". The rationale for reporting your name has traditionally been to do contact tracing, or what is now commonly called "partner notification". The likelihood of contact tracing having a major impact on the spread of HTV/AIDS is questionable. And it has always depended on the cooperation and honesty of the individual being tested. You may have heard some health care workers say that anonymous testing has always been available, that this is not new, that all you had to do is make up a name, lie when you go for the test, etc. What is interesting is that it has been those same individuals who have resisted making anonymous testing official. We have always believed you have a right to know your health status concerning HIV/AIDS without having to name yourself to public health. Or to lie about it. Well, now it’s official. You can request an anonymous test and not give any identifying information about yourself. If you are considering being tested, we suggest you request an anonymous test. The anonymous testing service will initially be available through the Thunder Bay District Health Unit STD Clinic. It is important that this not be the only available site, and we are continuing to work on alternative locations, in cooperation with TBDHU staff. ACT-B will keep you informed of how and where to access anonymous HIV testing through it’s newsletter, as well as special promotional materials. You should be aware that, if you test HIV +, and then seek treatment from a doctor, the doctor still must report your name to public health. We are working with the Ministry of Health to change that reporting requirement. For now, accurate, candid and up to date information coupled with sensitive pre and post test counselling is what you should expect and demand, wherever you are being tested. If you don’t receive that, please call us. We can help you. page 2 OGDEN-EAST END COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE PROGRESS REPORT The Centre has taken several steps towards becoming operational since the announcement of funding by the Ministry of Health in April 1990. We are now located at 607 Simpson Street and from this temporary base we hope in the near future to be able to provide health services to the Ogden-East End Community which will include health promotion, illness prevention and primary health care. Our staff is at present very actively getting to know the community, discovering the resources available and discovering what services residents feel are important. We welcome enquiries, suggestions, visits, new members and potential volunteers. Our staff at present consists of: Janice Hewson, Executive Director; Debbie Inman, Administrative Assistant; Alison McMullen, Health Promoter; Darwin Bakke, Outreach Worker; Lorraine Thomson, Community Health Nurse; Kelly Lyytinen, Receptionist and Lori Trelinski, Medical Secretary. Our physician, Dr. Christine Peat will be joining us in April. Expanded services in our permanent location are of course still some time off. As soon as we have finished the planning work which is now underway, we will be able to start providing health care with a difference to the Ogden-East End Community. �DONATIONS WANTED Here we grow again!!! ACT-B is soon to take occupancy of Phase Two of the Resource Centre. This new addition to the office will house a Board Room (which will also be used for Education and Volunteer Training Sessions), a classroom/activity room for Support Services and much needed supply storage. The expansion will bring the Centre’s total space to a comfortable 2,700 square feet. Even though we have been at our new location for over nine months, plans are in the works for an official opening. No date has been set but we’ll keep you posted. We may even be able to have the Minister of Health in attendance. Vision ON!!! Recently the Board and Staff held a one day development workshop on planning. While we didn’t exactly develop a plan, good work lwas done at reviewing and revising our Mission Statment and Goals. At the last Executive Committee meeting it was suggested that material from the workshop could be the ground work for a visioning session at the next Annual General Meeting in November. The agency will bring in a skilled outside facilitator to lead us in a bit of a dreaming excercise about what the agency should look like and be doing three to five years from now. This will be a great opportunity for the members to get involved in shaping our future. The last time this was done was over four years ago and the agency achieved those plans. Some Board and Staff members are involved in some prepatory work now. Look for updates in following newsletters and be ready for an evening of "seeing the future" in November. On line with D.I.S.C. In January ACT-B subscribed to the Disabilty Information Services of Canada (DISC). This service is a computer network funded by the federal Secretary of State. It is based in Calgary. The network is for individuals with any disabiltiy or organizations to use for communicating, sharing infomation about treatments or news and informing people of upcoming conferences or events across Canada. ACT-B’s Education Coordinator helped to set up our computer so we can communicate with other groups. The Canadian AIDS Society and the Ontario AIDS Network have also joined DISC and individual agencies are coming on line. AIDS is a new component to DISC but it will sure to be a very active part of the network in the near future. DISC is available for clients if they wish. If there are computer knowlegeable volunteers out there that wish to learn how to use it and train others on how to use the system please call the office and speak with Lawrence. page 3 We are looking for donations to make up gift baskets for clients who are hospitalized. If you can contribute any of the following, please drop them off at the office or call for pick-up. - baskets (any type) - ribbon or other decorative items - paperbacks or magazines - small puzzles or games - any item you think might make a neat addition to a gift basket We will be adding perishable items, such as candy and cookies, as the baskets are put together. Thank you for helping add a little cheer. NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR SERVICE USERS The ACT-B Support Services Department, in conjunction with the Volunteer Department, is compiling and analyzing information about client needs. The information is being gathered in a simple survey of current clients who access our services. The goal of the survey is to gather up to date information about what ACT-B services clients use, what ACT-B services are not used and why, as well as what additional client needs exist that are not being addressed. The information will help planning Support Services for the future. Survey results are coming in and the analysis stage is beginning. Glenna MacLeod, Support Services Coordinator and Sheila Berry, Volunteer Coordinator, thank all of the respondents who participated in the survey. �ACT-B Advisory Council Fred Ball Norman Bowers Dianne Britton Beth Huston Mary McKenzie Marie Portier Eleanor Richardson Steve Roede Nicky Tittley Director, Public Health Laboratory ACT-B Board Representative Coordinator STD Clinic, Thunder Bay District Health Unit Director of Administration, Kinn-awaya Legal Clinic Coordinator, Palliative Care, McKellar Hospital Residential Care Worker Educator & TVO Regional Liason Family Physician Supervisor of Infection Control, P.A.G.H. ACT-B Board ot Directors Gallois’ Revelation "If you put tomfoolry into a computer, nothing comes out but tomfoolery. But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine is somehow enobled and no one dares to criticize it." Please give us your feedback! Comments, concerns, compliments and criticisms about the newsletter, our publications, or about any aspect of the agency. You can phone or mail. You can remain anonymous if you wish. We’d like to know your comments in order to improve on weak points, and continue to deliver our strong points. Thank you to the agencies and individuals who have given us their comments. They are greatly appreciated. Write to: AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.O. Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 Kathryn Arnold Rick Atkinson Norman Bowers Joanne Books Susan Ivany Gail Linklater Mary Ann Morriseau Carol Nicholson April Richardson Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Ted Romanowski Director Treasurer Secretary Director Director Vice President Director Director Director Director President Director ACT-B Staff David Belrose Sheila Berry Meghan Blanchette John Books Gabriel Kakeeway Lawrence Korhonen Glenna McLeod Michael Sobota ».d b Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Secretary Fundraising/Communications Coor. Native Outreach Coordinator Office Manager Support Services Executive Director p oo o o 0 o o Q O a oa a n gap HOW TO BE A LOCAL HERO (807) 345-1516 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 pjn. John Books, Editor, reACT-Believe Anne Ciemny, Assistant Editor The opinions and medical information offered by ReACT-Believe are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by ReACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. MAKE GIVING A FAMILY AFFAIR Local l Icroc* know that when everyone in wtur family helps decide which c.iuici to support, everyone shares in the rewards ot giving. Make giving a pan ot your familv plans and Jamils budget. You’ll all be ■. . I aval Horoo s/’ ± A V» i -0 r.nmg I page 4 i 3 'o �AIDS: WHY IS SCIENCE FAILING? Below are reprints of two newsletter articles which point to a concern with widely accepted theories of what HIV actually is. The articles do not dispute the means of transmission or prevention. They do call into question the process by which disease progression occurs in the body. The first is an edited English translation of an article which appeared in the October 12, 1991 edition of the Jomal da Tarde, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Reprinted from Vancouver PWA. Written by B. Els wood and Drs. R. Strieker and W. Neves. What is Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HTV) really doing in AIDS? From the days of Koch and Pasteur, Western medicine’s approach to the treatment of infectious diseases has traditionally been to identify the causative organism and then to develop a treatment to inactivate that organism. When AIDS came on the scene in the early 1980’s, the same paradigm for treatment was applied: first, find the causative organism, then develop a strategy to neutralize it. HTV was first isolated from the blood of AIDS patients in 1983. It was identified as the cause of AIDS in 1984. This retrovirus was found to infect a cell of the immune system called the CD4 "helper” T lymphocyte, or T4 cell. Based on this finding, an industry was bom which has now grown into multi­ billion dollar operations expressly for the purpose of finding a strategy to neutralize HTV and to prevent it from infecting T4 cells. Since macrophages have also been found to be infected by HIV, it was thought that the same strategy should address both T4 cell and macrophage infections in a preventative vaccine or antiviral regimen. Unfortunately, this paradigm of AIDS is fraught with inconsistencies that have not been addressed by the HTV industries. First, the number of HTV-infected T4 cells and macrophages is actually minuscule Qess than one in five hundred), far too small an amount to account for the catastrophic cell loss seen in AIDS. Second, the long latency period of AIDS, now thought to be as long as 8-12 years, cannot be explained by the simple HTV infection model. Third, subtle defects in T4 cell activation are seen long before there is any significant reduction of T4 numbers in the blood, and long before the onset of overt symptoms. At least three other paradoxes are not explained by the standard model of HTV infection. First, AIDS patients appear to be resistant to most ordinary colds and flues in which immunoglobulin protection is involved. Second, use of steroids (which are immunosuppressive) has shown benefit in treatment of PCP and in other AIDS-related pathologies. The highly immunosuppressive drug, cyclosporine, has also transiently increased T4 cells, when, under the popular model of the disease, it should have actually done the opposite. Third, a small percentage of long-term HTVinfected individuals have never developed clinical symptoms, or, if symptoms have appeared, it is only swollen lymph glands. Among these long-term survivors, a common blood trait is that they �usually have significantly elevated levels of CD8 suppressor T cells or T8 cells. These patients seem to remain asymptomatic as long as their T8 cell count are elevated and regardless of T4 cell levels, which may in fact be very low. Given these inconsistencies and paradoxes, the model of AIDS as a disease of progressive HTV infection and destruction of T4 cells is severely wanting. However, the leading scientists and researchers charged with finding solutions to the epidemic still cling exclusively to the singular, narrow HTV model of disease progression. They have been dismissive and generally scornful of any alternative model of the disease even when presented with evidence. A recent report in a prominent European immunology journal demonstrates convincingly that the crucial targets of HIV infection are the Langerhans cells of the skin and the dendritic cells of the blood. What this important finding means is that the entire AIDS industry has, hitherto, been basing its therapies on the wrong target cells and the wrong model of disease causation. If HTV doesn’t kill Langerhans and dendritic cells, is there an alternative model of disease to account for the pathogenesis of AIDS? The answer is yes. AIDS is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmunity is a disease condition caused by a persons immune system attacking that person’s own body organs. Examples are rheumatoid arthritis (and immune attack on joints) or myasthenia gravis (an attack on the nervous system). Recently, another autoimmune condition called Grave’s disease was diagnosed in President and Mrs. Bush in the U.S. Mounting evidence indicates that AIDS is also autoimmune in nature. The key feature in AIDS however is that rather than attacking some other organ system of the body, the HIV-altered immune system is actually engaged in attacking itself. In particular, the immune system attacks its own foundation, the Langerhans and dendritic cells. Langerhans cells, upon encountering a virus or other infectious agent, immediately take it up and migrate through the lymph vessels to the regional lymph nodes where they begin maturing into the dendritic cells found in the blood and spleen. Dendritic cells present this antigen to T4 cells. Thus any pathogen encountered by Langerhans cells is eventually telegraphed to the entire immune system, stimulating the resting T cells into immune activity. Research indicates that AIDS is not an immune "deficiency" per se, but actually begins as an overstimulated or page 2 overheated activation of the immune system. Once an infection has occurred, and after a sufficient number of LC/DC have become infected (the so-called latency period), LC/DC send out faulty immune activation signals. The resultant disorder is reflected in the qualitative immune dysfunction known as AIDS-related complex. It is soon followed by a quantitative dysfunction because the infected LC/DC are now seen as "foreign" or "not-self' by the rest of the immune system. Unless arrested and reversed, this process breaks exponentially into terminal AIDS. Once the autoimmune process is underway, the original triggering agent (HTV) is no longer involved in the disease and can for all practical purposes be absent (the hit and run effect). Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost due to wrong assumptions about HTV’s role in causing AIDS, and wrong assumptions about the best strategies to treat it. The deadly implication of their error only seems to reinforce the hesitancy of those in charge of AIDS clinical research to change directions. It seems just too awful to admit. And that is why science is failing in the battle against this disease. What is now needed is not the development of more antiviral drugs, but new immunomodulators of the LC/DC system, and treatment strategies to autoimmunity while allowing restoration of proper immune function. �AIDS Pathogenesis: Introductory, Background Articles Published by John S. James This article was reprinted with permission from AIDS Treatment News, a twice-monthly newsletter. AIDS Treatment News provides the most accurate, up-to-date treatment information available as well as examining public policy issues. Available by subscription. To request more information write to ATN Publications, P.O. Box 411206 San Francisco,CA 94141 or call either 800- TREAT-1-2 (800-873-2812) or 415-256-0388 , The pathogenesis of AIDS, or how the disease actually develops, was widely neglected during most of the epidemic, but has recently become a major focus of research. The early "conventional wisdom," that HIV infects T-helper cells and kills them, resulting in immune deficiency because of the loss of these cells, was generally accepted without much thought, and is still the basis of AIDSeducation material for the public. This theory has a number of problems, however, especially: (1) Only a small fraction of Thelper cells are infected at any one time in persons with latent HTV infection or with AIDS, and the body could easily replace these cells; and (2) the theory does not explain the long delay in the development of disease, with an average of about ten years between infection and AIDS. Over the last few years it has become clear to researchers that much was unknown about how the virus actually causes disease in the body. The issue is important because the old theory only suggested one basic approach to fighting AIDS - stopping the virus. There were also thoughts about "boosting" the immune system, but without an understanding of how this system had been damaged, it was difficult to design rational therapies. Even the development of antivirals was hindered because it was not known which cells were most important in the infection. Today there are a number of newer theories of pathogenesis. Most of them focus on how HTV could kill Thelper cells indirectly, other than by infecting them. These new theories are not mutually exclusive; it is likely that several of them may be true. To the extent that they are supported by newfindings as more research is done, they may help guide efforts to develop treatments to greatly reduce the damage caused by HTV, as well as to design better antiviral drugs. HTV primarily infects T-helper cells which are in lymph nodes, not circulating in the blood. This infection has tended to be overlooked, because it is harder to measure in clinical trials, since lymph-node biopsies would be required. * Dendritic cells, these immune-system cells, in the skin and mucous membranes, are more easily infected by HIV than Thelper cells. They may be a major reservoir of infection, and pass it on to the T-helper cells. A recent article in The New York Times ("How AIDS Smolders: Immune System Studies Follow the Tracks of HIV," by Gina Kolata, March 17, 1992) provides an accessible introduction to several of the newer theories of pathogenesis, including: * Superantigens. Antigens are substances, often produced by bacteria or viruses, which are capable of stimulating an immune response. Ordinary antigens will not do so unless they match two different parts of the T-cell receptor (a molecule on T-helper or T-killer cells) called the alpha and beta chains. In any one individual there are many different kinds of alpha and beta chains, and they are combined at random in different T-cells, giving many millions of different combinations. Most antigens, therefore, are selectively recognized by only a few of the of the many T-cells in the body. * Infection of lymph nodes. This theory suggests that Superantigens, produced by some bacteria and some viruses. pages �attach to the beta chain only; this process commonly kills the cell, by unknown mechanisms which may involve overstimulation. A single superantigen can therefore kill the whole class of cells with a given beta chain, since it does not matter what the alpha chain is. It is suspected that HIV can produce a superantigen, although this is not known for sure. Mutations of the virus could cause changes in the superantigen, destroying cells with one kind of beta chain after another. Recently a research group at the University of Brescia in Italy found that certain beta chains were missing in the T-helper cells of persons with HIV, although the alpha chains were normal, strongly suggesting that a superantigen was killing the cells. ("Selective Depletion in HIV Infection of T-Cells that Bear Specific T Cell Receptor V Beta Sequences," by L. Imberti and others, Science, November 8, 1991, pages 860-862.) * Programmed cell death (also called apoptosis). It is believed that when T-cells develop, they have a "suicide program" built in, as part of the body’s means of allowing the immune system to distinguish "self' (its own proteins and other potential antigens) from "non­ self' (foreign substances, usually from bacteria or viruses). According to a theory called clonal deletion, which is becoming widely accepted, random variations in inherited genes cause the development of many millions of different T-cell receptors in any one individual; this group of many different kinds of cells would cause an immune response against the body’s own cells as well as against an invader. But at a certain stage of development, immature T-cells are killed in the thymus if they are activated by any antigen. Since only the body’s own antigens are present then, any cells which are activated at that stage are killed (by their own suicide program), leaving only cells which will not attack the body. It is possible that HTV causes abnormal recurrence of this suicide program later, in mature cells. There are several other theories of AIDS pathogenesis. One important possibility is that HIV causes autoimmunity, an abnormal immune response against other cells in the body perhaps against immune - system cells. [Note: for background on the clonal deletion theory, see "How the Immune System Learns About Self," Scientific American, October 1991, pages 74-81.] The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay does not recommend, advocate or endorse the use of any particular treatments) or therapy described In ReACT-Believe. The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay therefore, does not accept the risk of, or responsibility for, any damages, costs or consequences of any kind whatsoever which may arise or result, either from use or reliance on the information contained herein, or due to any errors contained herein. Persons relying on the information provided must do so at their own risk. Please consult your health professional. page 4 �WE SALUTE OUR VOLUNTEERS Volunteer Appreciation Week April 27th through May 02, 1992 From Sheila: As we at the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay are well into another calendar year, we can look back proudly on 1991 at all our accomplishments, and feel grateful and glad that we logged over 4000 volunteer hours. These hours were given freely by our talented and dedicated volunteers, in a multitude of activities; committee work, board meetings, bingos, office support, client support, special events, yard sales, education displays, bedrose making, and endless list of tasks that maintain a high level of service to the Thunder Bay District in confronting HIV/AIDS and advocating for and supporting people both infected and affected by this disease. In the coming year, I am asking for your continued support. There are greater challenges before us as we realize a larger fundraising commitment, and a growing HIV/AIDS presence in our city and surrounding area. I will take a moment to recognize some of the volunteers who have made significant contributions in the year of ’91. Rick Atkinson-for keeping the rest of us in "check", for his committee work, and his laugh. Joanne Books-for her board and commitee work, all the extra stuff she gets talked into, and for cleaning up all leftovers in the office, and for her sense of humour! Norm Bowers-for everything!! Enough cannot be said about the multitude of things this guy does. Norm is retired, but he’s still working! Board member, coin-boxes, client support, office support, committees, Guy Friday. Marion Bowers-for supporting Norm in his work here and for hanging in with the Nevada Tickets at bingo. Anne Ciemny-for being so-o-o efficient, so-o-o dedicated, so-o-o organized, so-o-o positve. Anne is also retired but nothing slows this gal down. She’s great!! Denyse Culligan-for bringing the SECOND CUP to ACT-B’s events, and providing us with excellent teas and coffee, for continuing to be a supportive member. Karen Ferland-for lending her bookkeeping skills and for helping us throughout the year. Dr. John Fernandez-for his support! Maria Fiorot-for helping out at special events, and for hanging in at the Casino, when she had get up at 5 a.m. Brian Holden-who’s always avilable for artisitLc consultation and other related tasks. Susan Ivany-Board Member, committees, a real mean Casino dealer and driving force to bring the Canadian Quilt to Thunder Bay in Oct ’92. Ida Korhonen-for being versitile in her volunteering, bingos, phones, education booth, committees, yard sales, special events. Loretta Kwasnieski-who put her talents of massage to work for clients. David Lawrence-for driving clients to appointments and being a source of support, and those bingos! Gail Linklater-for her patience and understanding on support issues, and for sitting on the Board. Lornie and Tina-for making a new volunteer, Kayle Landon, and for their help at bingo, and other various tasks, Tina for help with reception, and cutting client’s hair. Lornie for his muscles. Sonya Matijek-for co-facilitating the support group for Family, Friends, and Carepartners, and for helping out at Special Events, Nevadas at bingo, and her sewing and craft skills. Theresa Michano-for assistance with the Quilt, bingos, education, and little suprizes. Jeannette Munshaw-for her expertise and calm while serving on the board and other committees. Any news yet? Carol Nicholson-for her efforts in education, sitting on the current board, her computer skills, and her easy going manner. Cathy Powell-for all her work on the Canadian AIDS Society’s Fundraising page 5 Committee, assistance at bingo, Candlelight Vigil, Volunteer Appreciation, Christmas Baskets, commitees, etc. What a gal! Bob Richardson-for his work on the Fun Run/Walk and fundraising efforts. Diane Roberts-President of the Board of Directors, works bingos, special events, signs cheques, and has a good ear whenever called upon. Willie Roberts-for those early morning airport drives, for being so instrumental in the ACT-B relocation, for finding unusual acts for our Safer Sex Cabarets. Ted Romanowski-for help with phones, coin-boxes, sitting on the Board, bingos, and special events. Melanie Shaw-for phones, stuffing, Christmas Baskets Laura Spiller-bingo calling with a smile! LaVerne St.Pierre-for helping out at the office, bingos, special events, Christmas Baskets. Mike Topp-for his tremendous efforts in raising pledges for the Fun Run/Walk, and ongoing support for clients. Debbie Whistleward-for her ongoing efforts in education, through distributing pamhlets, condoms, and talking to people about HIV/AIDS prevention. To those who regulary have helped out with reception; Carla Armstrong, Leona Bergkvist, Terri Cupello, Brad Hetsler, Nell Kivipelto, Wendy Luck, Melanie Shaw, Justus Zela. To our GREAT BINGO CREW!!! To Staff who also put in volunteer hours in Fundraising, Support, and Education. To volunteers who have baked for our events. To all the volunteers who helped with the FUN RUN/WALK Oct ’92. TO ALL ACT-B VOLUNTEERS WHO HAVE HELPED US TO COME THIS FAR! �A Look at AIDS Service Organizations in Ontario The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay is participating in a research study which will examine AIDS service organizations in three cities in Ontario: Thunder Bay, Hamilton and Toronto. The study is being conducted by Dr. Roy Cain, who teaches in the school of Social Work at McMaster University in Hamilton. The project is funded by the National Welfare Grams Program, Health and Welfare Canada. The project will examine how AIDS service organizations have changed over time and the social forces which have shaped their development. The study also aims to identify the struggles faced by these organizations and the problems they confront. Dr. Cain says "By comparing the information from the three groups, this study will help show how geography and social setting impact AIDS services in various communities. An important aim of the project is to identify the common issues and struggles of AIDS organizations. At the same time," he adds, "we want to show how the local context in which the organizations operate can create special challenges for workers." Dr. Cain expects to finish his examination of the three Ontario groups by December 1992. A preliminary report will be prepared by the end of the year. He then hopes to look at three AIDS organizations in Quebec during 1993, with a final comparative report expected to be completed by the end of 1993. AIDS: THE BRIGHTER SIDE Having worked with my people in regards to the issue of AIDS, I have been amazed to see that we are not so afraid. There are however, some communities that are just beginning to realize this disease can happen to anyone at anytime. I have been doing workshops on AIDS and have found out that those who have had previous presentations were given the "doom and gloom" approach and did not like what they heard. For the most part people want a positive approach, ie. Education = Prevention. They also do not want to be talked down to. I for one believe that death is not such an uncommon spectre for reserve and urban Natives alike. It is sad in a way that we have become so used to having someone pass on. We’ve had about 500 years of experience on that matter. The condom demonstrations have been one highlight. I have watched our older people struggle to accept rubber usage. They willingly accept this challenge. There have been many times when I have laughed with them as they process their changing attitudes. When explained properly and respectfully, there seems to be less of a threat to the moral issues of those involved. page 6 The growing number of aboriginal PLWA/H1V sharing their experiences has helped to illustrate the risk situation. Some people have stepped forward to say their Native spirituality helps to ease their fears and that has also helped them to survive longer. Although I have spoken of Natives in general, it is important to note that AIDS strikes everyone the same way. I have only explained what is happening at the present time. Next year, the story will be different, hopefully it will be better. Gabriel Kakeeway KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE QUILT MANY VOLUNTEERS WILL BE NEEDED �NEWS FROM THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SO YOU WANT TO BE IN TELEVISION This fall and winter will be an exciting time for ACT-B as we make a return to television. Maclean Hunter Cable 7 Television has agreed to the production of a series of TV programs. Starting in October with coverage of the Quilt display, the series will continue monthly through to April. A mix of pretaped and live shows will provide a way for us to promote our services and reach large numbers of people. This venture will take a lot of cooperative effort - creating, writing, producing, appearing on-air, doing production work (camera, audio, electronic graphics, etc.). No experience is required, as Maclean Hunter will provide the necessary training. As the series develops, we will be promoting it So watch for it. If you think you might be interested in being a pan of it, give us a call. PROGRAM EVALUATION Over the rest of this year, we will be evaluating our education and prevention programs. We need to sharpen our focus, to get the best results for our effons. If you have any comments or suggestions to make, please write or give us a call. OUTREACH TOUR 1992 Pan of ACT-B’s commitment to education has been outreach to communities throughout Northwestern Ontario. The Spring Outreach Tour for 1992 will involve some 36 presentations in 21 communities. This has been an important service over the past few years, but this will be our last outreach tour with current funding. In the future, presentations and workshops outside Thunder Bay will be possible only on a cost-recovery basis. Our thanks go those who have participated, and we hope you will carry on the important work of prevention and education in your communities. We continue to be available as a resource. "TAKING CARE: A GUIDE FOR CAREGIVERS" The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay is pleased to announce the publication of our newest publication. "Taking Care: A Guide for Caregivers" is a booklet designed for families, Mends, lovers, and carepartners of people who are living with HIV infection or AIDS. Written in an easy to understand manner, the booklet covers a wide range of basic information, and offers direction to additional resources. With a focus on local resources, we believe this will be of use to any person or family dealing with HTV infection or AIDS. The booklet is available at a cost of $2.00 per copy, or $1.50 per copy on orders of 20 copies or more. Tax and shipping are extra. We believe this to be a useful publication, welcome your inquiries. page 7 �The AIDS Committee Is bringing the Quilt to Thunder Bay to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS In our community. This will be both an educational event and a fundraiser for the agency. What is the Quilt? It began as the Names Project in San Francisco in 1987 as a response to the human tragedy of lives lost to AIDS. The Canadian division of the Quilt is housed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It first toured in 1989, and continues to travel throughout Canada. Consisting of over 400 panels, it represents only a small percentage of those people who have died from AIDS in Canada. Each panel is lovingly commemorated to a lost friend, son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, father, friend or partner who has succumbed to AIDS. The Quilt is truly a work of art; a mosaic fabric representative of the diversity and uniqueness in each of us. The panels serve not only as loving memories, but also as tools to convert ignorance and insensitivity into understanding and compassion. VOLUNTEERS are needed for events leading up to bringing the Quilt here, and also for on site responsibilities, such as opening ceremonies, shifts during the display, closing ceremonies and cleanup, attendance and publicizing,etc. If you want to be a part of this great event, call Sheila at 345-1516. ( � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 5 No 2 - Spring 1992 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2671/1992_reACT-Believe_vol5no3_[1992v3n4].pdf be9afbdf7a0315cae4b9036dbc4aa111 PDF Text Text �������� https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2671/1992_reACT-Believe_vol5no3_[1992v3n4]_2.pdf 6511fb9167257dff1a146324be7f571d PDF Text Text reACT-Believe Summer 1992, Volume 3, Issue TV AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.0.3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE The Quilt Visiting Thunder Bay, October 8 to 11,1992 at ihc 1’AC.L Gymnasium AN EDUCATIONAL .AND FUNDRAISING EVENT TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF THE IMPACT OF HIY/A1DS ON OUR COMMUNITY act-b Pmirrronrrpi. an awl rlnagn mmrihwcd In Hmdrrwin Delta I alt-hill Marlt-iiiiR (Vimmuniratinm * (j 4>«ir «-p.ir.ttinn\ rtmirihuirti In M2 House. • • Priming rnnrrilxiinl In ABC Primers in (Sty Name • Paper supplied In die Abitibi Price Prminrial Papers Mill nf Thunder Bat • This is a photocopy of a full colour poster designed for the Quilt. Henderson Delta Lakehill donated the design work and has negotiated for the paper and printing services. ACT-B is very grateful for this generous donation. �A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE A person’s attitude towards AIDS has a profound influence on the course of the illness. A positive expectation of recovery is likely to produce improved health, whereas a negative expectation more often results in physical and mental deterioration. This "selffulfilling prophecy" occurs because when people expect something to happen, they act in ways which increase the likelihood of that expectation coming true. With HIV, for example, if people believe that they can fight the disease, they tend to reorganize their lives around a less stressful and more healthy way of living. This often ameliorates the severity of their illness and can lead to periods of comparatively good health thus confirming the person’s original belief and expectation. In reverse, if a person feels that they are powerless to do anything about HTV, they tend to cither live fast and wild or totally neglect themselves. When this results in declining health, it only serves to confirm and reinforce their initial feelings of helplessness. "It’s no use feeling sorry for yourself," says Helen. Diagnosed with HIV, she’s convinced that a ’positive altitude’ is important. "There arc positive steps a person can take to stop themselves from getting sick. I find that I’m looking after my body better and that makes me feel better too. The fact that I’m taking more control over my life, gives me a sense of optimism which is reflected in the fact that I’m in a state of very good health... and I intend to stay that way." The role of expectations in affecting the functioning of the immune system is illustrated by Dr. Richard Smith’s experiments of the University of Arkansas. Seven tuberculin-positive patients were inoculated in one arm with tuberculin and the other arm with non-rcaclive substance. The frequent repetition of these injections established a behavioral conditioning in which the patient expected the reaction in one arm to always be positive and the reaction in the other arm to always be negative. Then, without the patient’s knowledge, the injections were switched to opposite arms. This resulted in a very drastically reduced immune reaction to the tuberculin injection - the swelling being on average only 4 mm in diameter instead of 15 mm. Dr. Smith therefore concluded that a patient’s expectation significantly affects their immune response. In a similar vein, the way attiludes toward an illness can influence its course of development was demonstrated by Dr. Simonlon in his study of cancer patients at Travis Air Force base in California. He found that patients with positive attitudes had better responses to treatment, whilst those with negative attitudes had poorer responses. Even more significantly, he discovered that patients who were very seriously ill, but had positive attitudes, recovered better than patients who had less severe cancers but negative attitudes. These findings were con finned by a study of breast cancer patients at Kings College Hospital in London. Of those who adopted a positive, optimistic and page 2 fighting response to their diagnosis, 45 per cent were still alive 15 years later, compared with only 17 per cent of those who responded negatively and fatalistically. This evidence suggests that although an optimistic and constructive mental approach may not guarantee recovery, it certainly will often lengthen life expectancy and increase the probability of survival. In the case of AIDS, even more so than cancer, a person is confronted by overwhelmingly negative attitudes and expectations: "Once you’ve got AIDS it’s too late... There’s nothing anyone can do...AIDS inevitably results in a rapid and painful death." These views are not realism, but pessimism. They look at AIDS in the worst conceivable light, and contrary to all scientific evidence, deny any chance of a hopeful prognosis. Negative attitudes and expectations are thus a denial of truth and reality. Adopting a positive mental attitude involves opening one’s eyes to the possibility of taking control of the future by acting in ways which help ease suffering and prolong survival. Rather than seeing HIV as an irreversible personal defeat and a noncommutable sentence of death, a positive response looks upon HIV as a personal challenge which has hopeful possibilities. In the words of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical, it means a commitment to "pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and start all over again". Bill, a person with AIDS, described how a positive mental approach helped him to survive and lead a worthwhile, enjoyable life: "Having AIDS is not necessarily a death sentence. But judging from the statistics and how the media often reports them, a person with AIDS could understandably feel helpless, lost and resolved to an early death. Yet that is not always Lhe case. �VISION ON... AN UPDATE Not every AIDS patiem is gravely ill. Many are doing extremely well living happy, productive and basically healthy lives. I am one of them. Having been diagnosed almost a year ago and having survived pneumocystis and a near fatal bout of cryptococcus meningitis, 1 am around to tell about it. I realize I have been lucky and my good fortune has been through a combination of excellent health care, a great support system, and a positive attitude... No matter that there is no cure at the moment for the disease, it is imperative to keep a positive attitude." The value of a defiant, optimistic and constructive response to AIDS was also vouched for by Roger who has AIDSRelated Complex. He recalled the consequences of "turning adversity into a virtue" through switching to a healthier lifestyle and radically reappraising his outlook on life: "My condition is stable and improving. Physically, I am getting a little better every month. Mentally, I am getting better every day...I have become a better person, with much to live for. I am doing everything in my power to get well... Now that I feel better about myself mentally, I’m feeling better physically." It’s not just that a positive mental altitude engenders a sense of emotional well-being; it also appears to have a strengthening effect on the body’s natural defences against infection. A study by Dr. Lydia Temoshok, of the University of California, in 1989 found that people with AIDS who were positive and assertive tended to have a belter functioning immune system than those who were distressed, passive and resigned to their fate. Reprinted from "AIDS: A Guide to Survival" Peter Tatchell The last newsletter reported that the Board and Staff would be revisiting the agency’s goals and looking ahead to the next three years. Since then, four evening workshops were held to develop new objectives for the agency. The group reviewed the activities of ACT-B by talking about their experiences with the agency. Everyone learned where we were all coming from and our reasons for being involved with ACT-B. From that point, the group dreamed a little about the next three years. All this discussion helped determine what current and new activities would be completed to meet ACT-B’s goals. Then, using these activities as a foundation, specific objectives were written for each goal. A complete report on the entire process is being prepared and can be made available to members on request. From the workshops, ACT-B also established the framework to carry out its mandate. The membership will be presented with this blueprint at the November Annual General Meeting and will be welcome to contribute their comments and ideas to further shape ACT-B’s three-year work plan. The Board’s responsibility will be to ensure the agency’s new objectives are achieved. A lot of work was involved in completing this goal-setting process. All those who participated were enthusiastic and contributed a substantial amount of excellent material. They deserve a round of applause for their efforts. ANONYMOUS TESTING IS AVAILABLE IN THUNDER BAY: PHONE 625-5981. You can now find out your individual health status concerning IIIV by being tested anonymously in Thunder Bay. The process is simple. All you have to do is phone 625-5981 to set up an appointment. During this initial phone call, you will be asked for a first name, in order to book an appointment. No other identifying information will be asked for. At the appointment, you will receive information to explain to you just what the test means, and to provide appropriate counselling relevant to your own personal situation. A blood sample will be taken and you will be given a date and time to return for your test results. Currently, this may be three weeks. Appointments are being accepted beginning July 21, 1992. paqe3 If you have any questions about anonymous testing, please call us at ACT-B: 345-1516. Accurate, candid and up to date information coupled with sensitive pre and post test counselling is what you should receive if you choose to be tested We’re here to help assure you receive that. �ACT-B Advisory Coundl Fred Ball Norman Bowers Dianne Britton Beth Huston Mary McKenzie Marie Portier Eleanor Richardson Steve Roedde Nicky Tittley Director, Public Health Laboratory ACT-B Board Representative Coordinator STD Clinic, Thunder Bay District Health Unit Director of Administration, Kinn-awaya Legal Clinic Coordinator, Palliative Care, McKellar Hospital Residential Care Worker Educator & TVO Regional Liason Family Physician Supervisor of Infection Control, P.A.G.H. ACT-B Board of Directors Write to: AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.O. Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 ACT-B Staff David Belrose Sheila Berry Meghan Blanchette John Books Karon Ferland Lawrence Korhonen Bonnie Kyle Glenna McLeod Alissa Setliff Michael Sobota Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Secretary Fundraising/Communications Coor. Counselling Conference Coordinator Office Manager A.AW. Coordinator Support Services Education Assistant Executive Director 3 HOW TO BE A localhf.ro (807) 345-1516 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. John Books, Editor, reACT-Believe Anne Cicmny, Assistant Editor Donna Lyons, Assistant Editor Carol Bold, Assistant Editor MAKE GIVING A FAMILY AR AIK The opinions and medical information offered by ReACT-Believe are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by ReACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. l .nc.il I Ivmv* know lli.il wltvn uniryolk' in yoiu l.imilv lv;l|" JccJc win. Ii. .imi-vto support, i*v«‘rv A N™ Spirit ..I ( -£~a ihjivt inihr rrwjnU.il piviilp,. M.ikr £iuu|;-i p4H ill youc I.imily pl.tns.mil family budget.’l.m'll dll lit 4 . • I.1H..1I I SetIK’S, - "If you put tomfoolry into a computer, nothing comes out but tomfoolery. But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine is somehow enobled and no one dares to criticize it." Please give us your feedback! Comments, concerns, compliments and criticisms about the newsletter, our publications, or about any aspect of the agency. You can phone or mail. You can remain anonymous if you wish. We’d like to know your comments in order to improve on weak points, and continue to deliver our strong points. Thank you to the agencies and individuals who have given us their comments. They are greatly appreciated. Director Treasurer Secretary Director Director Vice President Director Director Director Director President Director y g 's - s 'sr s -fr-tra 3 s - p ~o a -y-^~2r-zrTr-g~z>^B~a- Gallois’ Revelation Kathryn Arnold Rick Atkinson Norman Bowers Joanne Books Susan Ivany Gail Linklater Gabriel Kakeeway Carol Nicholson April Richardson Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Ted Romanowski ^ irrTrTrrTTirai? page 4 �The Resource Centre Open House, held Friday June 19, was a tremendous success. The opening ceremony hosted by ACT-B Vice President Gail Linklater, Board Member Ted Romanowski and provincial AIDS Coordinator Dr. Jay Browne - marked the finish of a three year plan and provided ACT-B with the opportunity to thank the Ontario Ministry of Health for its support in establishing the much needed new and expanded facility. Sharon Kennedy, representative from MPP Shelley Wark-Martyn’s office, presented ACT-B with a plaque and Dr. Browne cut the ribbon. The Resource Centre never looked better and everyone attending seemed impressed. A large meeting room was set up as the beverage and reception area and a smaller room displayed a variety of posters and a table of materials produced by ACTB. Some significant donations were also received, including two large floor plants and a framed poster of the movie "Long Time Companion" which ACT-B premiered in Thunder Bay. Many thanks go out to those involved including: Gail and Ted for their role in the opening ceremony, Karen Ferland for volunteering as "hostess" with the "mostest", Leona Bergkvist and Susan Gibbs for greeting guests and staffing the reception table and Lawrence Korhonen for planning and coordinating the event. Do ya gotta f-f-fridge you could give us, eh? The Centre is still in need of some things such as a fridge. The one that is here right now is about as big as a bread box. It can only hold about two tins of juice and a pint of cream for coffee. A larger fridge is desperately needed. Apartment size is probably most suited for the space it will go into, but we’ll take any larger fridge. If anyone out there has a fridge they are planning to get rid of, call 3451516. We’d be glad to take it off your hands. "Protocol or no, if he doesn't stop talking soon. I’m gonna eat him. “ Scene from an Ontario AIDS Network Meeting Daoe 5 �'KS'tiJS 7‘gOW 7VS SVUe#7WH T>SP1. So, do ya still wanna be in TV? THE SPRING OUTREACH TOUR April 21 - May 22, 1992 The 1992 Spring Outreach lour, possibly the last one in the foreseeable future, was highly successful. Divided into western and eastern portions, there were a total of 40 presentations in 18 communities reaching 1421 people, and covering 3967 kilometres. The western tour ran from April 21 to May 1, with 18 presentations in 8 communities, while the eastern tour ran from May 11 to 22, with 22 presentations in 10 communities. The main theme of the tour was "AIDS: A Challenge for our Community". The presentations were divided as follows: 9 public school, 13 high school, 4 hospital, 6 agency (health, social service, jail), and 8 community. There was good response from the presentations, although the community forums were usually sparsely attended. The coordination of the tour was smoothly done. /// thanks to the work of Joanne Books. This tour was the last one to be undertaken as part of our commitment to do outreach to Northwestern Ontario, based on Trillium Foundation funding. There seems to be a growing awareness of the fact that AIDS is an issue everyone must deal with, and everyone wants to know the numbers locally. Schools seem to be doing some work in AIDS education, with varying levels of impact. Work with agencies, including health care facilities, seems to be important. There are still a lot of myths and misconceptions, and these presentations provided an opportunity for people to get new information, and to voice their concerns. I want to thank all those who helped to organize the tour, and to express my appreciation for the hospitality you showed in each of the communities I visited. On June 16, a group of people ( Ihe Television Project Working Group) got together to talk about what kinds of shows we would like to present on Cable 7 TV. We will be doing half-hour shows in addition to a special on the Quilt. From a list of brainstormed ideas, the group came up with plans for the shows. Carol Nicholson helped the group establish a format that would make the work easier to do as well as keeping the shows consistent. There are two parts to the group working on this project. One is planning: this involves deciding what the content will be, planning the segments, and writing scripts as needed. The other part is technical: camera crews, directors, editors, VTR operators, sound and lighting crews will be needed. It is rumoured this is a fun thing to do. If you're worried that you’ve never done these things before, relax. McLean Hunter conducts regular workshops and will train our team. We’ll need people to work on scripts, and do some videotaping prior to the season starling. The aelual shows can probably be done in two or three nights in the fall, and three or four nights in the new year. Meegwetch, Gabe! In May this year, Gabriel Kakeeway left ACI-B to become’ AIDS Education Coordinator for Nishnawbc-Aski Nation. We were sorry to see Gabe leave, not only because of his professional skills, but also because of his personality and humanity. We all miss his humour and his clear sighted understanding of the work he does. Although our Native AIDS Project no longer exists as such, we are still available as a resource, and we expect to cooperate with Gabe in the future. We know that he will bring skill, knowledge and sensitivity to the continuing work of raising awareness about AIDS in the First Nations. We’d like to have people willing to commit for the season, although working a half season is possible. If any volunteers want to take part in this time limited project call David at the Resource Centre. Space is limited for the technical crews and some positions have already been filled. so ifyou want to be in television,... call 345-1516, now! Farewell and thank you^Gabe. Daae 6 �PREPARING FOR THE QUILT "Do it! Money will come when you are doing the right thing." Michael Phillips The First Law of The Seven Laws of Money. With this philosophy in mind, allow me to update the activities of the Quilt commitiee(s). The Working Quilt Committee, co­ chaired by Sheila Berry and myself, has been meeting once or twice per month for just over a year. In the Fall of 1991, the committee decided to "Do it" and confirmed with the Names Project Foundation Canada that our display would take place OCTOBER 8 -11, 1992, at the PACI GYMNASIUM. The Board of Directors had approved this decision in May 1991. We then agreed to form an Honorary Quilt Committee, whose members would act in an advisory capacity and would provide a much needed profile within the community. All members are well known, respected individuals in the community. Their ambassadorship and support of this project is indeed appreciated. This committee is co-chaired by Dusty Miller and myself, and has met twice. "Money will come..." Fundraising Update To date we have raised roughly $4,000 for the display. Another $4,500 is available to us through the AIDS Awareness Week budget. Our fundraising goal for the Quill display is approximately $10,000. Our pancake breakfast was great fun and raised $710. Thanks to the Second Cup Keskus for providing their delicious coffee and tea for our Quilt fundraising events. Also a special word of thanks to Sonja and Diane for making such great pancakes! The Ken Hamm Concert was a wonderful evening of music. Thanks to Ken, William Roberts, Rodney Brown, Damon Dowbak, Gibson Martin and I and their special guests the Abolition Dancers(a clogging group from Minneapolis). It was truly a great evening and we raised $400.00 for the Quilt. Wc will be holding two extra bingos at Diamond Bingo Hall on Friday, August 21 @ 10:00 p.m. and one on Sunday, September 13 <2> 1:00 p.m. If you are able to volunteer at these bingos, please give Sheila a call! These fundraising events will bring us to our goal without difficulty. Costs for the display include a fee to the Names Project for transporting the Quilt from it’s base in Halifax, hospitality for the crew that travels with the Quilt, advertising, promotion and other expenses. No admission is charged at the display, however, donations arc accepted and these go to the Support Fund which serves the emergency financial needs of PLWHIV/AIDS in Thunder Bay. Organization for the display is coming along well. Committee members are working hard to ensure that "all systems are go" when the Quilt arrives. So there you have it...a year ago the Quilt Committee and our Board of Directors decided that a display of the AIDS Quill was the "right thing to do". Now the funds are pretty much in place, the organizing is going well, and all of us are anticipating this event with much enthusiasm! Anyone interested in being involved with the Quilt, please contact either myself or Sheila. Susan Ivany Board Member and Co-chair of the Quilt Committee The cover of this issue shows the draft of a poster design for the Quilt Project. All the design work was donated by Henderson Delta Lakehill Inc. page 7 �Join us. Become a member! Members set our course at Annual Meetings. They are kept up-to-date about our work. They elect the Board of Directors who keep that work on track. AC.T-B Membership form. Name Address Postal Code Telephone Enclosed is: _____ $10 Membership fee _____ $25 Supporting membership fee _____ $ Donation Mail to: AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.O. Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 6E2 FIRST NOTICE MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL BEFORE A.G.M. To be eligible to vote at the Annual General Meeting, your membership must be up-to-date, (30 days prior to the meeting). The A.G.M. is in November. Please, renew your membership now. OPENING DOORS NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO CONFERENCE ON HTV/AIDS COUNSELLING Growing out of the Ministry’s counselling initiative in late 1990, this conference is a regional follow up designed to assist professionals in Northwestern Ontario who are involved in HIV/AIDS counselling issues. Although in the early planning stages, it is shaping up to be an informative and stimulating event. Topics will range from counselling to community development, with an emphasis on direct work with clients. We anticipate including client representation in order to provide two way learning and information exchange. The conference planning committee is comprised of local and regional members. Ihey include Michael Sobota and Glcnna McLeod, AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay; Vivian Johnston, Thunder Bay District Health Unit; Paul Johnston, McKellar Hospital; Rai Therrien, Northwestern Health Unit (Kenora) and Russel Angus, Community Consultant At present the conference is scheduled to take place in early November and will be held over approximately a day and a half. If you are interested in further information on topics, taking part, or have any questions/suggestions, please call Megan at the office. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 5 Issue 3 - Summer 1992 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2672/1992_reACT-Believe_vol5no4.pdf ffc9c2b6876a5f9f806222e1402dd13e PDF Text Text ������������ https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2672/1992_reACT-Believe_vol5no4_2.pdf 1934236405dd5ad63d7bd76edbc36ddb PDF Text Text reACT-Believe Fall 1992, Volume 5, Issue TV AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.0. 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE No More Fear No More Ignorance �ACT-B Advisory Council AIDS AWARENESS WEEK CALENDAR OF EVENTS SATURDAY. OCT. 3rd Fun Run/Pledge Walk Boulevard Lake at 9:00a.m. SUNDAY, OCT. 4th AIDS Awareness Week Brunch Lakehead University-Outpost 11:00a.m. MONDAY, OCT. 5th Tree Planting Ceremony Marina Park at 12:00 noon. AIDS InfoNight for Youths Thunder Bay Multicultural Centre 7:00p.m. TUESDAY, OCT. 6th Puppets Against AIDS & Mini Cabaret Prince Arthur Hotel at 8:00p.m. Tickets $5.00 WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7th Puppets Against AIDS Indian Friendship Ctr. Satellite location only, 704 McKenzie St., 8:00p.m. I THURSDAY. OCT. 8th Opening Ceremonies - The Canadian AIDS Quilt P.A.C.l at 8:00p.m. Puppets Against AIDS Lakehead University-Day performance FRIDAY, OCT. 9th Student Day/Quilt 9:00a.m. to 4:00p.mv P.A.C.l. Public Viewing/Quilt 4:00p.m. to 9:00p.m., P.A.C.l. Puppets Against AIDS Confederation College-Day performance SATURDAY. OCT. 10th (Public Viewing/Quilt 9:30a.m. to 9:00p.m., P.A.C.l. Candlelight Vigil 7:30p.m. Assemble at P.A.C.l. SUNDAY, OCT. 11th Volunteers! QUILT Closing Ceremonies 12:00-2:00p.m. Needed for Fun Run/ Walk and Canadian AIDS Quilt display. If you have a couple of hours, call Sheila, today, 345-1516. Fred Ball Norman Bowers Dianne Britton Beth Huston Mary McKenzie Marie Portier Eleanor Richardson Steve Roedde Nicky Tittley Director, Public Health Laboratory ACT-B Board Representative Co-ordinator STD Cinic, Thunder Bay District Health Unit Director of Administration, Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic Coordinator, Palliative Care, McKellar Hospital Residential Care Worker Educator & TV0 Regional Liaison Family Physician Supervisor of Infection Control, P.A.G.H. ACT-B Board of Directors Kathryn Arnold Rick Atkinson Norman Bowers Joanne Books Susan Ivany Gail Linklater Gabriel Kakeeway Carol Nicholson April Richardson Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Ted Romanowski Director Treasurer Secretary Director Director Vice President Director Director Director Director President Director ACT-B Staff David Belrose Sheila Berry Meghan Blanchette John Books Karen Feriand Lawrence Korhonen Bonnie Kyle Glenna McLeod Michael Sobota Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Secretary Fundraising/Communications Coor. Counselling Conference Coordinator Office Manager A.A.W. Coordinator Support Services Executive Director Please address any comments on reACT-Believe to: AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.O. Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P78 6E2 (807) 345-1516 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. John Books, Editor, Anna Ciemny, Assistant Editor Donna Lyons. Assistant Editor Carol Bold, Assistant Editor The opinions and medical information offered by reACT-Believe are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by reACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. �SO LONG, IT’S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA Well reality has finally sunk in, this is it, I’m out’a here. Now what? As most of you know I am off to Lakehead University to do my Masters in Social Work — wish me luck, I may need it. The good news is I am not totally abandoning the agency. I will be around as a volunteer on several committees that I am already involved in. I am not giving up my starring role in the upcoming television project. By the way, get those memberships in and come out and vote for me in the Fall elections; I am running for office, ACTB office that is. I will also maintain my involvement in trying to get a needle exchange going in this city -- wish me luck, I will need it. The way it looks you will see just as much of me in the future as you do now. There’s no getting rid of me! Another reality that has recently sunk in, is how much I am going to miss my job and everyone 1 work with. I would like to thank the staff for their support and friendship these last two years, without them I would probably have ended up in the "rubber room" on a few occasions. Thanks to the board members for all the hours they have dedicated to my department, especially Norm, Gail, Joanne and Rick. I would also like to thank the many other volunteers who have made llie running of the department so much easier. Yes, Anne this means you too, without your magic fingers I would never have had a five month plan. I would especially like to thank Michael for all his encouragement and support in making the transition out of the agency and on to my new endeavours. Last but not least I want to say a special thank you to all the clients that I have worked with these past two years, getting to know all of you has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my social work career and 1 will miss you all gready. In closing, I would like to welcome the new support services coordinator and wish him or her the best of luck in the agency. I know all of you will make this new member feel as much a part of the family as you did with me. Thanks again to everyone for two exciting and fulfilling years, Glenna McLeod. NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO HIV/AIDS COUNSELLING CONFERENCE ACT-B is organising a conference to look at issues concerning counselling about HIV/AIDS. The conference will take place on October 15-16 and will be held in the new Ontario Government Building , 189 Red River Road. A planning committee has been working hard over the summer months preparing the content and recruiting speakers for the event. The basic goal is to provide a forum where HIV/AIDS counselling issues can be discussed, information presented and personal counselling skills strengthened. Registration has reached capacity, with participants coming from all over the region. A Farewell to Glenna! It is difficult to believe that two years have come and gone. As much as it’s too bad to see you leave, we know it is not forever. I’m sure you’ll become one of our many active volunteers to help develop the agency to it’s fullesL potential. Good luck with your Masters Degree Program. I know it will be difficult, but you’ve overcome even more difficult obstacles working with us. Miss you, Russell Angus page 3 ACT-B wishes to thank the Ontario Ministry of Health for funding the conference. We also want to thank our Conference Planning Committee: Russell Angus - community consultant, Vivian Johnston - Thunder Bay District Health Unit, Paul Johnston- McKellor General Hospital, Glenna McLeod - ACTB Support Services Coordinator and Michael Sobota - ACT-B Executive Director. Karen Ferland has been coordinating and implementing the work coming from the Conference Planning Committee. �fm AH. VikVtf OP- UPE- REGISTRA TION PLEDGES The 1992 From All Walks of Life 5K Fun Run/Pledge Walk will be raising money to support Education and Support Services provided by the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay (ACT-B) services used by the people of Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario. Last year ACT-B’s client load doubled and the money raised from last year’s Fun Run/Walk helped us to increase our services. All you have to do is register to walk or run and have fun! With your registration, you will receive this year’s spectacular From All Walks of Life t-shirts to add to your collection. On race day join in the fun and racing snacks. Free with your registration are new friends and lots of smiles. Do not forget to sign the Waiver at the bottom of the attached registration form. If it is not signed your registration will be nullified. You can help by asking people in your community to pledge their support on the attached pledge form. PRIZES Don’t miss out on the prizes for pledges you collect - have your pledge form and pledges in by Friday, October 2nd. Drop them off at the ACT-B office at 217 S. Algoma Street. For more information about pledges, contact John at 345-1516, or leave a message for the Pledge Coordinator, Bob Richardson. Run or walk your best time, and you could win top prizes in your category. The top pledge collector will receive round trip tickets to Winnipeg for themselves and a friend plus two nights accommodation at Polo Park Inn! We will be giving away plenty of unique and useful prizes. We don't want anyone to feel left out! So don’t miss out on the fun! ABOUT THE RUN The annual 5K Run/Walk held during AIDS Awareness Week is running into its fourth year - and growing. This event is becoming more popular as AIDS Committees from coast to coast are holding their own walks or runs. page 4 �SOLIDARITY OR ABANDONMENT & BETRAYAL? An address given by: Jon Gates Coordinator Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development Canadian Council for International Cooperation 1992 Canadian AIDS Society Annual General Meeting Halifax, Nova Scotia May 23, 1992 Good Evening. I’d like to commence by thanking you for inviting me to be the key-note speaker at the Canadian AIDS Society Annual Bean Fest and Bun Toss. I do so early on, because many of you may well wish I hadn’t come by the end of my speech. To keep things transparent, my speech tonight is in three parts. The first deals with our domestic accomplishments and lessons learned, the second deals with the realities of AIDS internationally and our concomitant responsibilities, and the third will hopefully draw the two together and indicate some cause for future action. In a time and place long ago, and far away - about ten years ago - the world first started to become aware of AIDS. I say long ago and far away because when we look back it is an effort to remember the circumstances of that time because so much has changed since. The world has changed profoundly, with geo-political realities of decades becoming obsolete in a matter of months. We have changed and our communities have changed. The practice of medicine and public health has changed. The way government responds to public health issues has changed. Allow me to review these changes for a moment. as legitimate players in the process of developing policy. In the industrialized countries of the world, AIDS struck hardest in a pre­ existing, self-identified community, with existing political and community structures and with a defined agenda for social change - namely the gay male community. While the results were, and are, devastating to this community, the consequences were not all detrimental. Let me explain. Second, people with AIDS and their organizations succeeded where no one else had in accelerating the rate at which new and experimental drugs and treatments could be made available to those who needed them. In the process, power was shifted from medical research establishments to patients in critical areas such as who has the right to determine and accept risk with unproven processes. The gay community was faced in the 1980s with a fight for its very survival. And fight they did. Wonderful, talented, at times impossible, at times inspired, but always determined, the community came together and fought back with grit and determination. This room is filled with those people, and we arc all benefitting from their actions. For the first time in Canadian history, a government has produced major health policy, namely the National AIDS Strategy, in circumstances where their failure to consult the client group concerned would have resulted in a loss of credibility for the government itself. No government in Canada that wishes to promulgate public policy on AIDS can do so without consultation with the appropriate community-based clientcentred groups responding to AIDS. In short, health-care clients are now seen Third, there has been unprecedented success in generating public responses to public fear and misinformation. By insisting that response to public prejudice was a public responsibility and not the responsibility of those subjected to the prejudice, our community has helped teach government an object lesson in human rights. Lastly, domestic groups responding to AIDS have developed contacts internationally that are without precedent in the field of health care. AIDS Service Organizations have an international network in place at this time, and development organizations responding to AIDS have a loose-knit international network in place at this time. These arc firsts in the health care field and may well prove to be models in other areas as well. These are accomplishments that we should �be extremely proud of. What, however, are the lessons we have learned from these accomplishments? 1 would suggest that we have learned two important and interrelated home truths. We have learned Lhat action to create change comes from the individual and is an individual responsibility. And we have learned that we have succeeded best when we have acted collectively. Thus, if we want things to change, we must make individual decisions to do so, and recognize that our best chance of effecting the desired change is to act in concert with other individuals with similar goals. This process has a name: it is called Solidarity. Solidarity crosses all boundaries of race, religion, sex, culture and age. It occurs when individuals make common cause toward common goals. In the face of all that has confronted us it has been our solidarity that has allowed us to make gains. When we have stood together, we have increased our chances of success. When we have been divided amongst ourselves, we have increased our chances of failure. Our solidarity is our primary resource, with money, staff and volunteers being wasted without it. As a community, we have suffered a great deal. But all of our suffering and our historic response to that suffering has not made us unique. On the contrary, by our suffering we have joined the majority of the human family. Three-quarters of the world population lives in circumstances where suffering, misery and grief, to a greater or lesser degree, is a feature of their daily lives. Our suffering and experience has made us unique and special only in that it has provided us perspective and insight into how the vast majority of people on this planet live their daily lives, a perspective lhat most people living in our highly privileged society never come to be aware of. If we have access to common ground with the majority of our fellow human beings, what are the realities of their lives? 1 would like to begin to answer this question by initially restricting myself to outlining this global context as it relates to AIDS. The most salient feature of this context is that AIDS is striking as many women as men, and some experts are predicting that by the end of the decade, as many as sixty per cent of all cases will by among women. Because of their physiology, not only are women more likely than men to contract HIV during unprotected sex, but they arc also more likely to be diagnosed later than men, have less resources to fight illness, and will live a shorter period of time after diagnosis than men. Thus, women will acquire HIV at an increased rate than men, and they will suffer differentially as well. When one understands that in most developing countries women are the primary food producers, and do two-thirds of all labour world-wide, one begins to understand how devastating AIDS is in its global context. The second striking feature of the glohal context is its sheer magnitude. By the end of this decade, forty million people will have been infected by HIV. Ten million will have AIDS. Ten million children will be infected by perinatal transmission, and at least the same number will be orphans, having lost their mother or both their parents to AIDS. These figures translate into an incredible picture at the community level. In Zimbabwe, seventy per cent of the officer corps of the armed forces are HIV-positive, as are seventy per cent of the police in Harare, the capital. In Zambia, two-thirds of the managers of the copper industry are HIV-positive, and this industry supplies eighty per cent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings. In Uganda, thirty per cent of all district health officers have or have died of AIDS. These people are responsible not only for the response to AIDS, but to all other health problems as well. An estimated one hundred page 2 thousand people are being exposed to HIV each day in the brothels of Bombay. In most sub-saharan African countries, infection rates range from ten to twenty per cent in the general population, and are often over thirty per cent in the adult population. This pattern is repeating itself in Asia, Oceania-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. Let me drive this point home. Worst case cenarios in Canada place our infection rate in the general population at approximately onefifth of one per cent. This compares with the previously staled rates of ten to twenty per cent in many African countries. Even if one transposes all potential Canadian infections into the gay male community alone, that community would have an infection rate of about two per cent. Without belittling or denigrating our experience, I say to you bluntly, that we have had a comparative picnic in the way in which we have had to respond to this disease. And please let us remember that much of what has been accomplished has been accomplished in a very different atmosphere than people in developing countries face around HIV and AIDS. We live in countries in which the rule of law is essentially secure. That is not true of many developing countries. We live in countries where the acts of discrimination have manifested themselves primarily in the denial of services or work and in the slowness of government response to the pandemic. In developing countries governments have not only been quick to deny and slow to respond to the issue, but in many countries, activism around AIDS issues is the equivalent to writing yourself a death certificate. Discrimination is in the form of brutalization, jailing, torture and death. So we have not even had to operate under similar conditions in many instances. As I say, I don’t wish to belittle what we have accomplished, I am merely illustrating lhat in the global context, the rest of the world has had to face a great deal indeed. The third striking feature in the global �context is the difference in resources. And I will very quickly sum this up by saying that three ketoconazole or nizoral tablets represent the per capita annual expenditure on all health care for about three-quarters of the world’s population. Put another way, three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries where seven dollars or less is spent per year per capita for all health-care needs. When we compare that sort of health care with the system under which we live we can begin to understand just how truly amazing the community-based response in developing countries has been and how much they’ve accomplished with so very little. From the beginning, we’ve insisted that AIDS be looked at as more than a medical problem. We’ve understood its social consequences, we’ve understood its human rights dimensions, we’ve understood its public policy dimensions. And we have fought to have that broader perspective accepted. What then happens when we broaden our perspective globally, beyond just the issue of AIDS? Well the last ten years - the ten years in which we’ve been dealing with AIDS internationally - has seen a world tipped on its ear. Who ten years ago would have predicted the fall of the Berlin wall? Who ten years ago would have predicted that a jailed poet and playwright would become the president of Czechoslovakia or an electrician from a shipyard the president of Poland? Or that masses of people would stand in Red Square in front of tanks to protect their fledgling democracy — a democracy yes, I say that again. Think back ten years at how profoundly different the world was. AIDS has occurred during, and been a pan of a massive change in the geo-political realities of the world we live in. These changes have underscored several important points. They have told us that individual actions have meaning and consequences. They have told us that individual actions result in change. And that individuals acting in concert with other individuals are effective in creating a new and better world. Finally these changes have reinforced the notion that geographic boundaries in 1992 are essentially meaningless. I make this point because there are still those in our community who will make the claim that we should look after out own firsL The argument is that we should look after our own community first, and that that is where our responsibility lies. I would ask the question of those people - How do you define that community? Is it just you and your neighbour? Or does two houses down the street count too? Or do you draw the line at the end of the block? Or maybe just the neighbourhood. Or the quarter of the town or the village, or the region, or province. Do we exclude from our services, resources, care and concern someone’s cousin because they live on the other side of the street, and the street was a boundary line? In 1902, it may have been possible to draw such lines. In 1992, our world is one where such lines arc meaningless. Our responsibilities and the consequences of our actions are global. We may choose through a system of priorities to take actions whose effect will be primarily local, but that in no way ever mitigates the fact that our responsibilities are to the whole of the global community and that our actions will affect everyone, both at home, and abroad. The argument that we must take care of our own and somehow draw a line which excludes the rest of the human family is an intellectually bankrupt, bereft of principle and devoid of humanity. I have heard this argument for twenty years now, I am heartily sick of it, and tonight T will serve notice that I will challenge anyone in our community who propounds it - at anytime, at any place, on any platform, under any page 3 circumstances, to public debate on this issue. It is a morally corrupt argument, and it is long overdue that it joined the trash heap of history along widi cold-war thinking, big is better, greed is good, growth is great, and all of the other notions that the nineties are showing to be obsolete and irrelevant as guide posts for the next century. If one of the fundamental lessons that we have learned domestically is that Solidarity is our greatest resource, and in the historic times we live in we are reinforcing the idea that we live in a global community and that our responsibilities are global, it seems to me rather logical that we should be combining those two processes. That is to say, we as a community in this country should be finding ways in which we can display our solidarity with people with HIV and AIDS on a global scale. And tonight I have a proposal, a challenge to our community as to how I think that might be done. By the end of this decade there is a good possibility that the first therapeutic vaccine will be on the market, perhaps the first preventative vaccines, and not long afterwards a cure for AIDS will in fact be found. If history is any guide to go by, our society - once we have discovered those vaccines or cures - will move very quickly to secure the safety of our own populations. Once that has been accomplished we will promptly forget about the issue and in the process abandon three-quarters of die world’s population to meet dieir fate as best they can. We did so with dysentery, we did so with cholera, we have done so on virtually all major public health issues. When we have solved the problems in our own society, we have then forgotten about them and put them on the back-burner and they have become just another disease, another illness that those people, over there, have to deal with. We have managed to separate it and distance it from our own reality. Well as I’ve �indicated this evening, those separations - certainly the geographic ones - arc without legitimacy. 1 believe that our community, from its lessons learned over the last ten years, and from its unique placement in health-carc issues has an opportunity to act in solidarity on this issue in a way that is striking, effective, and in fact manifests that solidarity which we understand domestically, on a global scale. Every individual choice has collective consequences, so every choice carries responsibilities that extend beyond the individual. Those who do not recognize this principle are social rogues requiring restriction by the rest of society for the common good. Tonight I’m asking you to make individual choices. They will not be easy or without pain. Fundamental change does not occur without pain - it is not an easy process. Our community understands pain. In the face of social hatred and contempt, we have endured. When family members or friends abandoned us, we endured. In the face of divisions from within our own community, we consulted, we built consensus, we endured. We have endured and suffered, and tonight I’m going to ask you to engage in a course of action which may well result in the need for more endurance and in more suffering. But this effort will not be in vain. It will be part of a process which changes the world we live in for the better and displays in real terms the solidarity we’ve been talking about this evening. It allows us internationally to have the work ‘solidarity’ come to have the same concrete reality and meaning that we know it to have domestically. My proposal is this - We have over the last ten years lobbied successfully for the early release of drugs. Tonight I am asking you to change tactics and reverse that process. I am asking that people living with AIDS and with HIV, and their organizations call on our national governments and multilateral organizations to delay the release of any new vaccines or a cure for AIDS until such time as three conditions can be met. That the drug or vaccine be affordable world wide. That it be accessible world-wide. And that it be available world-wide. And that without those conditions being met, we would make it clear that we would not be in favour of the release of those vaccines or drugs. In taking this action, we would send a clear message to governments, and most importantly to people living with HIV and AIDS in developing countries that we will not allow the lifeboat to leave until such time as we can be assured that everyone has a chance to be on board. This action will be historic. Never before has any relatively privileged group in an industrialized country indicated to the world that they were prepared to make genuine sacrifices in order to ensure that people in developing countries would have a better life. I repeat. The rich of the world have never sacrificed to improve the lot of the poor. If we take this action we will create a model for all other endeavours to make the world a more just place to live. We can choose to stand by and watch the sweep of history, or we can make history. Let us choose to make history. The ghosts of those who have died of AIDS will ride with us. Justice is our cause. Our solidarity is our shield. Passion is our sword, and we must not stop until the day is ours, the dragons are slain, and everyone, everywhere regardless of circumstance can live their lives free from the scourge of AIDS. We have a choice - extend our Solidarity or abandon and betray three-quarters of the world’s population, and in so doing betray ourselves. You may not accept the course of action I have proposed, but your imagination could supply you others. The people in this room represent everything that I would like to be. You represent my dreams, my hopes and aspirations for myself, you are the model by which I try to live my life. page 4 and it is your standards that I try to emulate. I do not have it within my capacity to make those of you who are ill well. Nor do you collectively have it within your capacity to make me well. But together we can start to make the world well. And at the end of the day, that is one of the primary reasons why we’re here. You are my heros. I commend you. I salute you. And I thank you. 1992 A Community Commitment �Things you need to know: REGISTRA TION FORM The race starts at 10 a.m. sharp, Saturday, October 3, 1992. NAME WHEN: WHERE: AGE (As of Oct.l) Boulevard Lake To register, mail in your registration to the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay, P.O. Box 3586, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2. (Please do not send money through the mail.) Or, drop off your registration in the drop-off boxes at the Canada Games Complex, or at the AIDS Committee office at 217 S. Algoma Street. ADDRESS_________ Race Kits can be picked up at Confederation College on October 1st and 2nd, between 5:00 and 7:30 p.m.. They will also be available on race day at 9:00 a.m. T-SHIRT SIZE: LARGE _ X-LARGE REGISTRATION: RACE KITS: DIVISIONS: Men and Women Junior Open Senior Master Veteran ENTRY FEE: under 20 20-29 30-39 40-49 50 + CITY______________ PROVINCE/STATE_ POSTAL/ZIP CODE. PHONE( )_______ GENDER MALE____ FEMALE Liability Waiver please read and sign $15.00 - non-refundable. 5K course at Boulevard Lake. For more information, contact the ACT-B office at 345-1516. THE COURSE: Applications must be received no later than 5 p.m., Wednesday, September 30th. (A few exception are always made) ENTRY DEADLINE: In consideration of the acceptance of my entry. I for myself, my executors, administrators and assignees, do hereby release and discharge the race sponsors,promoters and organizers including all claims of damages, demands, and action whatsoever in my manner arising from my participation in the AIDS Awareness Week 5K Fun Run/pledge Walk. I attest and verify that I have full knowledge of the risks involved in the event and I am physically fit to participate. Signature (of parent or guardian if under 18) Make cheque payable to : AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay page 5 �REGIONAL OUTREACH ADVERTISING If you live in a Northwestern Ontario community outside Thunder Bay, look for advertisements in your local newspapers this fall. Although ACT-B will not be touring in the region, we hope to keep people aware of the issue of AIDS through these ads. The first ad will run during AIDS Awareness Week, October 5-11, and the second will promote World AIDS Day, December 1. NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY As part of the need to provide appropriate prevention campaigns for the gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities, we are planning a needs assessment survey for this fall. The survey will be marketed to try and reach a significant portion of the local gay, lesbian and bisexual communities. Focusing on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour, the survey will attempt to elicit information that will permit the establishment and/or modification of education programs. Contact the ACT-B office if you would like a survey to fill out, or look for the survey at various local venues. ACT-B TELEVISION SHOW PREMIERES IN OCTOBER Watch this fall and winter for an exciting series of television programs, "LIFE LINE: AIDS and You", airing monthly on Maclean Hunter Cable 7. This series of seven programs will begin October 8 at 8:00 pm. with live coverage of the opening Ceremonies of the Canadian AIDS Quilt display. Following that there will be a program every month from November to April. The shows will cover a wide range of subjects, including two live phone in shows. We encourage you to watch these programs, and to provide feedback to us. Help us to offer useful and entertaining information to the community. It is also still possible to become more directly involved and join the production team. Call if you are interested. Here is a schedule of the programs, which will usually air the last Tuesday of each month, and then be repeated at least twice. TV PROJECT SCHEDULE 1992-93 Thursday, Oct. 8 8:00 pm. The Quilt Show - live special from PACI Tuesday, Nov. 24 8:00 pm. Introduction to ACT-B AIDS Awareness Week Review The Global picture Tuesday, Dec. 22 8:00 pm. Faces of AIDS - Support services Tuesday, Jan. 26 8:00 pm. Prevention - safer sex and "target" groups Tuesday, Feb. 23 8:00 pm. HIV Antibody Testing **live phone-in** Tuesday, Mar. 30 8:00 pm. Aspects of Health Care and HIV/AIDS Tuesday, Apr. 27 8:00 pm. A Look at the Future of AIDS **live phone-in** page 6 �WORRIED? Been wondering about getting the test? Concerned about past behaviour but scared to bring it up with your doctor, your family, with anybody? Want to know your own status but don’t want everybody else to know? Don’t want people to know you’re gay - or think you are if you’re not? Maintaining your privacy is the most important thing? And you genuinely believe you’ve risked exposure to HIV and want to get tested... CALL 625-5981. Thai’s all you have to do. You can get the HIV antibody test anonymously. One phone call will get you an appointment at the Anonymous Testing Ginic. You don’t have to give your name or address or any identifying information. The counselor will ask for a first name only, to book the appointment. Nothing will be reported, whatever your test results arc. Except to you. So if you’ve been worried and thinking about testing, now is as good a time as ever to take that step. But be warned: a lot of people arc deciding to do the same thing. That phone number (625-5981) is getting popular. There is a waiting list building for appointments. Don’t let that discourage you. Call now and get in line. Knowing your health status can relieve concerns, whatever the results are. And whatever the results are, know that we’re here at the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay to give you information and support. You are not alone. ANONYMOUS HIV TESTING NOW AVAILABLE IN THUNDER BAY FOR APPOINTMENTS, CALL: 625-5981 FOR INFORMATION OR COUNSELLING, CALL IHE AIDS INFORMATION PHONELINE 345-7233 COME ON IN! GET YOUR INFORMATION HERE! Our resource library should now be a more friendly and accessible place, thanks to behind-the scenes changes designed to help ease your search for information. Alissa Setliff, who worked with us over the summer as an Education Assistant, has catalogued and organized our library. Our collection of books, reports, and videos has been entered in a computer database. This should make it easier to access materials, and we will be able to provide bibliographies and lists of our holdings. The ACT-B Resource Centre Library contains a collection of books, videos, posters, articles, fact sheets, research studies, newspaper clippings and newsletters containing information related to HIV infection and AIDS. We also subscribe to specific treatment information newsletters with the latest information on HIV and AIDS treatments. page 7 This information is available to everyone, those with HIV or AIDS, health care professionals, students, agencies, caregivers, and anyone with an interest in HIV infection and AIDS. Still in the works is new shelving which will allow for better display of the material we have. We also hope to have a file cabinet in the library soon which will contain treatment information files, vertical files, and newsletters from other agencies and organizations. So, come in and take a look. See what we have available. �2nd NOTICE TO THE MEMBERSHIP: THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY (ACT-B) WILL BE HELD IN NOVEMBER, FOR THE PURPOSES OF RECEIVING REPORTS AND TRANSACTION OF NECESSARY BUSINESS, INCLUDING THE ELECTION OF DIRECTORS TO THE BOARD. ONLY MEMBERS MAY VOTE. YOUR MEMBERSHIP MUST BE IN GOOD STANDING AT LEAST 30 DAYS PRIOR TO THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. PLEASE TAKE OUT A MEMBERSHIP NOW. MEMBERSHIPS OR RENEWALS WILL BE GOOD FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1993. CALL FOR PERSONS INTERESTED IN SERVING ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF ACT-B. ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING IN NOVEMBER. CONSIDER JOINING A TEAM OF EXPERIENCED AND DEDICATED BOARD MEMBERS FROM A WIDE VARIETY OF PROFESSIONS IN THUNDER BAY. PWA/H1V ENCOURAGED. IF INTERESTED, PHONE OUR OFFICE 345-1516 FOR AN INTERVIEW AND INFORMATION PACKAGE. The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay acknowledges and thanks our various funders: : Ontario Ministry of Health : Health Promotions Branch of Health and Welfare Canada : Ontario Trillium Foundation :General Fundraising which includes community, business and many individual donations. ACT-B is very grateful to the following sponsors of AIDS Awareness Week events: Pro Golf, Prospector Restaurant, Shear Heaven, Wildwaters Wilderness & Fishing Shop, Framing Experience, Harrington Court, Kelly’s Nutrition Centre, Ramada Red Oak Inn, Floral One Design, Jeannic Tuomi R.M.T., Lakehead Travel Agency Ltd., Canadian Partner, Polo Park Inn, Henderson Della Lakehill Marketing Communications, Eatons, P.A.C.I., The Second Cup Keskus Mall, Prince Arthur Hotel, Mister Print, Coles Bookstores, Lakehead University, Confederation College, Thunder Bay Library, Sweet Thursday Bookstore, Women’s Bookstore, Black Unicorn, Adult Only Video Store, Kent Sign Co. Ltd., Trinity United Church, Lakehead Regional Family Centre, Dr. Fernandes, The Life & Health Insurance Companies in Canada, Secondary School Teachers Charily Fund. All of the above are committed sponsors as of September 1, 1992. Join us. Become a member! Members set our course at Annual Meetings. They are kept up-to-date about our work. They elect the Board of Directors who keep that work on track. Have you renewed your membership? ACT-B Membership form. Name Address Postal Code Telephone Enclosed is: _____ $10 Membership fee _____ $25 Supporting membership fee _____ $ Donation Mail to: AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.O. Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 6E2 To be eligible to vote at the Annual General Meeting, your membership must be up-to-date, (30 days prior to the meeting). The A.G.M. is in November. Please, renew your membership now. page 8 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 5 Issue 4 - Fall 1992 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2673/1993_reACT-Believe_vol6no1_2.pdf b9285e3fe1231bae04cca97d88c7fb18 PDF Text Text reACT-Believe Winter 1993, Volume 6, Issue I AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.0.3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE 7 do not have it within my capacity to make those of you who are III well. Nor do you collectively have It within your capacity to make me well. But together we can start to make the world well. And at the end of the day, that Is one of the primary reasons why we're here' Jon Gates 1956-1992 I met Jon Gales in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in the Spring of 1987. He had travelled from Vancouver, and I from Thunder Bay, to participate in a Popular Theatre Festival. On the final day of the festival, he was enrolcd in a workshop I led about community animation. Tn the introductory go-around during that workshop, Jon described himself as living within a community where many of his friends were dying. Later that summer, I visited him in Vancouver and we established a friendship that lasted over the ensuing years. When he moved to Ottawa and began his work as the coordinator for the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development, Canadian Council for International Cooperation, he moved into community animation on a vastly different scale. Last Spring, he delivered the keynote address in Halifax at the Canadian AIDS Society Annual General Meeting. The brief quote above is from the culmination of his address. We printed the full text in the last issue of our newsletter. If you missed it, please call us. If you have that copy, read it again. I don’t know anyone who lived with AIDS and understood what AIDS means in a global context, better than Jon. He used his brilliant wit and ability to cut the bullshit to articulate what AIDS means in the world. There are those of us who think of our own cities as "the world" and about the world around us only on "World AIDS Day". things. Also necessary and practical. There is so much work to be done. Caught up in my day to day work, I haven’t yet found a way to take up Jon’s extended challenge. But it hasn’t gone away. It rings in my ears. I want Jon back to continue action on this front. His vision and his passion are sorely missed. How will wc take up his challenge? Michael Sobota I saw Jon in Ottawa General Hospital three days before he died. David Hoe and I visited him together. In the presence of his final, heroic struggle with the disease, Jon reminisced and laughed with us. The conversation was difficult, painful, indelible. Jon spent his life, literally, urging us to think globally about AIDS. Like the many wise men and women who have led us in this work, he prodded us to look inside ourselves for the first decisions about how AIDS affects our lives. But he challenged us further. He challenged us to take those decisions and make them larger than ourselves. Corny - romantic - old rhetoric maybe even silly? Yes, all of those �TED’S TABLE As I sit at Meghan’s desk , I am trying to compose this article for the January edition of the reACT-Believe. The weather is blustery outside, but afterall, it is the day of the Winter Solstice. I am in my second term as a board member of ACT-B and I would like to thank all the members who re­ elected me at the Annual General Meeting in November. My position on the board is a Person Having AIDS (aka: PHA) representative for the agency. The experience I have gained over the past year has been like none I have ever experienced before. I have participated in the board, the management and the decision making of the agency. For the past year I have attended several meetings for the Ontario AIDS Network and the Canadian AIDS Society. Meeting sites were in various centres across the province. The furthest I travelled was Halifax, Nova Scotia. This year’s AGM for the Canadian AIDS Society will be held in Montreal. I am hoping that my health will permit me to continue going to these meetings. When attending these meetings, you meet hundreds of Persons Living With HTV/AIDS. You hear different stories about the barriers they have crossed while living with this devastating virus. I began to make some new friendships with many of these people. One person who comes to mind was a friend from Kingston, Ontario. His name was Tom. We went out for coffee while attending meetings and also met at our hotels for get-togethers. Sad to say Tom passed away November 24, 1992. He will always be remembered by the PHA Caucus for his strength and courage while dealing with AIDS. At the end of our CAS meetings, we as a group always acknowledge our losses and we try mentioning names of those who have passed on. Every name mentioned is one too many. It is very sad to say why and how it has to be this way. WHY? I am going to end off the article by wishing everyone the very best of the New Year. Special thanks to the agency for all the things that they have done for me since my diagnosis. GOD BLESS YOU ALL! Ted Romanowsld HELLO FROM DARYLE! Hello everyone! My name is Daryle Dollan and I am the new Support Services Coordinator at Act-B. I started here September 8, 1992, taking over for Glenna McLeod, who has returned to University to complete her Master’s Degree. The last three-plus months have been very busy ones. AIDS Awareness Week ( with the quilt being the highlight of a very busy week), the Counselling Conference, the holiday season and a rapidly growing caseload have contributed to making these first three months very full (and somewhat chaotic). Hopefully, now that the holiday season has passed, I can get to work on some issues and activities that have been on the back burner for a while, such as a buddy system and a support group that will more aptly meet the needs of those who will be utilizing it. I welcome your comments, assistance and/or input on either of these topics. I hope the next three months will be productive ones! If you have any comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to give me a call and discuss them. Take care! Daryle page 2 ANONYMOUS TESTING IS AVAILABLE IN THUNDER BAY: PHONE 625-5981 You can now find out your individual health status concerning HIV. Anonymous HIV testing is now available in Thunder Bay. The process is simple. All you have to do is phone 625-5981 to set up an appointment. During this initial phone call, you will be asked for a first name in order to book an appointment No other identifying information will be asked for. At the appointment you will receive information to explain just what the test means. During your appointment, you will receive appropriate counselling relevant to your own personal needs. A blood sample will be taken and you will be given a date and time to return for your test results. It may take 3 weeks before results are ready. If you have any questions about anonymous testing, please call us at ACT-B: 345-1516. Accurate, candid and up-to-date information coupled with sensitive preand post- test counselling is what you should receive if you choose to be tested. We’re here to help assure you receive that. �ACT-B ADVISORY COUNCIL Fred Ball Norman Bowers Beth Huston Vivian Johnston Dr. Gordon Milne Marie Portier Nicky Tittley Director, Public Health Laboratory ACT-B Board Representative Director of Administration, Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic Public Health Nurse, Thunder Bay District Health Unit Family Physician Residential Care Worker Supervisor of Infection Control, Port Arthur General Hospital ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ elect the Board of Directors who keep that work ¥ on track. ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Membership form. Treasurer Director Secretary Director Director Director Director President Director Director Vice President Director ¥ ¥ ¥ Name: Address: ¥ ¥ Telephone:, ¥ ¥ Enclosed is: ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ACT-B STAFF Postal Code: $ 10 Membership Fee _ $ 25 Supporting Membership $ Donation Mail to: ¥ AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY ¥ P.O. Box 3586 ¥ ¥ ¥ Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Fundraising/Communications Coor. Secretary Support Services Office Manager Executive Director ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ David Belrose Sheila Berry John Books Meghan Carroll Daryl Dollan Lawrence Korhonen Michael Sobota ¥ ¥ ¥ Rick Alkinson Joanne Books Norman Bowers Patsy Chalmers Michael Gravelle Susan Ivany Gabriel Kakeeway Gall Linklater Carol Nicholson Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Ted Romanowski * * * ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Members set our course at Annual Meetings. ¥ They are kept up-to-date about our work.They ¥ ACT-B BOARD OF DIRECTORS Join us. Become a member! To be eligible to vote at the Annual General Meeting, your ¥ membership must be up-to-date (30 days prior to the ¥ meeting). The A.G.M. Is in November. Please renew your ¥ membership now. ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ **¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ Please address any comments on reACT-Believe to: P.O. Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay acknowledges and thanks our various funders: : Ontario Ministry of Health : Health Promotions Branch of Health and Welfare Canada : Ontario Trillium Foundation : All of the people involved in general fundraising .which includes the local community, businesses and many individual donations. (807) 345-1516 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. John Books, Editor Karen Ferland, Writer, Assistant Editor Carol Bold, Writer, Assistant Editor Anne Ciemny, Assistant Editor The opinions and medical information offered by reACTBelieve are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by reACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. page 3 �THANK YOU THUNDER BAY! 1600 of you came to see the Canadian AIDS Quilt during AIDS Awamess Week 1992 The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay would like to thank the many businesses and volunteers who helped make AIDS Awareness Week 1992 a huge sucess. A.C.AP., Abitibi Provincial Paper, Airlane Motor Hotel, Atwood Shaw Labine, Beatrice Foods, Bill Martin’s Nurseryland, Canadian Parmer Airlines, Chronicle-Journal & Times News, CJLB Radio, CKPR Radio, Coles Bookstores, Confederation College, Techdel, Desoto’s Music Services, Eaton’s, Floral Design One, Framing Post, Fresh Air Experience, Golden Horseshoe, Harrington Court, Henderson Della Lakehill Marketing Communications, Kelly’s Nutrition Centre, Kent Signs, Kromar Printing-Winnipeg, Lakehead Regional Family Centre, Lakehead Travel, Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship, Lakehead University, The Life and Health Insurance Companies of Canada, Maclean Hunter Cable 7 TV, McCartney Judge & Murray, Metre Eaters, Mister Print, Neebing Restaurant, 94 FM Radio, Northco Foods, Ontario Hydro, Alfred Petrone, Oxfam Canada, Polo Park Inn-Winnipeg, Prince Arthur Hotel, Pro Golf, Ramada-Red Oak Inn, Second Cup-Keskus, Secondary School Teacher’s Charity Fund, Shear Heaven, Superior Safety, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay Post, Thunder Bay Television, Tim Horton Donuts, Top Buckle, Vision Colour-Winnipeg, Wildwaters Wilderness Shop, the administration, staff and students at P.A.C.I., as well as the volunteers listed below. THUNDER BAY 1992 HONOURARY QUILT COMMITTEE Co-Chairs Dusty Miller and Susan Ivany, Members: Dr. Fred Ball, Joanne Books, Nancy Gildner, Sue Kainulainen, Vasant Lakhani, Bill Mokomela, Bishop O’Mara, Howard Reid, Dr. Bob Rosehart, Dr. David Williams. ACT-B’S INTERNAL WORKING QUILT COMMITTEE Co-Chairs: Advertising Committee Chair Hospitality Chair: Fundraising Committee Chair: Susan Ivany and Sheila Berry Michael Gravelle Denyse Culligan John Books THE THUNDER BAY QUILT POSTER PRODUCTION TEAM Gerry McEachem and Henderson Delta Lakehill Marketing Communications - Thunder Bay, Vision Colour Winnipeg, Kromar Printing Ltd. - Winnipeg, Abitibi Price Provincial Papers - Thunder Bay. PORT ARTHUR COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE Jack Organ, Principal; Mary LeCaria and Carl Reimer, Co-Presidents of Student Council; Andy Brigham and the faculty, staff and students. SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS The Framing Post, Lakehead Regional Family Centre, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, The Life and Health Insurance Companies of Canada, Secondary School Charity Fund, John and Flor-Ann Ayearst, Second Cup-Keskus, Ontario Hydro, Desoto’s Music Services, Dr. John Fernandes, Superior Safety, Maclean Hunter Cable 7 T.V. THE BOARD AND STAFF OF THE AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY page 4 �AIDS AND CANADIAN LAW "conclusions" a number of times. My strongest reaction was where they state that" the fear of criminal sanctions against bona fide educational efforts in the control of AIDS is largely exaggerated." Federal censors have been seizing books and other print materials from Canadian gay and lesbian bookstores for decades. It doesn’t matter if the material has AIDS education or health promotion value. If there is written or visual depiction of anal intercourse, the material is considered "obscene" by the Feds. Written by Lome E. Rozovsky and Fay A. Rozovsky Published bv Butterworths Canada Ltd. Copyright 1992 Just over two years ago, I was preparing material for a presentation to a law class at Lakehead University. As I did not want to make my talk a usual "AIDS 101" presentation, I began to look for material on AIDS and the law There was next to nothing available in any comprehensive form. The odd book that had published in this area was American and thus "odd" is an apt description. Canadian law is very different, relevant to HIV/AIDS. I scrambled from my personal knowledge of legal cases that had resulted in newspaper stories. Securing those clippings and weaving the material into some accessible information was a daunting task. Lastly, a book of this nature will, of necessity, go out of date as laws change. This again is through no fault of the authors. A recent example is Ontario’s new legislation making "living wills" legal. The authors do print an example of what a "living will" should contain. Putting aside the limitations to the volume and differences of opinion with the authors subjective conclusions, this is a practical and useful book. It can be the centre of any legal resource section about AIDS. It contains an extensive listing of other print resources - though there are only two Canadian papers cited - and a simple listing of other Canadian sources of HIV/AIDS information. Lome and Fay Rozovsky’s new book goes a long distance toward providing basic legal context re: HIV/AIDS. It does it expressly in relation to Canadian Law. It does it in a very readable, accessible style. This slim but timely volume is a welcome addition to any HIV/AIDS resource library. The book covers a comprehensive list of related legal issues. This is an excellent overview of how far reaching AIDS is. It touches almost all aspects of Canadian society. Because of this comprehensive approach [read the chapter headings to gain a quick overview], this is not a sit down quick read. Rather, it requires casual but regular attention. In this manner, it serves its purpose as a typical reference manual. Michael Sobota There are some weaknesses in the book. Because of the comprehensive listing of issues, many of them are treated in simple, rudimentary ways. This, of course, is not completely the fault of the authors as many of the provinces have different laws relating to the same issues. It would have required perhaps ten volumes to go into depth about the specific and different legislation in various constituencies. Secondly, many of the chapters [though not all] finish with a section called "Conclusion". Here the authors state their own opinion about the factual material they printed in the preceding chapter. 1 found myself profoundly disagreeing with their page 1 �Canadian Human Rights Commission Justice Minister Kim Campbell has proposed amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act which she states will give gays and lesbians more protection from discrimination. Campbell tabled legislation in early December which prescribes that discrimination based on sexual orientation would be included in the Act as a " prohibited ground of discrimination." The changes have been introduced as a result of an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in August 1992. In that case, two gay men Graham Haig and Joshua Birch contended that the Human Rights Act did not adequately protect them from discrimination in federal agencies. In 1990, Birch - a captain in the Canadian Armed Forces - left a fiveyear career in the military because he had no further chance of advancement when his commanding officer learned he was gay. Because of military policy, Birch was told he would be ineligible for promotions, postings and further military career training. Campbell's amendments would give individuals the right to use the Canadian Human Rights Commission to file complaints of discrimination within one year of the alleged incident. She has also proposed that the Act include marital status as a prohibited ground of discrimination. But the definition of marital status described as a union between a man and woman - has drawn some criticism from homosexuals because it excludes samesex relationships. "1 don’t know of a jurisdiction in the world that recognizes same-sex marriage," Campbell said in an interview with the Parliamentary Bureau. (Education Note: Denmark recognizes same-sex marriages) "This is not to say same-sex relationships arc not recognized for certain public-policy purposes and that is an area in which there has been some change over the last months in Canada, and will still be a matter before the courts." If the proposals are passed as law, homosexual couples are concerned they will not be eligible for the same employment benefits, health care, pension and lax advantages as oppositesex couples. "I think it's important to make clear that claims for benefits by samesex couples have not been based on marital status," Campbell said. " They have been based, generally speaking , on the definition of spouse and who is entitled to spousal benefits... The act itself will remain silent on those definitions." Campbell claims the proposals offer homosexuals more rights and greater equality, although gay activists have asserted the proposed legislation is another form of discrimination . She explained that the rights of same-sex couples will ultimately be decided by the courts on a case-by-case basis. For the next while, the courts will be kept busy breaking new ground in the fight for gay and lesbian rights. Brian Mossop, a federal civil servant who was denied a one-day leave from work to attend a funeral for his gay partner’s father, has brought his case to the Supreme Court of Canada. A ruling is expected soon on gay couples’ rights to family benefits. An Ontario court will be deciding whether a gay couple will be allowed to legally marry. The couple Pierre Beaulne and Todd Layland argue that the legal definition of marriage is discriminatory. Regardless of the fight for gay and lesbian rights, Campbell’s proposed legislation may not even become law. MP’s won’t have the chance to consider the proposals until they return to the house of Commons in February. And, at least 20 Tory MP’s who oppose Campbell’s changes arc calling for a free vote on the issue. There is also a chance that the legislation will be killed if the House is page 2 prorogued. Campbell assured that the amendments will be introduced in the new Parliament even if the current session ends before the proposals are reviewed. * Sources: Canadian Human Rights Commission, The Globe & Mail, The Chronicle Journal. - Carol Bold TO ALL OF US WHO ARE EFFECTEP/AFFECTED WITH HIV/AIDS Our support group is becoming extinct and we can’t figure out why. Some people say that it’s because of the location of the meetings. Some say "I don’t have anything to say, except...” Many don’t say anything at all. There are people affected by this virus who can benefit from your experience. They need your help. The only person able to help a person living with HIV/AIDS is one who also has HIV/AIDS . Your experiences could help someone else, so come on out to where the coffee is free and talk is good! Sincerely, Ernie and Joyce P.S. Let’s have a Happy New Year! *******4^****************** ****** SUPPORT GROUP MEETINGS: Wednesday, January 13, 1993 Wednesday, February 17, 1993 Wednesday, March 17, 1993 Wednesday, April 14, 1993 EVERYONE IS WELCOME 1:00 P.M. TO 3:30 P.M. IF YOU NEED A RIDE, CALL 767-1194 OR 345-1516 MEETINGS WILL BE A I 523 WENTWORTH CRESCENT. �SPECIAL THANKS TO THE ACT-B INDIVIDUAL VOLUNTEERS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO AIDS AWARNESS WEEK. Iain Angus Kathryn Arnold Rick Atkinson Dr. Fred Ball Joyce Barnes David Belrose Dave Benedet Flo Berry Sheila Berry Jan Bert Joanne Books John Books Anne Bowd Norman Bowers Linda Brett Charlene Buford Janet Burns Theresa Bye Meghan Carroll Patsy Chalmers Anne Ciemny Nikki Clark-Tittley Sandra Coccimiglio Denyse Culligan Annie Culligan Terri Cupello Alanna Downey-Baxter Marilyn Dunbar Elaine Dunn Bob Ewing Nancy Feiber Karen Ferland Dr. John Fernandes Maria Fiorot Barb Frowen Susan Gibbs Nancy Gildner Michael Gravelle Patricia Hadju Wendy Hall Jennifer Hamilton Brad Hetsler Deb Hill Lori Hill Sherri Holowaty Jackie Hughes Michelle Huntley Susan Ivany Ernie Jeffery Sue Kainulainen Betty Kennedy Lori Kiceluk Lawrence Korhonen Bonnie Kyle Mary Lang Norma Lauchie David Lawrence Mary LeCaria Karen Lewis Gail Linklater Bernie Lopko Oliver Luther Robin Manning Sonya Matijek Nick Makletzoff Sally McBain Gerry McEachern Lauren McKinnon Glenna McLeod Theresa Michano Dusty Miller Kit Minor Bill Mokomela Carol Nicholson page 5 Linda Nicole Bishop O’Mara Jocelyn Paquette Kay-Dee Peel Dorie Peltier Samantha Peotto Sarah Perrault Coral Peterson Elizabeth Pirn Kelly Piper Pose Pittis Cathy Powell Derrick Powell Sharon Pudas Tamara Rajala Howard Reid Carl Reimer Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Sarah Roeleson Ted Romanowski Dr. Robert Rosehart Cathy Seliba Melanie Shaw Rob Shepherd Michael Sobota Barbara Spencer Laura Spiller La Verne St Pierre Donna Strickland Mike Topp Jeannie Tuomi Jennifer Turcotte Jan Van Geffen Stan Weinsheimer Dr. David Williams �RAMBLINGS OF AN AIDS EDUCATOR As we enter 1993,1 reflect on the fact that I’ve been involved in this work for seven years; five years as volunteer and board member and the last two as ACT-B Education Coordinator. In the last two years, a number of projects have been accomplished AIDS Awareness Week has improved our profile in the community, especially with the display of the Canadian AIDS Quilt last fall. The Native AIDS Project provided some understanding of need for work by First Nations communities. Publishing efforts included "Taking Care: A Guide For Caregivers", "Getting Together" the poster and pamphlet aimed at youth, the completion of "Keewaywin", the video and guide aimed at First Nations communities. Regional outreach tours and advertising have maintained a presence throughout Northwestern Ontario. Community channel television shows, the information phoneline and ongoing presentations, workshops and displays have helped to keep information flowing into the community. Library reorganization has made our resource collection more accessible. This work has been exciting and challenging and I feel good about doing it. One of the things that has become increasingly clear, however, is that there simply is not enough time, money or staff to do all that needs to be done. There is a very evident need to focus our education efforts very specifically in order to achieve maximum results with a minimum of people and money. The question that arises, of course, is how do we go about this? As we enter 1993 (the eighth year of service for ACT-B) there is a lot of conflicting speculation about where the AIDS epidemic is headed. Some researchers say that heterosexuals are not at risk, but at the same time we are seeing many of our new clients coming from that population. While there are suggestions that the rate of HTV infection is dropping in Canada, it is now reported that the number of AIDS cases has been significantly under reported. Meanwhile, the epidemic is raging out of control in many parts of the world. Consider the following. A large majority of those infected with HIV in Canada are gay and bisexual men, but there are an increasing number of women who are becoming infected. Injection drug use, although accounting for a small percentage of cases, is of growing concern. Studies are showing that, gay and bisexual men have made major changes in sexual behaviour, but there are significant numbers, especially among the younger men, who engage in high-risk sexual activities. They are like the rest of the teen population who continue to act as though they are invulnerable to sexual disease. How can we address all of these issues? What are the implications for our education and prevention programs? In Thunder Bay, we are in the process of a major evaluation of our education and prevention efforts, with one aspect being a needs assessment survey. We are determined over the next few months, to look at what we have accomplished and plot our course for the next two or three years. You can help us out in the process of evaluation and focusing. Write us and let us know what you think our priorities for the next two or three years should be and why. See the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay on Television LIFE UNE: AIDS And You Schedule Winter 1993 MacLean Hunter Cable TV Channel 7 Tues. Jan. 26 8:00 pm. AIDS in Thunder Bay: The human face Tues. Feb. 23 8:00 pm. HTV Testing: live phone-in Tues. Mar. 30 Prevention: safer sex 8:00 pm. Tues. Apr. 27 8:00 pm. The future of AIDS: live phone-in Thank You l To the volunteers, staff, board members and local businesses that contributed to the Christmas baskets for clients this year. Volunteers brought in food, games, gifts and cash. Special mention to Laura Spiller, Anne Ciemoy, Safeway Stores, Zellers Stores, the Saan (River St) and the following theatres: Odeson Victoria, Cineplex Cumberland and Paramount Court Special thanks to Daryle, Michael and Elsie for putting the baskets together. Sheila Berry David Belrose Donation received In memory of David Morrison and Ken Plante page 6 �THE FALL IS PART OF THE DANCE Ernie’s six-year-old daughter knows her dad is very ill. After viewing the Canadian AIDS Quilt in Thunder Bay last October, she began designing a quilt panel for her father. "She took a piece of material and sewed some string on to it in the shape of a heart... It’s really cute," Ernie boasted. put it away. If the time ever arises that-I need a spare piece for my panel, we’ll have it." «' Ernie, a Thunder Bay resident in his late twenties, has been living with HIV for two years. Although he’s full of fun and energy, he knows that one day he may succumb to AIDS. He already started working on his quilt panel to ensure that his life is remembered along with those whose names already appear on the quill’s 400 panels. At times, the HIV causes tingling and numbness in his hands, feel and arms ~ a common symptom called neuropathy - but he’s not allowing it to affect his emotional well-being. "I still haven’t broken down like a lot of people do," he said. "I have HIV and there’s nothing 1 can do about it.. . (so) I may as well look at everything positively." His effervescent personality helps Ernie, his wife and six daughters cope with his HTV even though the threat of AIDS is no stranger to his family. His cousin died of AIDSrelated illnesses last Christmas. Ernie unexpectedly found a quilt panel made for his cousin while helping ACT-B roll out the panels for the quilt display in Thunder Bay. "The panel was just a rainbow with his name on it and his lover’s name - nothing fancy. He was just a plain person," he said. "I’d like to have a real fancy panel but that’s not me." Ernie wants a clown and teddy bear embedded on his quilt piece because "that’s what I am", he said jokingly, and because he’s an avid collector of both items. "All the girls in my family know me well. I know they’ll come up with something grand for me." Unlike Ernie, 34-year-old Ted isn’t sure about how he’ll be commemorated on his quilt panel. The only thing important to him is that his name be included on the national tapestry. "With me being so young, (having a panel on the quilt) is one of the goals I want to achieve before my number is up," he explained. "I would like to have three or four other people volunteering to sit down (with me) and compose a quilt. Or, when I’m gone, they can put whatever they want on it" Ted has been living with AIDS for over a year now. He found out about his HIV while living in Florida. When he was diagnosed with AIDS, he came back to Thunder Bay for the support of his family and friends. Ted’s parents found the news difficult to accept, but his sister took action. She set up a support meeting for Ted at ACT-B. "When I came back to town, I was so emotionally weak that I couldn’t even talk over the phone to ask for information about AIDS. But, everything has worked out positively for me," he said. Since reluming to Thunder Bay, Ted’s health has stabilized, he’s receiving a steady income, has found a place to live and is getting the emotional support he needs from his loved ones and ACT-B. And he’s also lending his support Even though AIDS sometimes drains him of energy, Ted always musters up enough to volunteer with the agency. He fills in at the reception desk, participates in fundraising activities and helps organize special events. He is also a member of the board of directors. But it was the AIDS quilt page 7 presentation that provided him with the most significant volunteer experience of all. It played an integral pan in helping him come to terms with the disease and its wrath. "I had lost some friends (who died of AIDS) and fortunately, their panels were on the quilt. .. . For me, (the quilt presentation) was like a funeral." To Ted’s surprise, the remorse and anguish he experienced while viewing the quilt and acknowledging the lives of those who had died of AIDS was also shared by some of the 1,600 people who came out to look at the artwork. "I couldn’t believe the respect that was shown," he said. "There were complete strangers who didn’t know the people who had died of AIDS, and they cried (for the victims). I didn’t expect that kind of empathy." Sometimes he finds it difficult to accept that a panel may one day be attached to the quilt in his memory, but Ted knows the quill is an important tool for raising public awareness about AIDS and for keeping the memories of those who died of AIDS alive. "The quilt means I will be remembered by the community, by the people that I knew.. .. It’s an everlasting recognition." After weeks of planning and organizing to bring it to Thunder Bay and only four days after its arrival, the quilt panels were rolled back up and sent off to their next destination. "I’m sad about it leaving," Ernie said. "Because, everytime it keeps going (to another location) another piece is added on." Several weeks have passed since its stop-over in the city. But for Ernie, Ted, the ACT-B staff and many of those people who took the opportunity to view it, the quilt and the spirits embedded in it have not been forgotten. "I remember all those colours. They were so vivid," Ted mused. "And, I especially remember one panel with the saying ’The fall is part of the dance.’ For me, those few words mean so much." CAROL BOLD �NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO REGIONAL HIV/AIDS COUNSELLING CONFERENCE UPDATE In the fall of 1992, the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay held its first Northwestern Ontario Regional HIV/AIDS Counselling Conference here in Thunder Bay at the new Ontario government building. The one and a half day event was made possible through funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health. The conference was guided by a planning committee made up of volunteers and staff. Persons living with HIV/AIDS also contributed to the planning, participated as speakers and attended as general registrants. Thanks again go out to the planning committee members: from Thunder Bay, Russell Angus, Vivian Johnston, Paul Johnston, Michael Sobota, Glenna McLeod, Meghan Carroll, Karen Ferland and from Kenora, Rai Therrian. Twenty speakers and approximately 46 health care workers from the Northwestern Ontario communities of Sioux Lookout, Dryden, Kenora, Rainy River/Fort Frances, Marathon, Nipigon/Red Rock, Atikokan and Thunder Bay attended the conference. Speakers from Toronto and Winnipeg also attended. Speakers gave presentations describing their own particular experiences dealing with HIV/AIDS and counselling issues. The talks reflected professional and personal views. At the end of each presentation there was a period when those attending the conference could interact with the speakers and have their concerns addressed. A lot of information was acquired through this process. Many previously unanswered questions were clarified and many new questions arose. Counsellors, social workers, clergymen, nurses, doctors, persons living with HIV/AIDS, partners of persons living with HIV/AIDS and other health care professionals participated in the conference. Although there were many concerns that still needed to be addressed, the conference itself was considered to be a great success. It was unanimous among those who attended that the conference should take place on an annual basis to help health care professionals receive accurate and updated information on the many issues relating to HIV/AIDS counselling. BRING ON THE SPRING THING! The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay will be hosting another: HEALTHY SEX CABARET Date: Saturday , March 27^ 1993 Place: Prince Arthur Hotel's Dawson Room Time: 8:00 P.M. Tickets: $10.00 Coordinated by: William Roberts page 8 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 6 Issue 1 - Winter 1993 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2674/1993_reACT-Believe_vol6no2_2.pdf 340ac351cacfd731fb49700aeeac549c PDF Text Text reACT-Be lieve Spring 1993, Volume 6, Issue U AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.0. 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE cabinet ministers and Minister Bouchard. OAN Gathering in Thunder Bay The Canadian AIDS Society, in partnership with the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Hemophilia Association and the Canadian Association of Health Researchers, met with the Minister and presented a detailed analysis of the current level of funding and the requirements to meet the minimum needs as we proceed into the ’90s. The amount needed was set at $55.3 million. The current level of funding was set more than three years ago. The Ontario AIDS Network (OAN) will hold its quarterly meeting in Thunder Bay on July 16-18. The network is made up of more than 30 community-based AIDS organizations. If recent attendance patterns hold true, 100-150 people will participate in the weekend gathering. This will be the third time ACT-B has hosted the OAN, having previously done so in 1987 and 1990. Member organizations take turns hosting, so the meetings move to various cities in the province. A special part of the agenda for this meeting will be the election of the OAN’s First board of directors. This is the culmination of two years of work, leading to the incorporation of the OAN and election of the First board. A local committee of volunteers lias been hard at work since February, planning the hosting details. This is a major event and will require dozens of volunteers to help it run smoothly. We will need minute-takers, informationhosts, chairpersons for meeting sessions, and there will be opportunities for volunteer work in the ofFice before the OAN arrives. If you can assist us with hosting the OAN, please give Sheila Berry a call at 345-1516. Federal Government Announces Renewed Commitment in the Fight Against AIDS For the past nine months, communitybased AIDS organizations across the country have been hammering at the door of Health and Welfare Minister Benoit Bouchard. The federal funding for AIDS, including funding to local groups through the AIDS Community Action Program (ACAP), was due to expire on March 31, 1993. Our efforts included meeting with local MPs to request their support for a renewed and enhanced commitment to federal funding. As well, a blizzard of correspondence was aimed at key On March 11, just weeks before the expiration deadline. Minister Bouchard announced a renewed federal commitment at $42.2 million. This commitment will extend over the next Five years. The amount represents an increase of S3 million. While any increase is beneficial, this amount is woefully inadequate, particularly because it must address the needs of the all federal AIDS strategies. A new application process for ACAP funds means we do not know whether the ACAP program will be enhanced in Ontario, nor whether ACT-B will be assured of ongoing funding. We wish to thank all those who assisted in the national advocacy campaign. In particular, we are grateful to Iain Angus, MP, Thunder Bay-Atikokan and Joe Comuzzi, MP, Thunder Bay-Nipigon, for their efforts on our behalf. Michael Sobota �Volunteers: " A chance to change tommorow" This phrase will be displayed on the banner to be strung at the usual Southward location on North May Street this year. The Volunteer Centre has chosen this slogan to encourage people to sign up this year and get involved in one of the more than 50 non-profit agencies in the city. It is action oriented and gives the impression that one person can make a difference! Whether you volunteer at one project (task oriented), or give hours on a regular basis, or work on a call basis, what you give is valued. Given the cuts in spending and budgets from both the province and the feds, volunteers will pick up the slack and allow agencies like ours to continue to fundraise and keep the level of services at a high level. Here at the AIDS Committee, we think our voluteers are exceptional. Every individual volunteer contribution is valued and appreciated. On April 19, at the Multicultural Hall on North Court Street, we will be honouring you, our dedicated volunteers for your support over the last year. The power of One, times 300 (the number of volunteers who supported us last year) helped the AIDS Committee accomplish these events; flea markets/yard sales, bingos, pancake breakfast. Healthy Sex Cabaret, make a difference! Candlelight Vigil, office support, newsletter production and distribution, mail campaigns, making of bedroses, sale of posters, mugs, pins, educational displays, Fun Run/Walk, plant a tree (third annual), make a difference! officially open our new office, answer phones, provide rides and support to clients and their families, make a difference! help change attitudes about HIV/AIDS, bring the Canadian AIDS Quilt to Thunder Bay, add three local panels to the Quilt, help re-organize the Resource Library, strengthen our various committees Fundraising, Support, Education - make a difference! The AIDS Committee celebrates your contribution to confronting HIV/AIDS in our community! Whether it was a one time volunteer activity or regular volunteering, collectively you logged 5777 volunteer hours last year! We the staff and Board salute each of you. NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK this year runs from April 18 to 24. The Thunder Bay Association of Volnteer Administrators (T.B.A.V.A.) will display photos of volunteers from all the non-profits. A number of draws will take place from ballots provided to volunteers. However you must bring the ballots to the mall on Friday, April the 23rd or Saturday the 24th. T.B.A.V.A. who host this annual recognition of volunteers, has chosen the theme, "VOLUNTEERS-the Heart of our Community". So stand up and be prepared to be recognized. Sheila Berry PLANNED GIVING Are you aware of die concept of Planned Giving? Would you like to give more than you are able to afford? You plan your earnings, would you like to plan your giving? To use life insurance as a means of planned giving you will need: a) a donor b) an irrevocable beneficiary c) an agency The donor purchases a Life Insurance Policy and makes the beneficiary the "Charity of his/her choice". Some of the advantages of this gift are: 1) The donors net donation could be much larger than hc/she can afford to give in cash. 2) The death benefit is TAX FREE to the charity. 3) It does not pass through the donors estate, thus avoiding any potential problems and costs related to probate. NOTE: You must be insurable in order to do this, eg: healthy and able to afford it There are also other possible options such as a bequest, will or annuities. To inquire further about planned giving please call 345-1516. Sexual Healing New Staff Hello, my name is lan Ritchie. I will be working with Daryle as a support services worker. I am originally from Ottawa but I have been in Thunder Bay for four years, now. I am a sociology graduate from Lakehead University and I am looking forward to working with ACT-B. page 2 The physiological changes characteristic of sexual arousal boost the immune system as well as the circulating levels of hormones and endorphins, so people feel better and heal faster, says Miriam Stoppard, author of The Magic of Sex. "It’s a double whammy to be ill and deprived of sex." Dr. Stoppard advises that sex should not be too strenuous and the positions not too demanding, and tells readers to choose a position in which the sick partner does the least work. Source: Glamour Magazine �ACT-B ADVISORY COUNCIL Fred Ball Norman Bowers Beth Huston Vivian Johnston Dr. Gordon Milne Marie Portier Nicky Tittley Director, Public Health Laboratory ACT-B Board Representative Director of Administration, Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic Public Health Nurse, Thunder Bay District Health Unit Family Physician Residential Care Worker Supervisor of Infection Control, Port Arthur General Hospital ACT-B BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rick Atkinson Joanne Books Norman Bowers Patsy Chalmers Michael Gravelle Susan Ivany Gabriel Kakeeway Gail Linklater Carol Nicholson Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Ted Romanowski Treasurer Director Secretary Director Director Director Director President Director Director Vice President Director ACT-B STAFF David Belrose Sheila Berry John Books Meghan Carroll Daryl Dollan Lawrence Korhonen Ian Ritchie Michael Sobota *¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ * Join us. Become a member! ¥ ¥ ¥ Members set our course at Annual Meetings. They are kept up-to-date about our work.They elect the Board of Directors who keep that work ¥ on track. ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Membership form. ¥ ¥ ¥ Name: ¥-------------------------------------------------------- ¥ Address: ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¥ ¥ __________________ Postal Code: ¥ ¥ ----------------------------------------- ----------------- ¥ Telephone:______________________________ _ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Enclosed is:____ $ 10 Membership Fee ____ $ 25 Supporting Membership ¥ $ Donation ¥ ¥ ¥ ---------- ¥ Mail to: ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ * ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY P.O.Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 ¥ Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Fundraising/Communications Coor. Secretary Support Sen/ices Office Manager Support Services Executive Director ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ To be eligible to vole at the Annual General Meeting, your membership must be up-to-date (30 days prior to the meeting). The A.G.M. is in November. Please renew your membership now. ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ ¥ Please address any comments on reACT-Believe to: P.0. Box 3586 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6E2 (807) 345-1516 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. John Books, Editor Karen Fertand, Writer, Assistant Editor Carol Bold, Writer, Assistant Editor Anne Ciemny, Assistant Editor The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay acknowledges and thanks our various funders: The opinions and medical information offered by reACTBelieve are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by reACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. : Ontario Ministry of Health : Health Promotions Branch of Health and Welfare Canada : Ontario Trillium Foundation : All of the people involved in general fundraising .which includes the local community, businesses and many individual donations. page 3 �TAK MAK TACKLES HIV by Steven Minuk This article is reprinted with permission from Lexicon, an Arts and Science Magazine published eight times a year. Mailing address: 251 Harbord Street Apt. A, Toronto, Ontario M6G 1G1. Tak Mak is an internationally-known Cancer and AIDS researcher at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto. He has published more than two hundred papers on AIDS, cancer and virology and, some believe, is a future Nobel Laureate. related AIDS is a recent phenomenon^ it didn’t receive any attention. You can acquire an immune deficiency by infection with HIV, or, at a much lower incidence, through exposure to environmental factors or as a result of a congenital defect. Credited with discovering the receptors on the immune system’s T cells, he is now focusing his attention on the virus that apparently destroys them: HIV. We spoke to him about his research activities and some of the controversies now unfolding in the AIDS research field. Because HIV-induced AIDS has become such a major health problem, and received so much media and scientific attention, these other AIDS cases became a prominent news event. In the past, they probably would have been buried in some doctor’s files or reported in some scientific journal. You recently made another discovery about T cells? So you don’t think these non-HIV AIDS cases mean anything? In our laboratory, we recently have been working with mice who have no T-4 cells. Surprisingly, we discovered that even when we removed all those cells, the mice still could mount an immune response. Now we’re trying to determine what agent(s) in the mice were responsible for this alternate immunity, and whether an equivalent kind of cell is found in AIDS patients. No, I don’t I think these cases merely weren’t reported before and there will always be a few people who become immunosuppressed due to environmental or other reasons. Were you surprised by the recent announcements about AIDS patients who have no trace of HIV in their blood? No, I’m actually not surprised. I’m pretty sure that this kind of AIDS has been around for years, but since its incidence is so low, and since HIV- Remember, these HIV-negative AIDS cases are spread out all over the world with no epidemiological connections. They’ve never seen each other, they’ve never shook hands, they’ve never exchanged body fluids, and so we have no reason to believe that they are linked. They’re just spontaneous events and probably happened at the same frequency before HIV-related AIDS occurred. Surely, evidence that you can get AIDS without infection by HIV page 4 wouldn’t be news the research community and the drug companies would want to hear. There’s big reputations and money invested in the current model. Remember, that, while there have been a few reported cases of non-HIV AIDS, millions are getting HIV AIDS. All this isn’t going to change die accepted conclusion that every single one of these people is contracting AIDS through some type of fluid, be it semen or blood. All these cases can be explained using epidemiologically sound arguments and an infectious agent. How do you respond to scientists like Duesberg who argue that retroviruses are harmless and that HIV couldn’t possibly be the culprit it’s claimed to be? Duesberg likes to argue the point that HIV need not be the "cause" of AIDS. I think we all agree that HIV is not the sole cause. I believe that there are co-factors. I think that HIV is necessary but not sufficient for AIDS, but that doesn’t mean HIV isn’t the cause. It’s part of the cause. Most hemophiliacs who have HIV take a lot longer to develop AIDS than, say, prostitutes in Central Africa, who have a very short latency period. 1 think the difference is due to the fact that prostitutes in Africa get exposed to a lot of bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections. �I think, then, co-factors play a critical role and that HIV by itself does not cause AIDS like the Polio virus causes Polio after a very specific incubation period. Why Is it taking so long to produce a viable vaccine against AIDS? We’ve produced one for the Polio virus. HIV has the capacity to change it’s protein coat with a very high frequency. The same individual may have thousands and thousands of different variants of the virus. Even though you can suppress one or two, you can’t suppress them all. We know that HIV can change up to twenty-five percent of its outside coaL You don’t see that extreme type of variability with the Polio virus. If you were able to make a vaccine against one strain of HIV, that wouldn’t protect you against all the other ones that can mutate. If what you are saying is true, then there could be a lot of people out there who are infected with HIV but test negative because the test relies on a specific antibody for a specific strain. I can’t rule that out. I don’t think it’s likely, simply because the incidence of the disease hasn’t really changed. As yet, there’s no AIDS epidemic where the people affected test seronegative. Wc have those handful of people in the States, but they aren’t epidcmiologically related. HIV can change its coat to some extent, but it can’t become, say, a Polio virus. We would be able to detect a mutant-strain epidemic. What do you think of the recent hypothesis that AIDS is an autoimmune disease where the immune system essentially cannibalizes itself? It’s entirely possible that AIDS is, in part, an autoimmune disease. After all, the virus attacks your immune system cells and your immune system then treats these infected cells as alien and tries to destroy them. Why do antiviral drugs like AZT lose their effectiveness eventually against HIV ? AZT inhibits reverse transcriptase, which is the enzyme the virus uses to replicate its genetic code and multiply. This enzyme is, unfortunaely, susceptible to mutation. As HIV alters its genetic code, at some point an "escape mutant" develops that is resistant to the drug. This is a very clear demonstration of how the evolution of a particular gene can occur. Has AIDS research led to any new discoveries about cancer? AIDS research has lead to an interesting conclusion which we were uncertain about in the past It’s clear now that the immune system plays a pivotal role in checking the growth of cancer. Many patients who have AIDS, if they had normal lifespans, would develop a lymphoma, which is a cancer of your immune cells. Do people who have AIDS develop cancer because they are im mu nosup pressed or because HIV appears to be carcinogenic? I believe that people who have AIDS develop cancer because they are immunosuppressed. There’s no evidence that HIV is a carcinogen. On the other hand, the majority of cancers in otherwise healthy people are not clearly related to immune dysfunction, and we think are a result of mutations on genes called oncogenes. Immune dysfunction is a sufficient, but not necessary, factor to develop cancer. As a medical researcher, do you think world governments are doing enough to fund AIDS research? page 5 This is a difficult question to answer. I think if you take the data as it is - the number of individuals in North America affected by HIV per dollars spent - the numbers I have, suggest we are spending forty times more on AIDS per patient than we are on breast cancer. On the other hand, if you treat AIDS as a potential timebomb that can decimate an entire population, you might say that we should spend a lot more time and money trying to conquer this disease. In Canada, it is true that we don’t spend anywhere close to what they are spending in the US per patient. At the same time, I think what is also lacking is not just money, but leadership in the area of medical research. �Book Reviews AIDS the Spiritual Dilemma by John E. Fortunato Harper & Row Publishers Copyright 1987 When I finished reading AIDS the Spiritual Dilemma, I felt as though I had made a new friend. John Fortunato’s warmth comes through on every page. His own experience as a psychotherapist, a gay man and as an unordained leader in the Episcopal Church, are presented with clarity, sensitivity and frankness. Although he naturally speaks from his own experience as a Christian, Fortunato does not preclude other paths on the spiritual journey, which he refers to as "the journey of the soul toward union with God". I was impressed with his sense of ecumenism, as well as his use of inclusive language throughout the book. Fortunato looks at the many aspects of spirituality as they relate to those affected and effected by AIDS. His approach to sexual/spiritual wholeness is refreshing and enlightening. The author speaks of our need to rc-cmbracc the sanctity of our sensuousness, to celebrate that which is God-given. He also states clearly, his belief that the church has not done well in responding to AIDS and has especially failed to help gay and lesbian people on their spiritual paths. This is addressed further in another of John Fortunato’s books entitled "Embracing the Exile: Healing Journeys of Gay Christians". The author’s approach to the "Why AIDS?" question is one of stark honesty. This is the dilemma - how and why would God allow this horror to exist in the world? There are not now, nor have there ever been any simple answers to this question. In Fortunato’s words,"... if there is no ready answer, no logical explanation for the pain of those dying, for the fear of those who are ill, for the grief of those left behind - if there is no answer, there is for us assuredly a response. Simply stated, this response is love. "Loving - loving as a verb, the act of loving - is the only way I know to bear the pain." Overall, I would highly recommend John Fortunato’s book. It is enjoyable reading and has a conversational feel. The only fault I could find is that the AIDS terminology is somewhat dated. Considering the book was written in 1987,1 suppose this is to be expected. Even so, the message is timeless and powerful. ANONYMOUS TESTING IS AVAILABLE IN THUNDER BAY: PHONE 625-5981 Susan Ivany "The Essential HIV Treatment Fact Book" by Laura Pinsky and paul Harding Douglas with Craig Matroka, M.D., P.H.D. Published by Pocket Books, cl992 429 pages The Essential HIV Treatment Fact Book is a thoroughly researched guide to understanding HIV. The particularly wonderul thing about this book is it’s readability: one doesn’t need to have a medical background to understand the content. The book is divided into four sections: Early Interventions, Managing Complications, Understanding the Science and Practical Matters. Each section deals with specific issues and covers everything from antibody testing, antiviral drugs, how to work with your doctor, symptoms and diagnosis, and what you can expect emotionally. It provides practical information not only to PHA’s and their caregivers, but for medical personnel, counsellors and anyone interested in getting a better understanding of the virus. This book has already proved to be a valuable resource in my work with PHA’s. I have recommended it to my clients and their doctors, and anyone looking for the definitive book on HIV. Daryle Dollan page 6 You can now find out your individual health status concerning HIV. Anonymous HIV testing is available in Thunder Bay. The process is simple. All you have to do is phone 625-5981 to set up an appointment. During this initial phone call, you will be asked for a first name in order to book an appointment. No other identifying information will be asked for. At the appointment, you will receive information to explain just what the test means. During your appointment, you will receive appropriate counselling relevant to your own personal needs. A blood sample will be taken and you will be given a date and time to return for your test results. It may take 3 weeks before results arc ready. If you have any questions about anonymous testing, please call us at ACT-B: 345-1516. Accurate, candid and up-to-date information coupled with sensitive preand post- test counselling is what you should receive if you choose to be tested. We’re here to help assure you receive that. �ACT-B ON TELEVISION Over the past few months, the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay (ACT-B) has been using television to promote compassion and increase awareness of AIDS in Thunder Bay. Working with Maclean Hunter Cable TV, staff and volunteers have produced a series of informative programs airing monthly on Channel 7. The first show in November included an introduction to ACT-B, a review of AIDS Awareness Week, and a look at the international context. The December show was a moving documentary of the "CANADIAN AIDS QUILT DISPLAY" in Thunder Bay last fall, including local panels. "THE FACES OF AIDS", aired in January, explored the impact of HIV/AIDS through the personal stories of local individuals. A live phone-in show on "HIV ANTIBODY TESTING" broadcast in February. This lively halfhour prompted a number of questions from callers. The March feature was "GOING HOME", a powerful docudrama in which four members of a rural family describe their reaction to AIDS in the family. Originally produced by the AIDS Committee of London, this program speaks eloquently and directly to the audience. The final show of the series will be another live phone-in show on Tuesday, April 27, at 8:00 pm. This is an excellent chance for viewers to ask questions, or express their views on "THE FUTURE OF AIDS". Don’t worry if you missed a show. Call 7675511 and Maclean Hunter will air these programs as part of Viewer’s Request. Copies of the programs are also available in the resource library. The television series has been a demanding, exciting and frustrating experience. The time and effort required to put together a monthly show has been enormous, and while we started with a team of volunteers, this dwindled to a group of three. The shows that have aired have contained good material, and there is excitement in being part of that creative process. The frustration comes from the lack of feedback about the shows. The live show on testing is the only one that has prompted any amount of viewer response. It is clear that television has been a very important medium for the dissemination of HIV/AIDS information. Is it a medium that we as an agency should continue to use? As the producer of the shows, I have mixed feeling, and evaluation of this years project will determine whether we continue in the future. You can help us out with this evaluation. Please give us a phone call, and give us your feelings on the following questions. 1. Have you seen or heard about any of the ACT-B TV shows? 2. Did you gain anything from the show(s) you saw? 3. Do you think ACT-B should continue to produce TV Shows? 4. If yes, do you have any suggestions for content? Thank you for your help in assessing this part of our programming. David Belrose LIBRARY RESOURCES Over the past months, we have acquired a number of valuable educational resources for the library. If you haven’t been in recently, here is a sampling of some of the new titles. Most are available for loan, but some are for reference use only. FOR LOAN •The Essential HIV Treatment Fact Book by Laura Pinsky and Paul Harding Douglas (review elsewhere in this issue) ♦AIDS Video Series for Family Physicians six videos covering HIV management Part 1 - Overview Part 2 - Pre Post Test Counselling Part 3 - Management of the HIV+ Patient page 7 Part 4 - Oral & Gastrointestinal Manifestations Part 5 - Dermal & Respiratory Manifestations Part 6 - Neuropsychiatric Manifestations •Dr. Bernard Bihari - Forum on HIV Treatment and Strategies (video) presentation by leading physician - two parts •RETROVIR: Living with HIV video on using AZT (zidovudine) put out by Burroughs-Wellcome features Dr. Alex Klein of Toronto •HIV AIDS Education For Nurses Practice Issues and Curriculum Guidelines produced by Canadian Nurses Association •AIDS: The Drug and Alcohol Connection What Health Care Professionals Need To Know especially for chemical dependency caregivers •AIDS-PROOFING YOUR KIDS A Step by Step guide for parents and educators ♦HOMOPHOBIA: How We All Pay The Price by Warren Blumenfeld includes section on running antihomophobia workshops •AIDS AND CANADIAN LAW explores range of legal issues from Canadian perspective ♦TIME OUT: The Truth About HIV, AIDS and You (video) Magic Johnson and Arsenio Hall VIDEOS FOR REFERENCE USE ONLY: ♦DEGRASSI TALKS: SEX •DEGRASSI TALKS: SEXUALITY videos/books explore issues including safer sex and sexual orientation ♦LONGTIME COMPANION powerful feature Film follows groups of friends through the 80’s Come in and take a look, or give us a call. We may have what you need. �Philps, is deserving of the highest praise for adding a whole new dimension to the performance. Cabaret Sex Acts, Healthy Fun The last Saturday in March marked the performance of the Fifth Annual Healthy Sex Cabaret. And, indeed, it included all three: health, sex and cabaret. This year’s production was hosted by the eminent and painfully hilarious Dr. Bill, who was assisted by his nurse Cloris Labeea (known internationally for her interpretive dance and apparently too, as a notorious theatre reviewer). Dr Bill was surprisingly organized (for a doctor) and under his direction, the show was an orgasmic success. The Cabaret was brimming with extraordinary talent and a healthy variety of acts. One of the first, Henry the Dancer, was spectacular in his gorgeously daring costumes. He looked better in a skin than most women and, certainly, better than Nurse Labeea. However, on this front, he was in close competition with the Pointless Sisters. Their act was well choreographed, well lip-synched and steamy. Sayble and Sue, a regular act with the annual event, again graced the Cabaret with their euphony. Their voices blended beautifully in the racy hits "Lesbians Who Wear Lipstick" and, my personal favorite, "Captain Penis." Of course, the Cabaret wouldn’t be the same without the Tiny Sex Theatre, a regular feature of the show. Wc were also fortunate enough to see the Rubber Made’s rendition of a Pulitzer Prize­ winning script, revolving around a sequin-clad mystery woman, a clerk and the small, but significant, Vanity Might. The cast was no less than marvelous. "Rub," especially, was Oscar material. "Desert Norm" Sponchia gave the evening a special kick with his musicianship. His program included a new, breathless version of "Safe Sex I" and a new composition "Give My Erection a Direction." The Scxperts provided llic intellectual portion of the evening. Dr. Bill acted as moderator and delivered an array of thought-provoking questions fielded from the audience. The Scxperts were ever-ready with a wise reply and insights into intimate sexual matters. Much was gleaned in their answers to questions, addressing issues ranging from the cunnilingual nature of Thunder Bay to the recommended sexual positions for those with a pacemaker. A Cabaret must - Deb Patterson - came (so to speak) all the way from Winnipeg to perform. Clothed in a backless accordion, she dazzled the crowd with her lyrics and music. Deb contributed a delightful selection of her new songs, in addition to some old favorites. All in all, the audience was treated to an exemplary show that could only leave them thirsty for more. See you next year! And, speaking of euphony, Kim Erickson - stunning as always captivated the audience with jazzy tunes by Fats Waller, George Gershwin and Billie Holiday. Her accompanist, Jamie Fundraising News The last few months have been busy ones for the fundraising department. Wc have been negotiating to have a convenience store sell Nevada tickets for ACT-B. Hopefully, by the time this newsletter hits the streets, the tickets will be available. This promises to be a very lucrative venture. Also, in the planning stages are a major concert at the Community Auditoium, and an evening with comedians Romanofski and Phillipps for early in the Fall. February saw our first recreational ski event. It was at the Lappc Ski Centre, on a beautiful spring­ like day. Though the turnout was a little disappointing, we did manage to turn a small profit. We also met some people associated with the Ski Centre, who were impressed with our efforts and want to work with us to make next year’s event more successful. All on the same day in March, we had a Flea Market and our annual Cabaret. The Flea Market at Trinity Hall was another small success, except for those who shopped... they got the best deals in town. Now, the Cabaret is a different matter. Thanks to William Roberts who coordinated the evening and to all the performers, it was a phenomenal success. Grand entertainment from some of the most talented people in Thunder Bay. April marks the beginning of a new fiscal year. Preceding it, there has been a great deal of thought and planning focused on the budget for the coming year. The fundrasing goal for the 93 fiscal year is $75,000 (net). The Fundraising Committee thinks that with good planning and the help of our friends and volunteers, it is a reasonable goal. To help us track our progress, wc will record money coming in on a Fundraising Thermometer in the reception area of the office. John Books page 8 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 6 Issue 2 - Spring 1993 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2675/1993_reACT-Believe_vol6no3_2.pdf 0e4bfe69c21c9f6d3cab7cfd77c2d803 PDF Text Text reACT-Believe Summer 1993r Volume 6, Issue m AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.0.24025 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE WORRIED? YOU CAN GET TESTED ANONYMOUSLY Have you been wondering about getting the test? Concerned about something you may have done in the past but scared to bring it up with your doctor, your family or, with anyone? You want to know your status but don’t want everyone else to know? Don’t want people to know you’re gay - or think you are if you arc not? If maintaining your privacy is important and you genuinely think you’ve risked exposure to HIV, you can get tested anonymously in Thunder Bay. Simply call 625-5981. ANONYMOUS TESTING NOW AVAILABLE AT ACT-B When you call 625-5981, you will be given a choice of locations where you can gel tested. Currently, there are two, at our office, or at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit. Simply tell the receptionist which location you prefer. Testing is available at our office in the evening hours. Remember: you don’t have to give an OHIP card, or your address or your name. To book an appointment, you simply provide a first name so a time sloL can be reserved for you. And nothing will be reported, whatever your test results are. Except to you. And whatever those results are, remember that we’re here at the AIDS Committee to give you information, help and support. CALL TO BE TESTED 625-5981 LOCAL LAB CAN NOW RUN ANTIBODY TEST Our local testing laboratory has received approval to run the basic HIV antibody test here in Thunder Bay. Previously, when your blood was taken for the HIV antibody test, it had to be sent to Toronto for processing. This frequently took a month of longer for you to get your test results back. After years of lobbying by the Director of Thunder Bay’s Regional Testing Laboratory, Dr. Fred Ball, and by ACT-B, the basic HIV antibody test is now being processed here. The basic test is called ELISA, and is a screening test. Results from this test can now be available within 2 weeks or less, if your test proves negative. If your ELISA test is positive or indeterminate (a category that indicates your test is hard to read and could be positive or negative), your blood sample would then be sent to Toronto for a confirmatory tests. The confirmatory tests aren’t available in Thunder Bay. Your results would come back to you later. If you chose to be tested in Thunder Bay, using the Anonymous Testing service (625-5981), the counsel­ lor will explain that a delayed result does not necessarily mean your test will come back positive. It could. But it could also be indeterminate, in which case it is usually wise to be retested at a later date. Or it could be a “false positive”. A very small number of ELISA test results show up as false when the confirmatory test is done. The importance of the ELISA test being available here is that the government recognizes we should have better health services here in the North. Testing anonymously, combined with faster test results and good, profes­ sional counselling is what we have been advocating for. We hope this makes taking the test easier and more comfort­ able in Thunder Bay. Please call us if you have any questions or further concerns about testing. We’re here to help. Michael Sobota L FIRST CALL FOR 1993 AGM AND MEMBERSHIP UPDATE ACT-B’s 1993 Annual General Meeting will take place in November. Your participation is important to our future direction. Your membership must be valid (new or renewed) at least 30 days prior to the AGM. So check your membership card, to see if you have a current 1993 membership. It is good for the calendar vear. �MEN'S SURVEY The National Survey on Gay and Bisexual Men and II1V Infection Gay and bisexual men in Thunder Bay and Canada are heeding the message of AIDS prevention. A national survey of 4803 gay and bisexual men showed that more than 75% of men who have sex with men consistently practise safer sex. The survey was released recently by the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) and researchers from the University of Toronto and Laval University. This innovative national survey examined the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of gay and bisexual men in relation to 111V infection. The ATDS Committee of Thunder Bay (ACT-B) co-ordinated the collection of data in this ar ea. Some readers may recall tliat Llie questionnaires were filled in at die Halloween dance in October 1991. It has taken until now Tor the data to be analyzed and the report to be written. The results of the national survey are consistent with a local Needs Assessment Survey due to be released soon by ACTB. Gay and bisexual men can be proud of the changes we have made in our sexual practices. However, there are still problem areas, and we all need to maintain consistent safer sex practices. More than 80% of the men surveyed nationally reported that they had made a major change in their sexual practices since hearing about AIDS. However, the survey showed that men under the age of 25 were more likely to have anal intercourse without a condom as were men in a relationship. In cities of less than one million, 40 to 42% of the survey participants reported having had unpro­ tected anal sex in the previous three mondis. Rend Raymond, Chair of CAS said “ the results of this survey, the first of its kind in Canada, show that significant change has taken place in gay and bisexual men’s attitudes and behaviours since the arrival of AIDS.” Raymond went on to add “ the work of the community-based AIDS movement is paying off. Our prevention programs are working." Even so, Raymond cautioned, we must avoid complacency as AIDS is far from over. The mam motivation to use a condom, said survey pariicipants, was the degree to which they fell they had control over condom usage during sex. This would seem lo indicate that individuals need to work on their self-esteem and their ability to negotiate safer sex practices with their partner. Of the 4803 men surveyed 65% had been tested for HIV. Men belwceu die ages of 26 and 35 were the most likely to lake the test. The survey suggests that concerns mound confidentiality and public health policies can keep men from taking the HIV antibody LesL. Overall, 11.8% of respondents knew themselves to be HIV positive. Although loneliness was the biggest concern for all survey respon­ dents, men living with HIV had oilier concerns of greater significance. They ciLcd problems ranging from being able to understand medical information about AIDS (3%) to feelings of uneasiness about having sex (25%). Over the winter of 1991/1992, anonymous questionnaires were distributed by volunteers from 26 community organiza­ tions at 124 venues frequented by gay and bisexual men (bars, bath houses and community dances) in 35 cities across Canada, including 'Ihunder Bay. Respondents ranged in age from 16 to 75 years old. Tlic survey was a collaboration between community organizations which serve the gay community and academic institutions, and was financed by Health and Welfare Canada under the National AIDS Strategy. ACT-B is a member of the Canadian AIDS Society, which is a national coalition of community-based AIDS groups confronting HTV infection and AIDS. A special Gay Community Report on the Results of Men’s Survey is available from ACT-B, GLBTB or at the dances. The full report is available at ACT-B. For more information, call David Belrose, Education Coordinator at 3451516. David Belrose page 2 WHAT'S NEW IN THE LIBRARY Listed below are some of the new materials in the resource centre. Come in and check them out. ♦Healing and the Mind by Bill Moyers ♦Managing Your Health: A Guide for People Living with HIV or AIDS by Mark Whitehead and Brent Patterson ♦A Complete guide to Psychosocial Intervention edited by Helen Land ♦Men’s Survey: The Canadian Survey of Gay and Bisexual Men and HIV Infection by Ted Myers el al ♦Ontario First Nations AIDS and Healthy Lifestyle Survey by Ted Myers et ul ♦HIV + Working the System by Robert A. Rimer and Michael A. Connolly ♦Rethinking AIDS: The Tragic Cost of Premature Consensus by Robert S. Root- Bemstein ♦Men & Grief: A Guide for Men Surviving the Loss of a Loved One by Carol Staudacher ♦Living With Loss: Experiencing Bereavement, with Special Attention to HIV/AIDS by Rev. Louis F. Kavar ♦Wise Before Their Time: People from Around the World Living with AIDS and HIV Tell their Stories edited by Ann Richardson and Dietmar Bolle ♦Landscape Without Gravity: A Memoir of Grief by Barbura Lazcar Ascher ♦Voices That Care: Stories and Encouragements for People with AIDS/ HIV and Those who Love Them edited by Neal Hitchens ♦AIDS: The Ultimate challenge by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross ♦A Different Kind of Healing: Doctors Speak Candidly about their Successes with Alternative Medicine by Oscar Janiger, M.D. and Philip Goldberg ♦Healthy Eating Makes A Difference: A Food Resource Kit For People Living With HIV video and book from Canadian Hemophilia Society HELP: Equipment Needed The ACT-B Resource Library could use a VCR to supplement existing equipment. If you have an old VCR sitting around unused, please considering donating it to the library. Give us a call at 345-1516. �ACT-B ADVISORY COUNCIL Fred Ball Norman Bowers Beth Huston Dr. Gordon Milne Bob Richardson Nicky Tittley Join us. Become a member! Director, Public Health Laboratory ACT-B Board Representative Director of Administration, Kinna-weya Legal Clinic Family Physician Businessman Supervisor of Infection Control, Port Arthur General Hospital Members set our course at Annual Meetings. They are kept up-to-date about our work.They elect the Board of Directors who keep that work on track. Membership form. Name:_______________________ Address: ACT-B BOARD OF DIRECTORS Postal Code: Telephone:________________________________ Enclosed is:_____ $ 10 Membership Fee ____ S 25 Supporting Membership ____ S Donation Treasurer Rick Atkinson Debbie Bird Director Norman Bowers Secretary Director Patsy Chalmers Director Susan Ivany Gail Linklater President Director Rob MacKay Director Bob Richardson Vice President Diane Roberts Ted RomanowskiDirector Mail to: AIDS COMMITTER OF THUNDER RAY P.O. Box 24025 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 To be eligible lo vole a I Ihe Annual General Meeting, your membership must be up-to-date (30 days prior lo Ihe meeting). The A.G.M. is in November. Please renew your membership now. ACT-B STAFF Christa Alsch David Belrose Sheila Berry John Books Daryle Dollan Lawrence Korhonen Ian Ritchie Michael Sobota Secretary Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Fundraising/Communications Support Service Coordinator Office Manager Support Worker/Health Promoter Executive Director Please address any comments on reACT-Believe to: P.O. Box 24025 217 South Algoma Street Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay acknowledges and thanks our various funders: (807) 345-1516 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. : Ontario Ministry of Health : Health Promotion and Social Development Office, Ontario Branch : Ontario Trillium Foundation : All of the people involved in general fundraising, which includes the local community, businesses and many individual donations. John Books, Editor Mary-Lynn Bragg, Assistant Editor Dave Myers, Layout, Assistant Editor Ian Ritchie, Editor - Treatment Pages We especially would like to acknoweledge the Secondary School Teachers Charity Fund for their c<?n?rous flQmt'qn,_ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ The opinions and medical information offered by reACT-Believe are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by reACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. page 3 �REATMENT PAGE AIDS and Our Youth: Arc They Getting the Message? It is often said that “our children are our future”. The youth of today face an uphill struggle in trying to reach adulthood. Every generation of teenagers goes through more or less the same biological, emotional and lifestyle changes, but this new generation of teenagers are facing the prospects of a shrinking job market and a killer virus that is transmitted by the one remaining constant in their lives, sex. During the last live years teenagers have been bombarded with commercials, public service an­ nouncements and advertisement posters about the dangers of AIDS and how to prevent it. Wc all have seen the commercials with famous rock stars warning teenagers about the dangers of AIDS. The poster cam­ paigns stating “it can happen to you”. Along with this teenagers have been bombarded with anti-drug messages. Is it possible that wc have desensi­ tized our young adults lo these messages? Do they see a commercial and say to themselves “not another AIDS commercial” and change the channel? I don’t know the answer to this question. One thing I do know is dial teenagers are noi getting the message. Recent studies suggest dial teens arc more educated about AIDS awareness but for some reason they are not turning awareness into preven­ tion. A recent issue in Maclean’s magazine (February 1993) illustrates tills point. In a survey of 1500 teenagers aged 14 - 19, only 38% of sexually active teens say they use a condom every time they have sex. That means that 62% of all sexually active teens are not getting the message of practising safe sex and are vulnerable to any number of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), preg­ nancy and of course AIDS. How many teens arc sexually active you ask? Well, according lo Decima research poll, 60% of teens aged 17 19 are sexually active. To further illustrate this point according to the latest statistics available, in 1989 there were 39,000 teenage pregnan­ cies in Canada. This means that in 1989, 78,000 teenagers (it takes two to tango) were at risk of contracting an STD or AIDS. Another disturbing trend is the continuing increase of STD rales in teenagers. The goal of safe sex messages is to reduce all of these trends. What we are seeing is the opposite. Teenagers are not getting the message. So the question remains. Why are teenagers not practising safer sex? Well the most obvious to everybody is that like all of us dial were once teenagers, the feeling of immortality and individualism is dominant. “Who cares”, “carpe diem” (seize the day), “it won’t happen to me” are all expressions of feelings that most teenagers face. (I know I did). Tliis is a difficult fact to deal with and as educators we must identify this and gear our promotion to answer this phenomena. We must convince adolescents that they must assume responsibility for their actions. Another possible reason that teenagers are not getting the message is because they don’t feel dial they are at risk. Our society has attempted to educate our teenagers about the spread and prevention of AIDS but, at die same time portrayed this disease as a gay or I. V. drug user disease. So of course “it can’t happen to me, if I don’t fit into this category” is natural. Unfortunately, the reality is that if you have unprotected sex, you are at page 4 risk. Harsh 1 know but reality. Currently in Ontario alone, five people test positive for the HIV virus everyday. Our teenagers are having sex and they am at risk. I fear the day when the only option we have left to convince teenagers that they arc just as much at risk as everyone else, is to fill our school auditorium with a panel of HIV positive teenagers. The 9th Annual AIDS Conference in Berlin this year con­ firmed that die highest risk category for contracting the HIV virus is young people between the ages 15-24. I believe that new strategies and new programs need to be developed in order to convince young people that every time they practise unsafe sex, they are putting dicir life in danger. This is not just a disease that attacks certain groups, this is a disease that can affect anyone who has unsafe sex. Awareness of how to prevent the spread of AIDS is high, if only we can find a way to translate that message of awareness into action for prevention. Ian Ritchie ra In Memorium We remember with respect and appreciation Tom and George �Therapeutic Basics For People Living With HIV Infection Many physicians, researchers and healers now agree that ihe best approach in dealing with HIV infection is to start very early with a carefully planned, comprehensive program based on the latest research findings. Your program should include a nutrient-rich, whole-foods diet, nutrient supplementation to replace the nutrients that have been found to be deficient in those with HIV infection, therapeutic agents aimed at boosting the body’s capacity to heal and helping eliminate symptoms, and, depending on die disease stage, the appropriate antiviral, immune-modulating, prophylactic and anti-infective drugs. In addition, die most truly comprehensive approaches include mind/body healing, energy therapies, stress-reduction techniques, and recommendations for rest, relaxation, and appropriate exercise. According to Marcy Fenton, MS, RD, a registered dietician and nutrition consultant to AIDS Project Los Angeles, “Among people with HIV infection, malnutrition can contribute to the development of opportunistic infections, can hasten physical deterioration, and in the case of those with AIDS can be the underlying cause of death. Conversely, an aggressive, individually tailored nutritional program is crucial to slowing infection, increasing the. efficacy of medical treatment and enriching quality of life....Healdi practitioners need to understand the relationship between nutrition and immunity, particularly among those with HIV infection. In addition, practitioners must be aware that good nutrition is not an ‘alternative’ therapy; it is a fundamental component of medical care”. (Focus: A Guide to AIDS Research and Counseling, Vol 5, #2, Jan., 1990, UCSF AIDS Health Project) Which Exams When? If your T4 count is between 500 and 200 examine your options around combination and monotherapy with antiretrovirals. Some doctors like to start you on monotherapy with AZT then add ddl or ddC later on. Others begin with combination therapy. It’s your choice. If monotherapy with AZT fails, move on to ddl or combination of antiretrovirals. Review with your doctor any prior history of STDs or viral infection. Also consider using immune modulators such as cimctidine or naltrexone. An immune modula­ tor is a substance dial boosts or rebuilds the immune system. To date, no substance have been conclusively proven to accomplish this. CONDITIONS ACTION T4/T8 COUNTS Every three months: same lime, same lab. But note that even in the best of situations, T4 counts can vary by 20%. When establishing a baseline, use the mean of three consecutive counts. PCP If you have more than 300 T4 cells but are symptomatic, test for active infection by inducing sputum or bronchoscopy. If asymptomatic, begin prophylaxis with Bactrim as first line of defence when T4 cells reach 200 or T4% drops below 20%. CMV If changes in vision occur, eye exam immediately. HPV/Cervical Cancer Pap smear every 3-6 months. Colposcopy if smear suggests HPV, therapy if appropriate. Candidiasis Local mystatin therapy, then ketoconazole, then fluconazole if candidiasis persists. Skin Problems See dermatologist, treat topically and aggressively. Nutrition Treat nutritional deficiencies through vitamin and mineral supplements. KS Early intervention may be better than later depending on whether KS is rapidly progressing or not. Lesions can be given topical injections with vinblastine. If they cannot be controlled topically then add systemic chemotherapy (but just enough to slow down the progression). Radiation and excision of lesions is possible. Consider CD8 expansions with interleukin 2. Also consider Doxil or DaunoXome. Liquid nitrogen can be used on flat lesions. page 5 �FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE Joyce and Ernie: A Tribute On Saturday, June 12th over 122 people participated in the 5th Annual AIDS Fun Run/Pledge Walk. As a fundraiser and a running event, we were very gratified with the community response. The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay is grateful to the many Thunder Bay businesses who have generously contrib­ uted prizes or contributed to sponsoring this event. There are many wise men and women who work in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The best of them utilize a combination of personal skill, courage and humour. Joyce and Ernie arc two of the best. Lakehead Travel, Canadian Airlines, Athlete’s Foot, New Balance, Marquis Marketing, Lakehead University, Confederation College, Petrone Homak Garfalo Mauro, Atwood Shaw Labine, Microage, Finnport Inc, Finnish Book­ store, Canada Games Complex, Northern Reflections, Sports, Cineplex Odeon, All The Sports, Thunder Mountain Store, Sweet Thursday, Neebing Road House, Bailey’s Sea &. Ski, Beaver Lumber, Power Centre, Inter City Ford, The Keg, A & A Records (Intercity), The Lady’ a Champ, Japan Camera, Collegiate Sports, Music City (Keskus), Fresh Air Experience, Petries, King’s Stereo, Petal & Pots, Jeannie Tuomi, Gallery of Fine Arts, Boston Pizza, Centennial Golf, Shear Heaven, C & D Sports, J. B. Evans, Creative Croissants, Northern Reflections, Thunder Mountain Store, All the Sports, Neebing Roadhouse, Port Arthur General Hospital, McDonald’s, Robin’s Donuts, Kelly’s Food Service Equipment, Metre Eaters Running Club, Thunder Bay Nordic Ski Club. Thanks also go to the many volunteers of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay and to the Run Committee. NEW EMPLOYEES ACT-B is pleased to welcome the following contract staff to our team: Karen Ferland has been reengaged to coordinate our fall HIV/AIDS Regional Counselling Conference. Susan Gibbs is a S.E.E.D. summer student working as an Assistant in our education department. They came to Thunder Bay about two years ago. They contacted our Glenna McLeod, the Support Co-ordinator at that time, and quietly settled in to a rural homestead. Ernie had been TITV+ before meeting Joyce. His health status never prevented them from becoming partners, and they renewed a commitment to raising their children in a positive, healthy environment. Shortly after they moved into town, both Ernie and Joyce decided to become more active as a couple living wilh HIV. During the past year, they began speaking to public audiences about living together, as a family, with HIV. Ernie volunteered to be in the “opening ceremonies” for the unfolding of the Canadian AIDS Quilt. He spoke movingly about that experience in a previous newsletter article (Winter 1993 Volume 6, Issue I). Together, Joyce and Ernie were interested in reviving a support group and offered to host one at their home. Earlier this Spring, they joined the participants in our annual “Healthy Sex Cabaret”, becoming a very sexy cupid and his love partner, selling bed roses to the patrons of the cabaret. Later this Spring, they were the catalyst for bringing together a committee to develop our first food bank for clients. They named it “Mother’s Cupboard”. Personal reasons made them choose to relocate at the end of May. And it is with genuine reluctance and sadness we saw them go. Joyce and Ernie, thank you for all your contributions while you were in Thunder Bay. We have benefited from your skills, your eagerness and your friend­ ship. We salute you. Michael Soboia Volunteer of the Year '93 Ted came to the AIDS Committee two years ago. He wanted to get involved and do whatever he could to help confront AIDS/HIV in Thunder Bay. Ted was bom and raised in the city, then returned after a long absence. When he first came to the agency, Ted started out volunteer­ ing on the phones, stuffing and folding envelopes, advocating for people living with HIV/AIDS, assisting with coin boxes, yard sales and special events, and so much more. Since his first involve­ ment, he has been a dedicated volunteer, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors, the Fundraising Committee, and the Support Committee. Our bingos will always find Ted hustling those traders on the floor. Last year Ted represented ACT-B at several AIDS/HIV conferences, and was very involved in the Canadian AIDS Quilt Display. Ted is shown here honouring one of his longtime friends whose panel was pan of the Canadian AIDS Quilt. During the course of his volunteering here, Ted has contrib­ page 6 uted over 700 hours, but more than that, he has given much of himself. There is a spccialness about Ted that has endeared him to many of the volunteers and staff. You can’t know Ted without recognizing his witty and sarcastic humour. You can’t know Ted if you don’t sense his sincerity and soft side. We, the staff and Board salute and honour you as VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR ! Sheila Berry, Coordinator of Volunteer Services �PROM ALL WALKS OF UPE Joyce and Ernie* A Tribute On Saturday, June 12th over 122 people participated in the 5th Annual AIDS Fun Run/Plcdgc Walk. As a fundraiser and a running event, we were very gratified with the community response. The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay is grateful to the many Thunder Bay businesses who have generously contrib­ uted prizes or contributed to sponsoring this event. There are many wise men and women who work in Lhe fighl against HIV/AIUS. The best of them utilize a combination of personal skill, courage and humour. Joyce and Ernie are two of the best. Lakchcad Travel, Canadian Airlines, Athlete’s Foot, New Balance, Marquis Marketing, Lakehead University, Confederation College, Pelrone Homak Garfalo Mauro, Atwood Shaw Labine, Microage, Finnport Inc, Finnish Book­ store, Canada Games Complex, Northern Reflections, Sports, Cineplex Odeon, All The Sports, Thunder Mountain Store, Sweet Thursday, Neebing Road House, Bailey’s Sea & Ski, Beaver Lumber, Power Centre, Inter City Ford, The Keg, A & A Records (Intercity), The Lady’ a Champ, Japan Camera, Collegiate Sports, Music City (Keskus), Fresh Air Experience, Petries, King’s Stereo, Petal & Pots, Jeannie Tuomi, Gallery of Fine Arts, Boston Pizza, Centennial Golf, Shear Heaven, C & D Sports, J. B. Evans, Creative Croissants, Northern Reflections, Thunder Mountain Store, All the Sports, Neebing Roadhouse, Port Arthur General Hospital, McDonald’s, Robin’s Donuts, Kelly’s Food Service Equipment, Metre Eaters Running Club, Thunder Bay Nordic Ski Club. Thanks also go to the many volunteers of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay and to the Run Committee. NEW EMPLOYEES ACT-B is pleased to welcome the following contract staff to our team: Karen Ferland has been reengaged to coordinate our fall HIV/AIDS Regional Counselling Conference. Susan Gibbs is a S.E.E.D. summer student working as an Assistant in our education department. They came to Thunder Bay about two years ago. They contacted our Glenna McLeod, the Support Co-ordinator at that time, and quietly settled in to a rural homestead. Ernie had been HIV+ before meeting Joyce. Ilis health status never prevented them from becoming partners, and they renewed a commitment to raising their children in a positive, healthy environment. Shortly after they moved into town, both Ernie and Joyce decided to become more active as a couple living with HIV. During the past year, they began speaking to public audiences about living together, as a family, with HIV. Ernie volunteered to be in the “opening ceremonies” for the unfolding of the Canadian AIDS Quilt. He spoke movingly about that experience in a previous newsletter article (Winter 1993 Volume 6, Issue I). Together, Joyce and Ernie were interested in reviving a support group and offered to host one at their home. Earlier this Spring, they joined the participants in our annual “Healthy Sex Cabaret”, becoming a very sexy cupid and his love partner, selling bed roses to the patrons of llie cabaret. Later this Spring, they were the catalyst for bringing together a committee to develop our first food bank for clients. They named it “Mother's Cupboard”. Personal reasons made them choose to relocate at the end of May. And it is with genuine reluctance and sadness we saw them go. Joyce and Ernie, thank you for all your contributions while you were in Thunder Bay. We have benefited from your skills, your eagerness and your friend­ ship. We salute you. Michael Sobota Volunteer of the Year '93 Ted came to the AIDS Committee two years ago. He wanted to get involved and do whatever he could to help confront AIDS/HIV in Thunder Bay. Ted was bom and raised in the city, then relumed after a long absence. When he first came to the agency, Ted started out volunteer­ ing on the phones, stuffing and folding envelopes, advocating for people living with H1V/A1DS, assisting with coin boxes, yard sales and special events, and so much more. Since his first involve­ ment, he has been a dedicated volunteer, and is currently a member of llie Board of Directors, the Fundraising Committee, and the Support Committee. Our bingos will always find Ted hustling those traders on the floor. Last year Ted represented ACT-B at several AIDS/HTV conferences, and was very involved in the Canadian AIDS Quilt Display. Ted is shown here honouring one of his longtime friends whose panel was pan of the Canadian AIDS Quilt. During the course of his volunteering here, Ted has contrib­ uted over 700 hours, but more than that, he has given much of himself. There is a specialness about Ted that has endeared him to many of the volunteers and staff. You can’t know Ted without recognizing his witty and sarcastic humour. You can’t know Ted if you don’t sense his sincerity and soft side. We, the staff and Board salute and honour you as VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR ! Sheila Berry, Coordinator of Volunteer Services �UPCOMING ACT-B PROJECTS OPENING MORE DOORS EDUCATION PROJECTS The Education Department at ACT-B is just coming through a period of evaluation and assessment. The Needs Assessment Survey of the gay, bisexual and lesbian communities has provided much useful information, as have the preliminary results of the Education Evaluation Survey con­ ducted by the Northwest Enterprise Centre. Effort is now being focused on a variety of initiatives, with attention to POSITIVELY WELL Gay and Bisexual Outreach, Street Outreach, and Youth. An important ACT-B will be co-ordinating a scries of aspect of Gay/Bisexual programs will workshops/inservices for PHA’s and be a Gay/Bisexual Advisory Group. caregivers. An interest survey is being Persons interested in any of these completed by the target audience. From projects are encouraged to call David at this, a list of subjects for the presenta­ the office. tions will be developed and speakers Publishing is aimed at a new booked for the series. There will be six pamphlet designed to be a follow up to to eight presentations, starting in the Fall our highly successful “Healthy Sex for and running through March, 1994. Gay and Bisexual Men” aimed at maintaining healthy sex. We are also VISION: WHAT SHOULD ACT-B BE? cooperating with other communitybased agencies in the production of A planning committee is busy co­ material. ordinating plans for the 1993/94 board The Resource Library is and staff “retreat”. The overall content undergoing further improvement this this year will be to look at a vision of summer, as Susan Gibbs is working to ACT-B three years into the future. The organize our vertical files and make retreat will take place on Saturday, them easily accessible. September 11. ACT-B will be hosting a 2nd Northwest­ ern Ontario Regional HIV/AIDS Coun­ selling Conference. The conference, called “Opening More Doors”, is open to people living with HIV/AIDS, carcpartners and professionals who are or may be involved in counselling. It will take place on October21 and 22 in Thunder Bay. For more information or to register, call Karen Ferland, the confer­ ence co-ordinator, at 345-1516. DONATIONS NEEDED FOR MIDNIGHT MADNESS YARD SALE in August Proceeds to the Support fund call 345-1516 for pick-up IMPORTANT NOTE OUR MAILING ADDRESS HAS CHANGED TO: P.O. BOX 24025 THUNDER BAY ONTARIO P7A4T0 OUR STREET ADRESS AND PHONE NUMBER REMAIN THE ............ ..... SAME_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ page 7 SUPPORT SERVICES Ian Ritchie is working on establishing an alternative therapy resource base. The first goal is to investigate the possibility of offering massage therapy to clients by a regis­ tered massage therapist on a voluntary basis. The second project in the works and which is almost up and running is “Mother’s Cupboard” which will be a food bank for ACT-B clients. Ian is also working on the “Positively Well” campaign which is designed to meet the needs of clients by offering workshops on such issues as nutrition, alternative therapies and women and AIDS. SUPPORT GROUP We had some interest expressed by a few PWA’s about trying to get the (on-again-off-again) support group up and running. Those that were interested were instrumental in getting the group started, and in keeping it going. Many thanks to Ian Ritchie (who really hates being called “Ritchie”, by the way) for his perseverance and chauffeuring abilities... and especially to Rob for his charm, wit, intelligence and general allaround-nice-guy kind of facilitating. BUDDY SYSTEM Yes! I know you’ve heard it before but it really is happening... sort of. We are more or less at the matching up stage now... the questionnaires are out to both volunteers and clients, and all that remains is some matching up, training, and (aargh!!!) paperwork. Still alot of work to be done, but with the help of wizards like Sheila, Louise, Liz and Rob, we’ll have it in place and fully opera­ tional before you can say “John Robbins”, ha, ha. �OTHER VIEWS U With Love, From Ralph AIDS and gay men are inextri­ cably intertwined. After the virus is defeated and there is a cure for AIDS, (yes, Virginia, that day will come!) the gay community will look back at all this with the same sense of terror and grief with which Jews remember the Holo­ caust. In Canada 86% of the AIDS related deaths are gay and bisexual men. Nine thousand gay and bisexual men have died from AIDS in Canada, and probably another 45,000 are II1V positive. Think about it. What would a parade of 9,000 gay men followed by another 45,000 look like? Try to fathom the loss we have known, and the loss to come: love, creativity, energy, humour, anger, beauty, passion, faith, spirit, tenderness,... these losses must fuel our zeal for prevention of HIV in the gay community. On May 6, the resulLs of Men’s Survey ’91 were released to the Cana­ dian public. Gay communities all across Canada, including those in prairie cities participated in the survey of 5,000 gay and bisexual men, which provided one of the most sophisticated and comprehen­ sive pictures of gay sexual life and attitudes ever completed, anywhere. Men’s Survey *91 confirms things that my gut instincts have been telling me for a long time. Until AIDS is vanquished we dare not ease up on our prevention education efforts and our struggle to create an environment that supports healthy choices for men who have sex with men. Community based AIDS organizations that have gone through a “degaying” process in an effort to obtain broad based credibility must re-examine their priorities to be sure they haven’t thrown out the baby with the bath water. Homophobia, which robs us of our power, must be rooted out wherever it exists, but especially in community based AIDS organizations. AIDS organizations must redouble their efforts to develop strong jicer based safer sex education programs in the gay community. AIDS organizations must strengthen their alliances with gay and lesbian groups, agencies and business. Safer sex education programs must become ever more sophisticated. Maybe we can’t eroticize condoms after all. Maybe posters of hunks wearing condoms are not the most effective way to convert us ordinary looking types to the beauty of the condom. New ap­ proaches must be found. On the prairies, where thousands of gay men first come out, and move to the big cities, it is crucial that AIDS education is part of their “cultural formation”. Governments must lake their responsibilities for gay youth seriously. It is a scandal that the needs of gay youth remain virtually unknown and unaddressed by schools in our towns and cities. How many of us were sexually active long before leaving high school? The answer should tell you the importance of high school safer sex education that includes the needs of gay youth. Ralph Wushke - reprinted from AIDS Saskatoon newsletter 'you'll never be more than alive' To what extent are our identities as gay men entwined with visions of death? I know mine is inextricably so. Horrible as this seems at first, it is something of a gift...a terrifying gift. I was around 19 when AIDS first became identified with the death of thousands of gay men. I distinctly remember saying to myself, “No, I’ll never be able to come out now.” Almost a decade later when I finally came out, 1 knew a lot more about myself and a lot more about the transmission of HTV. I was less scared. But now my fear is increasing. page 8 AIDS is hitting closer and closer to home. I’m still afraid of dying from AIDS and I’m afraid that all my friends will die and I’ll be left alone. I know these fears won’t go away; I need to process them or they will con­ sume me. When I look outside the gay community, North America seems to be a shopping mall of cultural denial. So much is conspicuous by its absence - death being the most obvious item. The denial of death is evident in medical and research priorities, business ethics, consumerism and youth worship; emphasis is placed on vague, unattainable future goals to the detriment of current emotional and social needs. The price-tag for this is hefty; by denying death, we deny life. The general denial of death, fuelled by fear and ignorance, is married to homophobia, hiding the epidemic which ravages our community. People don’t want to know thaL we are dying because they don’t want to know that they are dying. As long as it doesn’t happen in their livingrooms, death won’t happen. Well, like it or not, there is a virus, a truck, a stroke out there for all of us. In a sanitized, safetywrapped world, reminders of our fragile mortality are a privilege. Tire notion of safer sex, of making informed decisions about acceptable levels of risk, is central to this privilege. Aware­ ness and risk-taking are how I, as a gay man, deal with death. I’m talking about much more than sex. We can be more aware of our personal needs and the needs of those around us. More importantly, we can act on those needs. You see it in the clenched fist at AIDS rallies; the tender embrace at public vigils and private wakes; the fierce laughter and play of people beyond altitude; and the quiet support of care­ givers -- people who live a more ferocious life. For me, it is important to connect with and sustain these isolated acts of passion, to keep taking emotional risks with the people I love. Proud lives are not just for the dead. Gordon Bowness -reprinted from article in Xtra � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 6 Issue 3 - Summer 1993 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2676/1993_reACT-Believe_vol6no4_2.pdf d57d15e318de631a201bfeae52cb8fe7 PDF Text Text reACT-Believe Fall 1993, Volume 6, Issue TV AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.0.24025 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL COMMUNITIES MOVING TO SAFER SEX The recent Needs Assessment Survey of the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities in Thunder Bay shows that most people have heard the message about AIDS, but not everyone has been able to consistently change their behaviour. To help develop and focus local education efforts, we wanted to get a clearer picture of the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour of the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities in Thunder Bay related to HIV infcction/AIDS. We also wanted to look at preferred methods of education about I11V infection/AIDS. Of the people who answered the survey, 47.5% had reduced risky sex in the past year and 46.5% felt they were already safe. Many had never tested, and/or did not know their HIV status. Most people clearly understood the risks of unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse and sharing used syringes. Unfortunately, for some knowledge does not always translate into safer sex behaviour. Some 39.4% of respondents indicated they had unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse in the past year. The predominant reason given for this was "being in a relationship". While some reported relationships of up to nine years, others were in relationships for as little as three months, and yet did not use condoms. Other significant factors were forgetting to use a condom in the heat of passion, or when drunk or high. Others felt safe because they had tested HIV negative. There is a clear need for clarification of the Safer Sex Guidelines around issues of oral sex, as many people were not clear about the risks. We wanted to find out the ways people have learned, and would like to learn more about HIV/AIDS. It is clear that television has been a major source of information about HTV/AIDS, and would be the preferred way of learning more in the future. However, respondents indicated they were interested in a range of ways of learning more. This will have to be considered carefully in planning future campaigns. A number of recommendations developed out of the study: a) ACT-B prevention and education programs need to be targeted, focusing on specific issues such as "safer sex as a social norm", alcohol and drug use, negotiation skills, and relationship status and risk. b) Anonymous testing needs to be marketed more effectively, and additional anonymous test sites might encourage increased use. c) Planning for prevention and education campaigns needs participation by the target community, and should consider diversity in content structure and delivery. d) An advertising campaign to bolster the community would support changes that have occurred, and encourage continued progress toward safer sex as the social norm. The results of the survey are already being incorporated into planning for education campaigns. Copies of the report are available from ACT-B. SECOND CALL FOR 1993 AGM AND MEMBERSHIP UPDATE ACT-B’s 1993 Annual General Meeting will take place on November 10. Your participation is important to our future direction. A renewed membership must be valid at least 30 days prior to the AGM. So check your membership card to see if you have a current 1993 membership. New memberships must be approved at the Executive Meeting on Oct. 6. Memberships are good for the calendar year. �"OPENING MORE DOORS" NORTHWEST ONTARIO REGIONAL HIV/AIDS COUNSELLING CONFERENCE Thanks to the Ontario Ministry of Health, the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay is once again hosting its second annual "Opening More Doors" counselling conference regarding HIV/AIDS. It will be held at the Prince Arthur Hotel, 17 North Cumberland Street, here in Thunder Bay, Ontario on October 21 and 22, 1993. On the evening of Thursday, October 21, 1993 there will be a short information session of basic HIV/AIDS information and women’s Issues; creating risk awareness for women leading to early diagnosis of the HIV/AIDS virus and its symptoms, followed by a period to network and socializing when refreshments will be served. On Friday, October 22, 1993 during our day session, various workshops will be held on: 1) Anticipatory issues relating to dying, death and the grieving process. 2) Counselling family members of someone with HIV/AIDS. 3) Gaining and maintaining trust; setting and maintaining professional boundaries in the counselling relationship. 4) Counselling issues relating to drugs/alcohol and/or other chemical dejxmdencies. Breakfast and a light lunch will be served at intermission during these workshops. Current registrations are from the Thunder Bay area and some smaller communities in the Northwestern Ontario. We anticipate a broader range of participation from these smaller communities. A nominal registration fee is required although accommodations and travel grants for out of town guests are available. All PHA’s (Persons Having HIV/AIDS) will have the registration fee waived. If you would like further information on our upcoming "Opening More Doors" Northwestern Ontario Regional HIV/AIDS Counselling Conference please call the conference coordinator, Karen Ferland, at the ACT-B office 345-1516 between 9:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. Registrations are limited but we do have some space available. SUCCESSFUL HOSTING OF OAN IN THUNDER BAY After nearly six months of preparation, ACT-B welcomed the Ontario AIDS Network fOANJ to Thunder Bay for its quarterly meeting, on July 16-19. The OAN has thirty-six member organizations. Approximately a hundred people were in attendance for the week­ end meeting. The highlight of the weekend was the conclusion of a two year organizational development plan which resulted in the election of the first OAN Board of Directors. The OAN board is made up of representation from geographic regions of the province as well as the people of colour caucus, women’s caucus and the people living with HIV/AIDS caucus. Here arc the elected directors on the OAN board: Northwest region: Steve Brown Southwest region: Terri Grant-Galli Southeast region: Dale Lockhart Toronto region: Russel Armstrong People of colour caucus: Roberta Munroc People with HIV/AIDS caucus: John Burgess-Murray Women’s caucus: Deborah Aylcs At Ixirge director: Steve Lough At Large director: Peter McGuire At Large director: Jim Murrant Prior to the newly elected board, the OAN was coordinated by a Steering Committee. Our thanks go to two ACTR members who served on the Steering Committee during the long years of organizational development: Michael Sobota and David Belrose. In addition to serving as the Northern rep on the page 2 Steering Committee, David chaired full sessions of the OAN at a number of quarterly meetings. Thanks are extended to the hard working ACT-B volunteers who planned and implemented the hosting of the OAN. The hosting committee was co­ chaired by Board member Diane Roberts and staff member Sheila Berry. Significant logistical contributions were carried out by staff member Lawrence Korhonen. TELEVISION COMMERCIAL TO BOOST LOCAL PROFILE OF AIDS AND ACT-B Watch your local television channel this fall for a public service commercial about AIDS and ACT-B. The commercial, being created by McEachem Marketing and Communications, will feature prominent individuals from the city, as well as the board, staff, volunteers and friends of the agency. In brief cameos, people will indicate their concern about AIDS, and urge people in our community to get involved. To help in the work against AIDS, call 345-1516. This project is being funded partially by a grant from the Thunder Bay Foundation. In Memorium We remember with respect and appreciation Max and Murray �ACT-B ADVISORY COUNCIL Fred Ball Norman Bowers Bulh Huston Dr. Gordon Milne Bob Richardson Nicky Tittley Join us. Become a member! Director. Public Health Laboratory ACT-B Board Representative Director of Administration, Kinna-weya Legal Clinic Family Physician Businessman Supervisor of Infection Control, Port Arthur General Hospital Name: Postal Code: Telephone^ Enclosed is: Treasurer Director Secretary Director Director President Director Director Vice President Director Director $ 10 Membership Fee S 25 Supporting Membership S Donation Mail to: AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY P.O. Box 24025 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 To be dig*till' to vote at the Annual General Meeting, your membership must be up-to-date (30 days prior to the meeting). The A.G.M. Is in November. Please renew your membership now. ACT-B STAFF Christn Alsch David Relrose Sheila Berry John Books Daryle Dollan Lawrence Korhonen Ian Ritchie Michael Soboia Membership foim. Address: ACT-B BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rick Atkinson Debbie Bird Norman Bowers Patsy Chalmers M ah Ion Inksetler Gail Link la ter Rob Mac Kay Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Ted Romanowski Rob Shepherd Members set our course at Annual Meetings. They arc kept up-to-date about our work.They elect the Board of Directors who keep that work on track. Secretary Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Fundraising/Communications Support Service Coordinator Office Manager Support Worker/Healtli Promoter Executive Director The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay acknowledges and thanks our various funders: Please address any comments on reACT-Believe to: P.O. Box 24025 217 South Algoma Street Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 (807) 345-1516 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 9;3Q : Ontario Ministry of Health : Health Promotion and Social Development Office, Ontario Region : Ontario Trillium Foundation : All of die people involved in general fundraising, which includes Lhe local community, businesses and many individual donations. John Books, Editor Mary-Lynn Bragg, Assistant Editor Dave Myers, Layout, Assistant Editor Ian Ritchie, Editor - Ethical Issues The opinions and medical information offered by reACTBelieve are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by reACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. We especially would like to acknoweledge the Student’s Council at P.A.CJL and the Molson Companies Donations Fund for their generous donations. page 3 �YOURS TRULY, LANCE PERRY I am a 10 yr. old boy who has lost my father to AIDS. 1 didn’t know much about AIDS until my Mom explained to me why my Dad was sick. Wc went to the hospital to see him and it was pretty scary. I wasn’t allowed to touch him and that made me angry. After awhile Dad and I talked. He didn’t have much strength so Mom and I left and went home. I asked Mom what was wrong and at first she told me Dad had arthritis and a lung infection. She didn’t explain to me until later that he had AIDS. 1 didn’t understand what AIDS was. I thought a man had to be gay to gel it. Mom explained about Dad’s drug problem and told me Dad had gotten the virus from a dirty needle. I felt bad at first then I tried to forget about it. 1 just went in my room and played super nintendo. It wasn’t long after our visit that Dad died. It made me angry that we didn’t have more time together. At the funeral Mom cried a lot. As I was looking around I saw a girl who looked like me. Mom explained to me that she was my sister that we had the same Dad. I’m glad that I met her cause we can share our feelings about loosing our Dad. Sometimes we talk about him. We talk about how nice he was and stuff like that. Wc don’t talk about AIDS and stuff cause it’s still too hard. What I want to say to other kids is that its o.k. to cry. It helps get rid of the anger. But sometimes the anger takes over cause I can’t make the other kids understand how I feel. I don’t wish there were more kids like me but I know there are some. I wish there was a place or some way we could get together to talk. Maybe then I wouldn’t get so angry. I also wish that there were more books at school about AIDS and feelings to help me and the other kids understand more about them. If you are a pre-teen that may lose or have lost someone you care about to AIDS and would like another kid to talk to, join the: LANCE PEN PAL CLUB Write to me at: MAINLINE 2385 AGRICOLA ST. HALIFAX, N.S. B3K 4B8 ANONYMOUS TESTING The HIV antibody test is a simple process consisting of drawing a vial of blood. The vial is marked with an identifying number (the same number is given to you. and is marked on your file, instead of a name). The blood sample is then sent to a Ministry of Heal ill laboratory and is tested for the presence of antibodies to the HIVirus. If you are in a high risk group, or have reason to believe that you have been exposed to the virus, antibody testing is recommended, and is the only way you will know for sure thaL you have been infected with the virus. If you are an intravenous drug user and have shared syringes with any other individual, you are in a high risk group. Unprotected vaginal or anal sex with an infected partner is the most common method of transmission. If you were a recipient of blood products BEFORE 1986 you should also consider being tested for the presence of antibodies. It is important for people to be tested if they think they may have been exposed to the virus. The earlier one is aware of an HIV positive status, the sooner they can take action to remain healthy, such as diet supplements, prophylaxis (preventative medications) for AIDS related opportunistic infections (O.I.’s), etc. It is important to protect your partner from contracting the virus by using a latex condom and (if necessary) a water based lubricant. In Thunder Bay, anonymous testing is available at three locations, and appointments are arranged through the District Health Unit, by calling 625-5981. page 4 MY DREAM IS A REALITY I have recently written a book called, "Letters to My Son, A Healing Journey". This book is made up of letters written to my son, who was killed OcL 30th, 1972. It was a collection of letters written to him, in memoriam, and after twenty years I had this dream of compiling them into a book. It is a journey for me in healing myself from the loss and also other crises that occurred in my life. I have written this book in the hope that it could bring comfort and hope to others that have to deal with a loss or who struggle with their pain. 1 lost my brother to drowning in 1942, my father to heart failure in 1956, my son to a car accident in 1972, my second brother to heart failure in 1986 and my mother to heart failure in 1986. I'hat was my whole family. I am well qualified to express my feelings on loss. I do not feel sorry for myself, rather I treasure my memories and am thankful for the joy and love I shared with my family. I appreciate my two daughters, my son-in-laws, and my six grandchildren and the memories I am building with them daily. There is no wish to seek monetary gain in publishing and selling this book, but rather a truly personal satisfaction of realizing a dream and in sharing my memories. My son and family will always be close to my heart. I am donating 100 books to the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay, 100 books to the Smith Clinic, and 100 books to the Bereaved Families of Ontario. I hope that my book will truly "touch" and "comfort" those in despair, and in time they will not grieve what they have lost, but remember, with love, what they had. The monies will benefit the organizations who support, comfort and care so very much. Please look for my book in October and purchase one for yourself or a loved one in the name of love! Hugs to you, Anne Ciemny �ETHICAL ISSUES PWA - Person Who9s Accountable BY EMILY CARTER Imagine that it’s your job to care for a patient with advanced Alzheimer’s who is prone to outbursts of abusive language and behaviour. In fact, the back of your legs are black and blue because each time you turn your hack on your charge, he smacks your calves with his walking stick, believing you to be some kind of barnyard animal in need of correction. Can you hold the patient responsible for his behaviour? Likely not, no matter how infuriating. Now ask yourself who would you rather be: yourself with the bruised legs or an incontinent and confused victim of an inexorable disease. If you pick option one, if you choose to be yourself, you are accountable for your actions. No slipping strychnine into the patient’s metamucil. Two extremes in the discourse over the accountability of HIV positive persons are highlighted by concerns over "non-compliant carrier" laws and a recent news story from Portland, where an infected man was recently convicted for multiple episodes of unsafe sex with partners ignorant of his HIV status. There is a thin tightrope between laws that can adequately deal with such malice, yet don’t trample the rights of already disenfranchised communities. Let me make it clear like your Aunt Dodie’s kitchen window that any legislation regarding Reprinted from PWAlive Volume 5 No.1, Spring 1993 sexual activity cannot be specific enough. If there is even the slightest breeze blowing through it redolent of homophobia or prudery, the legislation is ethically invalid, and, hopefully, legally void. However, having this disease is not much fun, and knowingly placing another person in a position where they might get it, is, quite simply, assault with intent. The charmer in Oregon who’s been up to some unsafe sex with unsuspecting partners gets no sympathy from me. What he is is a perpetrator. I’ve heard people say they might understand without condoning the rage and dispair that could lead to this kind of violent behaviour, but some tilings can neither be understood or condoned. Our community, however, has reacted violently against legislative solutions to situations of this type, concerned that such legislation might be abused, and used as potential "anti-gay" laws. Again, 1 need to state unequicocally that no one in this community is condoning intentionally unsafe sex. But there has been a lot of talk about any "non-compliant carrier" laws as a de-facto tool of oppression, rather than something akin to a sane handgun law. Of course we don’t have sane handgun laws. Of course it’s a creepy truth that our sex lives are of more interest to legislators than what people page 1 might do with their firearms. Of course we are oppressed. So what? The ball is in our court. If we as a community can not effectively intervene on individuals who are knowingly spreading HIV, then we need to accept the fact that someone has to. Beneath these facts, which should be obvious, lies a more fundamental issue: namely, how do we in the PWA/IIIV community perceive ourselves? There are some who take the position that PWA’s need not be pinned to the same terms of a contract to which other’s are held. In a few cases this might be true, but there is no body of ethical decision makers anywhere on this planet with enough moral clout to decide who should and who should not live up to his or her end of life’s bargins. We’re all supposed to at least try. As a member of the PWA/IIIV community, I have been thrilled with many of the actions taken on my behalf by AIDS activists. However, I get a little nervous when I get the idea that I am being held up as an example of someone who doesn’t need to live up to her end of the social contract. To view me as a person to whom right and wrong do not apply diminishes not only my rights, but also damages my perception of myself as an autonomous, decision making individual. �My reasoning here is simple, and contains a healthy dose of self interest. Like many people in my situation, I’ve spent a great deal of time and effort to establish myself as a functioning adult capable of negotiating a social contract. I refuse to accept the definition of a marginal pariah that the world at large would like to impose. Likewise I refuse to be seen as a helpless, victimized martyr to whom the rules do not apply. If I should lose my faculty for making decisions, that would be another matter, hut as yet I have not. With my faculties intact, I have not only rights but responsibilities. If I am seen as a person who need not live up to her end of a contract, who in their right mind would enter into a contract with me? Just as medical, financial and political institutions bear a responsibility towards citizens with HIV or AIDS, 1 bear a responsibility in my daily life towards all those I come in contact with, regardless of whether or not various institutions are living up to their end of the deal. Let’s take this whole argument out of the realm of the murderous and put it back into a realistic and relevant context. Simply put: the system may be stacked against me, I may not qualify for disability benefits until I’m legally dead; I still don’t get to smack my kid or kick the dog with impunity. generally lies outside the realm of right decision: we just do the best we can and work with what we’ve got. But if we perceive ourselves as passive victims, we are entirely too dependent on the kindness of strangers. As my doctor told me when I showed up at his office eleven pounds thinner from final exam stress: "We can keep you healthy a much longer time if you participate in the process". It is my right to participate in the process, along with my responsibility. 1 intend to hold on to them both, right up until I start confusing my family members for livestock. Bereavement Support Group A new support group for people that wish to discuss their grief and bereavement issues is going to start in November. Barbara Ostaff will be the facilitator for the group. Barbara was a nurse for 21 years. She has 4 years of Pastoral education where her focus was palliative care, addictions and survivors of sexual abuse. Barb has served as a volunteer for ACT-B as well as Via Vitae. If you are interested in more information of this group or have any questions please call Ian at 345-1516. If I accept the definition of myself as unaccountable victim, the results could be just as detrimental to my health as to my ethical base. Our health -: - page 2 BOOK REVIEW IMMUNE POWER: A COMPREHENSIVE TREATMENT PROGRAM FOR HIV BY JON D. KAISER, M.D. Immune Power is a comprehensive healing program for HIV to be used in combination with standard medical therapies. Dr. Kaiser advocates a natural therapy program that includes healthful recommendations on diet, nutrition, herbs, exercise and stress reduction. Dr. Kaiser feels that when these natural therapies are combined with psychcological support and the standard medical approach, a much more effective treatment plan emerges. Dr. Kaiser believes the top priority for the treatment of HIV is keeping the immune system strong and free of co-factors. Dr. Kaiser has been in private practice in San Francisco for the last seven years. "Ninety percent (90%) of Kaiser’s patients have remained stable in their diagnosis or improved the strength of their immune system." If you are interested in reading this book we have it available for loan in our resource library. �POSITIVELY WELL PROGRAM The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay will be hosting a variety of workshops over the next six months, October 1993 through February 1994. These workshops were designed to focus primarily on PHA’s (Persons Having HIV/AIDS) and their families/caregivers with particular concerns regarding their individual health status. These workshops were selected by PHA’s (Person Having HIV/AIDS) and their families caregivers through a "Needs Assessment Survey" carried out by our Support Services Department at ACT-B. Below is a schedule outlining the topics, facilitators and timelines. A few of these workshops will also be designed for local dietitians/nutritionists, physicians, massage therapists and other related health care workers. These particular workshops will be held in addition to the listed ones, at different times and locations. If any of these workshops relate directly to you and you would like to attend or you would like to obtain more information on them, please call our Support Services Department or the program coordinator, Karen Ferland from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. We will be bringing you an update in our winter newsletter. SCHEDULE as of SEPTEMBER 14, 1993 (subject to changes) Contact/Person Subject FROM Date of Event Positive Youth Outreach Representatives HIV/AIDS prevention /youths prospective Toronto, Ontario October 4/93 5:00 - 7.HO p.m. Suvory Productions Sheila Murphy Nutrition for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS Montreal, Quebec October/ November/93 Feather of Hope Ken Ward Spiritual Awareness Edmonton, Alberta November 9/93 5.4)0 - 7.4)0 p.m. Natural Health & Healing Centre Dr. Brian Schroeder Holistic Therapies Thunder Bay, Ontario December 4/93 2.4)0 - 4.4)0 p.m. Tylara Institue Dr. Terry Hill ACT / Wayne Fitton & Evett Perreault Grief & Bereavement Nolalu, Ontario January /94 Alex Higherest Safe sex after diagnosis of HIV/AIDS Toronto, Ontario Toronto, Ontario January! February 194 The schedule below is open to Health Care Workers Contact/Person Subject From Date of event Savory Productions Sheila Murphy Nutrition for Persons Living with HTV/AIDS Montreal, Quebec October/ November/93 Natural Health & Healing Centre Dr. Brian Schroeder Holistic Therapies Thunder Bay, Ontario November 24/93 7.4)0 - 9.4)0 p.m. page 5 , �VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION FYI - From January ’93 to June 30 ’93, ACT-B volunteers contributed 2122.5 hours in support of HIV/AIDS work in our community. The number of active volunteers for that period was 112. volunteers keeps ACT-B in good shape! Thanks to Rick, Diane, Gail, Norm, Ted, Rob, Rob, Susan, Joanne, Michael, Michael, Carol, Debbie, Patsi, and Bob, Russell, Alanna and Karen. On behalf of ACT-B staff, clients and Board, we appreciate your support! OAN CONFERENCE - Approximately 75 delegates attended from 36 community based AIDS agencies across the province. Our volunteers contributed in many ways: baking, minute-taking, organizing, working at the reception and the dance, being on hand at the meetings, photocopying/collating, and inputting data into the computer. Thanks to the following volunteers for helping to make the Ontario AIDS Network Conference held in Thunder Bay, mid July, a wonderful success. Thank you all: Anne, Alanna, David, Diane, Susan, Rob, Val, Karen, Careline, Michael, Christa, Ian, Adrienne, Flo, Lawrence, Liz, Vi, Bonnie, Kevin, Stan, Brian, Jody, Jackie, Jan, Madeline, Jeanette, and Brad. We received many compliments about the conference and wc’rc passing them on to you! BINGO VOLUNTEERS - Thank you for your continued attendance and support: Marge, Karen, Careline, Norm, Michael, Laura, Rob, Theresa, Sonya, Madeline, Diane, Ted, Ernie, Joyce, Murdock, LaVeme, Alanna, Val, Ian, Susan, Jane, Joanne, Christine, Michelle, Norma, Wendy and Bill. ANOTHER GIANT MIDNIGHT MADNESS YARDSALE! Appreciation goes out to volunteers who luffed out the frenzy at the recent yardsale. Alanna, Daryle, Pius, Kristin, Bonnie, Careline, Sarah, Susie, Norm, Rob and Val. Over SI000 was raised from this event and will go to the Emergency Assistance Program to directly assist clients. BEHIND THE SCENES - The ongoing commitment of volunteers, such as Board Members and committee- Sheila Berry The "F" word (with a dollar in my pocket & a tongue in my cheek) There are a number of community events coming up in the next few months. Mark them down on your calendar. During AIDS Awareness Week you will see our coin boxes in different locations with a basket of Red Ribbons beside it. Take a ribbon. The Red Ribbon has become the most recognised symbol of showing support for AIDS. Show your support. Wear a ribbon. Socials: ACT-B will sponsor a social and dance at the usual Fort William location on October 9th, November 13th and on New Year’s Eve December 31st. pages Of course, you’ve noticed that the A.G.M. will be on November 10th. You will find something new at this year’s meeting... a silent auction. Board members, staff and friends have donated various small treasures which will be available for bidding. So come prepared to cast your ballot for the new board and possibly lake something home from the old one. It’s all about support after all. This is your AIDS Committee. Also in November, on the 20th, there will be a combination Flea Market, Craft & Bake Sale at a local hall... just in time for Christmas. Proceeds will go to the Emergency Financial Assistance Program (formerly the Support Fund). And while we have Christmas in mind, you might warn to start thinking about what you would like to contribute to the client Christmas Baskets. Just on the other side of the New Year, stay Lunctl for our 2nd Annual Ski Day, an Art Auction, the infamous Cabaret and a Film Premiere. This is a major picture, which though released earlier in the big three cities, we will premiere in Thunder Bay. The Fundraising Committee is looking for a few good people to serve on the committee or to be part of a Project Team which has responsibility for a particular fundraising project. If you are interested in community animation, in finding innovative and fun ways to involve people in this cause... we need your ideas, your enthusiasm and sometimes just help with boring mind numbing tasks. Call 345-1516 to see how you can help. �UPCOMING ACT-B PROJECTS EDUCATION PROGRAMS AIDS INFORMATION LINE 345-7233 RESOURCE CENTRE 217 S. ALGOMA ST. PRESENTATIONS ON REQUEST GAY/B1SEXUAL MEN’S OUTREACH includes an advisory group, workshops, discussion/support groups, dance outreach. MAINTAINING HEALTHY SEX is a project to develop a next generation healthy sex brochure for gay/bisexual men, addressing issues around consistent safer-sex behaviour. YOUTH/STREET OUTREACH is community development work, assessing needs, networking, providing services as requested. AIDS AWARENESS WEEK is an annuaJ event to raise community awareness. REGIONAL OUTREACH ADVERTISING involves placing ads in regional newspapers for community development. REGIONAL OUTREACH ADVERTISING The Regional Outreach Advertising Project is a campaign to maintain a presence and develop community awareness in the region. This involves placing ads in about fourteen regional newspapers during the fall and winter. If you see any of them please give us some feedback. ACT-B BOARD AND STAFF PLAN A VISIONING RETREAT Act-B has reached the natural conclusion of a three year visioning plan. Many changes and tangible accomplishments have occurred during these years. Following the election of our new board of directors at the upcoming Annual General Meeting in November, the board and staff will schedule a mid-winter retreat. Former board and staff member Karen Maki lias accepted the invitation to be die facilitator for our retreat. MOTHER’S CUPBOARD Well, Mother’s Cupboard is up and running. Unfortunately the cupboard is almost bare. Donations of nonperishable food items would be greatly appreciated. They can be dropped off at 217 S. Algoma or call 345-1516 to arrange a pick-up. NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS ACT-B WILL HOLD IT'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 10, 1993 AT TRINITY UNITED CHURCH, 30 ALGOMA STREET SOUTH, THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO. DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 PM. THE MEETING BEGINS AT 7:00 PM FOR THE PURPOSES OF CONDUCTING THE AGENCY'S ANNUAL BUSINESS AND TO ELECT THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR 1993/94. ALL MEMBERS MUST HAVE VALID MEMBERSHIPS TO VOTE. IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP STATUS CALL THE RESOURCE CENTRE AT 345-1516. NEW MEMBERS MUST HAVE A VALID PAID UP MEMBERSHIP SUBMITTED TO ACT-B BY 5:00 PM OCTOBER 5, 1993. Take pride in yourself Take care of each other page 7 �AIDS AWARENESS WEEK - PROMOTING HEALTH FOR EVERYONE CALENDAR OF EVENTS SUNDAY. OCT. 3. 1993 AIDS Awareness Week Brunch - Lakehead University 11:00 am H1V+ Youth Speakers MONDAY. OCT. 4. 1993 Official opening 11:30 am - Tree Planting Ceremony - Marina Park HIV+ Youth Speakers to visit high schools AIDS Programming - Agora - Lakehead University - 10:00 am - 1:00 pm TUESDAY. OCT, 5. 1993 Kecia Larkin at Lakehead University - 6:30 pm HIV+ Youth Speakers to visit high schools WEDNESDAY. OCT, 6. 1993 Condom Games - Agora - Lakehead University HIV+ Youth Speakers to visit high schools Candlelight Vigil - 7:30 p. - Assemble at ACT-B - 217 S. Algoma Street Healthy Sex Workshop for Gay/Bisexual Men - 7:00 pm LIVES FRIDAY. OCT. 8. 1993 Sue Johannson, Safer Sex Educator - noon - Agora - Lakehead University SATURDAY OCT. 9. 1993 Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Social - Usual F.W. Location, Doors open at 9:00 pm ALSO....Watch for our information displays and ribbons at various locations throughout the City...AND....MacLean Hunter television for AIDS Awareness Week programmes. For more information call: The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay 345-1516 Lakehead University Health Services 343-8246 * iim tO * ’ THURSDAY, OCT. 7, 1993 �VOLUNTEERS!! ACT-B Volunteers - In order to keep postage costs down, I will be using the Newsletter as a vehicle for communicating with you. Please check out the Volunteer Section and the Insen to find out what you may be needed for. Contact me at the office to sign up for projects or events that interest you. Post this insert in a handy place as a reminder of upcoming events. First: If you have a change of address, name, telephone number, work or school schedule, or would like to discuss your volunteering (area of interest, time commitment, etc.), give me a call. This is to ensure that you continue to receive the Newsletter and keep our lines of communication going. WHAT I NEED FROM YOU ! CRAFTS Many of you have indicated that you do some form of craft, knitting, sewing, drawing, poetry, woodworking, needlepoint, etc. Would you donate an item to our Volunteer Craft/Bake Sale/Flea Market, Nov. 27, at the Trinity Hall. Just call me to indicate your donation. BAKING ACT-B will need baking for the following events. Oct. 06.----------- Candle Light Vigil Nov. 10 ............... Annual General Meeting ** Nov. 27 ----------- Craft/Bake Sale/Flea Market Dec. 16 ----------- Holiday Drop In Note: Please disregard the Nov. 20th date published in the Re-ACT-Believe Newsletter BINGOS People to work monthly bingos; floor attendants, Nevadas Tues. Sept. 28, 1993 Tues. Oct. 26, 1993 Tues. Nov. 23, 1993 Tues. Dec. 28, 1993 Tues. Jan. 25, 1994 All Bingos are held at the Diamond Bingo Hall, South Syndicate Ave. Rides can be provided to and from the hall. Workers should be at the hall by 6:00pm if possible, unless helping to set up at 5:00 pm. HOLIDAY DROP IN Volunteers, clients, staff and Board Members are invited to drop by the ACT-B office from 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm Dec. 16 for some refreshments, decorating the tree, or to do some Holiday crafts. All welcome! �HOLIDAY BASKETS Each year, the AIDS Committee delivers Holiday Baskets to People Living With HIV/AIDS. The generosity and goodwill of volunteers, people in the community, and and local merchants have enabled us to put together, some wonderful holiday baskets. Some of the items we include in the gift baskets are; ornaments, candles, cookies, candies, chocolates, teas and coffees, stuffed animals, mitts, gloves, scarves, socks, games, and non-perishable food items, theatre tickets. Note your cash donations to the Holiday Baskets has allowed us to purchase oranges which are left till just prior to delivery. Baskets to put the items in are also needed as well as volunteers to decorate and make up the baskets on Dec. 21, and 22. AIDS AWARENESS WEEK Volunteers are needed to staff ACT-B Display at the following malls and Confederation College. Oct. 4 (Confederation College), Oct. 5 (Northwood), Oct. 6 (Thunder Bay Mall), Oct. 7 (Victoriaville), Oct. 8 (County Fair), Oct. 9 (Keskus). Times are from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm. A four hour shift from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm, or 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm, or 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm would really help us out. Ideally we would like two volunteers for each shift, or I would consider you bringing a friend if we talked a little first. Pick a day and a shift, or more if you wish. VOLUNTEER BUDDIES Some of you have expressed interest in becoming a Buddy to an HIV positive person or a Person Living with AIDS. As was mentioned, there will be some extra training involved. Also, I would like to hold a preliminary meeting to talk about guidelines, commitment, confidentiality, and ongoing peer support. This meeting is very important if you want to become a buddy. Call me or leave a message at the agency if you want to be a part of this exciting new program! The meeting date will be Oct. 14. Time: 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm. Location: ACT-B Board Room. Other training for Volunteer Buddies will include: Grief Issues ---------------------- 6 to 8 hours Universal Health Precautions-------3 hours Issues for Caregivers-------------- 6 to 8 hours Workshops will be held in the evenings or on the weekends depending on availability of facilitators and optimum attendance. There may be other concerns that could necessitate oilier workshops or a monthly meeting for Volunteer Buddies. For Volunteering Please call Sheila at 345-1516 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 6 Issue 4 - Fall 1993 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2677/1994_reACT-Believe_vol7no1_2.pdf dfd19633cd3021733e92714384ea6a5e PDF Text Text reACT-Believe Winter 1994, Volume 7, Issue I AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay P.0. Box 24025, Downtown North Postal Outlet Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE AGM FEATURES TRIBUTE TO TED ROMANOWSKI GUEST SPEECH BY KEN WARD ACT-B’s 1993 Annual General Meeting was held on November 10, 1993, at Trinity United Church. Approximately fifty people were in attendance. The meeting was opened with a smudge ceremony and prayer by Native elder Tony DePerry. Tony also gave a welcoming address and wished us well in our continuing work. The business portion followed with reports from the President of die Board, the Treasurer and the Executive Director. In his remarks, Michael Sobota (Executive Director) noted that last year, for the first time in Canada since records have been kept, more than 1,000 Canadians had died from AIDS. He added that this number was expected to be exceeded for the next few years. A special tribute was given to Ted Romanowski, upon his retirement from the Board. Ted had served on die ACT-B Board of Directors since 1991, and contributed countless hours as a volunteer over the years, while living with the daily challenge of being HIV+. A framed tribute to Ted was read by Sheila Berry, Volunteer Coordinator and presented by Norm Bowers, Secretary on the Board. The Nominating Committee interviewed and accepted eleven candidates who wished to run for the Board. There were nine positions available. All eleven candidates were in attendance, and spoke briefly about themselves to the assembly. Members then voted by written ballot for the candidates of their choice. The 1993-94 Board of Directors, including the nine elected at the Annual General Meeting are: Richard Atkinson Norm Bowers Sarah Bunn Alanna Downey-Baxter Mahlon Inkscttcr Gail Linklater Rob MacKay Ed Prinselaar Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Pius White Derek Zulesky The guest speaker for the evening was Ken Ward. Ken is a 33 year old Native Cree. He was die first Aboriginal in Canada to go public with his HIV diagnosis. He is the founder of the "Feather of Hope Aboriginal AIDS Prevention Society". Ken’s address was titled "Living With Hope". He spoke movingly about how his live has evolved and the challenges he faces daily as a Native living with HIV in Canada. lie concluded his talk by generously giving gifts to individuals in the audience and to ACT-B. ACT-B EXECUTIVE OFFICERS CHOSEN FOR 1993-94 The Board of Directors, at their December 15, 1993 meeting, elected dieir Executive Officers for the coming year. The selection of officers was made particularly poignant by the news dial long term board member Norm Bowers had decided to step down. Norm was leaving the board for personal reasons. He had served as Secretary on the Executive Committee for the past four years. The board respected Norm’s wishes and accepted his resignation with sincere regret. Officers for the 1993-94 year arc: image courtesy of Feather of Hope Aboriginal AIDS Prevention Society Edmonton, Alberta President: Vice-President: Treasurer: Secretary: Gail Linklater Diane Roberts Rick Atkinson Derek Zulesky �HOLIDAY BASKETS Several brightly wrapped baskets went out to clients during Christmas week. Volunteers and local businesses donated a variety of gifts and treats to fill the baskets and to show community support for local people living with HIV/AIDS. Items donated included; mixed nuts, chocolates, shortbread cookies, candies, mandarin oranges, sweatshirts, mitts, stuffed toys, toiletries, Christmas ornaments, dream-catchers, note pads, nuts and bolts, crocheted lap warmers, and jewellery. The AIDS Committee would like to acknowledge the following businesses, volunteers, staff and individuals who collected, donated and/or delivered the gifts: Zellers County Fair, Safeway Canada, Superstore, Magnus Theatre, Odeon Theatre (Victoria), Financial Concept, Guy and Barbara Rivard, The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, The Body Shop. Mrs. Arnold, Anne Ciemny, Michael Sobota, Sonya Matijck, Marge Cross, Daryle Dollan, Brad Hetsler, Melissa Mauro, Adam Graham, Sarah Wall, and those who contributed, but did not wish acknowledgement. The Holidays Baskets were well received and very appreciated. Thank you for making it happen! the needs indicated by clients’ surveys and advice from volunteers and staff. We, at the agency hope that a program like this will help enhance our support for local people living with HIV/AIDS. Call 345-1516, if you would like more information about this program or would like to become a buddy, a new training program will begin in the spring. Ask for Sheila. LAZY BOY NEEDED !! A client is in need of a comfortable Lazy Boy chair in good condition. Donation of the chair would be to the AIDS Committee so that it could be loaned out to clients. We would gladly pick it up if you call us. Ask for Sheila. WANTED AFFECTED PERSONS SUPPORT GROUP A new "Affected Persons Support Group" will be starting early in the new year. This group is open to anyone who has been directly affected by IIIV/AIDS (ie. partners, mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, lovers, etc.). Mary Lang has agreed to facilitate ihe group. Mary has been a volunteer for ACT-B for more than four years, she has also facilitated the 1IIV+ Support Group. Mary is a social worker with the Lakehead Regional Family Center and we are pleased lo have her as a facilitator. The first meeting will take place on Wed. Jan. 26, 1994 from 7:30-9:30 pm. The group will be limited to 8-10 people in order lo keep il personal and workable, so please lei Daryle or Ian know if you or a loved one would like to attend. If anyone has a couch, chair, bed or any other furniture they would like to donate to a client. Pols, pans, plates, etc. are also needed. Please call either Daryle, Ian or Kim at 345-1516. WAXING UP for AIDS A health, lun and fitness day Sponsored by the LAPPC SKI CENlHt 'TV Sheila Berry - Volunteer Coordinator BUDDY PROGRAM Well it’s official-almost! Our first group of Buddies arc approaching graduation. After seven sessions and almost 36 hours of training and group work, the AIDS Committee hope to pair up volunteers and clienLs early in the new year. The goal of the Buddy Program is to try to meet clients’ requests for more personal contact, practical assistance with rides, errands and housekeeping, as needed. Since this is the first time around for this program, the training has developed according to It In Memorium Wc remember with respect and appreciation: Doug and Russell TIME: 10 am to 4 pm DATE: February 19th At theLAPPE SKI TICKETS: $10.00 (includes a day of skiing or ice skating and lunch) LAPPE members need not pay lor skiing. Tood can be purchased separately. Chili, hot dogs, ho! chocolate and apple cider available Proceeds lo the AIDS Committee ol Thunder Bay Tickets available at 217 S. Algoma St. or call 345-1516 page 2 �ACT-B ADVISORY COUNCIL Join us. Become a member? Fred Ball Beth Huston Vivian Johnston Dr. Gordon Milne Bob Richardson Nicky Tilllcy Derek Zulesky Director, Public Health Laboratory Director of Administration, Kinna-weya Legal Clinic Public Health Nurse, Thunder Bay District Health Unit Family Physician Co-chair, Businessman Supervisor of Infection Control, Port Arthur General Hospital Co-chair. Health & Safety Officer, Lakehead Board of Education ACT-B BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rick Atkinson Sarah Bunn Alanna Downey-Baxter Mahlon Inkster Gail Linklater Rob Mac Kay Ed Prinselaar Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Pius While Derek Zulesky Treasurer Director Director Director President Director Director Director Vice President Director Secretary ACT-B STAFF Christa Alsch David Bel rose Sheila Berry John Books Daryle Dollan Lawrence Korhoncn Ian Ritchie Michael Sobota Secretary Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Fundraising/Communicalions Support Service Coordinator Office Manager Support Worker/Heal 111 Promoter Executive Director The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay acknowledges and thanks our various funders: : Ontario Ministry of Health : Health Promotion and Social Development Office, Ontario Branch, Health Canada : Ontario Trillium Foundalion : All of the people involved in general fundraising and the support of many local businesses and individuals. We especially would like to acknowledge all those who contributed to the Christmas baskets, and the Thunder Bay Lottery Corporation. Members set our course at Annual Meetings. They are kept up-to-date about our work. They elect the Board of Directors who keep that work on track. Membership form. Name:__________________________________ Address: ________________ Postal Code:______ Telephone:_______________ Enclosed is:____ $ 10 Membership Fee ____ $ 25 Supporting Membership $ Donation Mail to: AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY P.O. Box 24025 Downtown North Postal Outlet Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 410 To be eligible to vote at the Annual (General Meeting, your membership must be up-to-date (30 days prior to the meeting). The A.G.M. is in November. Please renew your membership now. Please address any comments on reACT-Believe to: P.O. Box 24025 Downtown North Postal Outlet Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 (807) 345-1516 9:30 a.m. -5:00 p.m. John Books, Editor Mary-Lynn Bragg, Assistant Editor Ian Ritchie, Editor - Treatment Pages The opinions and medical information offered by reACTBelieve are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the staff or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by reACT-Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. page 3 �RETHINKING AIDS A Book Review [This article contains some technical terms and difficult jargon, and assumes some knowledge of medical aspects of HIV/AIDS.] The generally accepted medical view is llial Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). HIV is seen as necessary and sufficient to suppress the immune system to the point where the infected person is susceptible to die range of opportunistic infections dial define AIDS. This view is by no means universally held. Some researchers and others have suggested that the simple HIV=AIDS scenario is inadequate to explain AIDS, and a variety of other explanations have been proposed. Over the years, diere has been significant and increasing awareness that HIV=AIDS does not explain many of the unusual aspects of the AIDS epidemic. In fact a Group for the Scientific Re-appraisal of die HIV/AIDS Hypothesis has been formed by some researchers. Theories ranging from cofactors to autoimmunity have been proposed. Most controversially, molecular biologist Peter Duesberg has stated that HIV is harmless, dial AIDS is caused by recreational drug use and/or AZT. The issue of the role of HIV in AIDS has been documented in die recent book RETHINKING AIDS: THE TRAGIC COST OF PREMATURE CONSENSUS by Robert S. Root-Bemsiein. This book looks at die information available about AIDS, and presents strong arguments for re-examination of die nature of AIDS, and the role of HIV. After exploring some of llie anomalies in AIDS that are not explained by die H1V-A1DS hypodiesis, it goes on to demonstrate that there are a variety of othe: factors which weaken the immune system at work in people at risk for AIDS, some infectious and some non-infectious. Non-infectious factors include semen, addictive and recreational drugs, anaesthesia and surgery, prescription drugs, malnutrition, blood transfusions, clotting factors, and age. Infectious factors include various bacteria, fungi, yeast, and parasites: such as cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes viruses (HSV), Epstcin-Barr virus (EBV), hepatitis viruses, Human T-Lymphotropic Viruses (HTLV), Mycobacterias, Mycoplasmas, Candida, and others. Also explored is the presence of autoimmunity (in which the body’s immune system begins to attack itself and odier parts of die body) in many people at risk for AIDS. Root-Bemstcin presents four alternative hypotheses for explaining AIDS, and suggests that basic research needs to be done to explore these possibilities. The hypodieses are: 1. HIV is Necessary and Sufficient to Cause AIDS This is the widely-accepted view, on which most research and treatment options are based. There arc a number of anomalies that are not explained by this hypothesis. For example, there are great variations in the time to development of AIDS, as well as great variations in symptoms, in different individuals and groups. There are even reported cases of AIDS where HIV is not present. 2. HIV is Necessary but Requires Cofactors This hypothesis suggests diat IIIV requires other factors to be present prior to, simultaneous with, or subsequent to HIV infection, in order for AIDS to develop. Some of the cofactors proposed include adenoviruses, CMV, EBV, hepatitis viruses, HSV, HTLV 1, Mycoplasmas, Mycobacteria, heroin, cocaine, "poppers", and malnutrition. Both Gallo and Montagnier (credited as codiscoverers of HIV) have presented versions of this hypothesis. 3. AIDS is a Multifactorial, Synergistic Disease This hypothesis proposes that AIDS results from a combination of immunosuppressive factors, in which HIV, although usually present, may not be necessary to cause AIDS. Some of tiie immunosuppressive factors implicated in this theory include: allogcnic(causing an immune response) agents such as blood, clotting factors, semen, etc.; drugs such as heroin, morphine, cocaine, nitrites, antibiotics, anaesthetics, etc.; multiple infections such as HIV, CMV, EBV, HBV, HSV, HTLV, Mycoplasmas, Mycobacteria, Candida, Toxoplasma. Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, etc.; and autoimmunities such as antibodies toxic to lymphocytes, optic or peripheral neuritis (damage to nerves), dcmyelinization (destruction of sheath covering nerves), thrombocytopenic purpura (bleeding into skin and mucous membranes), etc. Duesberg is the most radical theorist in this camp with his view that HIV is harmless. 4. AIDS is Caused by Autoimmunity In this hypothesis, which has several versions, AIDS is caused by an autoimmune response within the body, perhaps uiggered by IIIV, or perhaps caused by multiple antigens as in RootBcrnstein’s theory of multiple-antigenmediated autoimmunity (MAMA). Autoimmunity may be the primary cause of AIDS, or it may be a secondary phenomenon brought on by the combination of diverse infectious agents. page 4 �Treatments The following irformation has been reprinted with permission from the Toronto PWA Foundation newsletter "Friends For Life-Update" (Winter 1993/94) p. 4-5. HIV Drug Use Toronto study of 310 men sheds light Reported by Mark Whitehead Making choices about ways to maintain your health and prevent illness can be very complicated for people living with HIV or AIDS. This is especially true in the area ot medications. There are many different drugs being studied that may be useful (or people with HIV, but very few have actually been approved by the government. Unfortunately, many questions remain about the effectiveness of some of those that have been approved. Nonetheless, there are a number of drugs that are being used by varying numbers of people with HIV in Toronto Use of Antiviral Drugs by 310 HIV+ Torontonians with T4 Counts at All Levels I None 32% | AZT Alone 38% HI AZT + ddC 8% others are doing may help shed some light on the difficult choices you are making. Most people (65%) were taking some kind of anti-HIV drug when the study was done. Thirty-eight percent of the group were taking AZT. Seven percent were taking ddl alone; 6 percent were taking ddC alone; 8 percent were taking ddC combined with AZT and 6 percent were taking ddl combined with AZT. Thirty-two percent of the 310 people weren’t taking any anti-HIV drugs when the study was done. PCP is the most common opportunistic infection among people with HIV. (PCP stands for Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia). Forty-one percent of all diagnoses of opportunistic infections are PCP. Fortunately, PCP is also the most effectively prevented. The risk of developing PCP increases if your T4 count drops below 200. 1] AZT + ddl 6% ddl Alone 7% B ddC Alone 6% □ d4T Alone 3% Earlier this year, the Community Research Initiative of Toronto (CRIT) and AIDS Action Now! (AAN1) produced a report that summarized what drugs are being used by a group of 310 men who are participating in CRITs Observational Data Base (ODB). (An ODB is a central database with information about the treatment choices of people living with HIV or AIDS.) Their report showed some interesting trends. This article summarizes its highlights. Please keep in mind. This information is not intended to tell you what you should be doing. Rather, it's presented to help create a snapshot of what this group of people are doing at a particular point in time. Knowing what Of those with T4 counts below 200, ninety-two percent were taking some kind of medication to prevent PCP. Forty-eight percent were taking septra, 16 percent were taking dapsone, and 19 percent were taking aerosolized pentamidine. About 18 percent of people with T4 counts below 200 weren’t taking any medication to prevent PCP. The most common drugs that were being used to prevent or treat other opportunistic infections were acyclovir, ketoconozole and fluconozole. Fifty-eight percent of people with T4 counts below 200 were taking acyclovir (for herpes) and 43 percent were taking either fluconozole or ketoconozole (for candidiasis and other fungal infections). The records of some people showed that they were also taking one or more other treatments in the hope that they would help strengthen their Continued on next page �Treatments Use of PCP Prophylaxis by 141 Torontonians with T4 Cell Counts Below 200 immune system. These included cimetidine, antabuse, naltrexone. NAC. trental, and hypercin). For example. 13 percent were taking cimetidine, and 7 percent were taking NAC. However, since many of these immune system treatments don't require a prescription, they may not have been recorded in the individual's file. For this reason, information on these treatments may be less reliable than for the other drugs. The authors of this study believe these results are reasonably representative of the Toronto HIV community at large. The study sheds valuable light on the treatment choices being made by many people living with HIV or AIDS. opportunistic infections. But care should be taken in interpreting these results. Each of us living with HIV needs to make some difficult personal decisions about how we manage our health. The conclusions we come to are equally personal. What is right for one person, may not be right for another, especially in those instances where a drug's effectiveness is not proven with a high degree of certainty. And in any case, this study focused on traditional western medicine, that is, drugs. There is a wide array of alternative and complementary approaches to staying healthy that each of us is wise to explore. These results are based on a sample of men living with HIV or AIDS. CRIT is trying to increase the number of women participating in the ODB. If you want your records included, just speak to your doctor. If your doctor needs more information, he or she can call CRIT at 416-324-9505. You can also get a copy of the original study report by contacting CRIT at the same number. Most Commonly Diagnosed Opportunistic Infections Other 12% Earlier this year, AIDS Action Now! developed a standard of care for people living with HIV or AIDS called AIDS/HIV Management Goals (The back of this booklet tells you how you can get a copy). In comparing the practices revealed in the study with Management Goals, the authors saw some important shortcomings. In particular, they were 'quite alarmed' by the relatively large number ol people with T4 counts below 200 who were taking no medication to prevent PCP, since it is the most effectively prevented of all Lymphoma 5% MAI 5% Cryptosporidium CMV 10% KS 19% PCP 41% (Several people 0 were diagnosed with more than one infection) r 1 O T 2 3 4 5 O O O O Percent Winter 1993/94 �Root-Bemstein suggests that all of these hypotheses need to be thoroughly researched, in order to get a clear understanding of the processes at work in AIDS, with implications for treatment and prevention. If any of hypotheses 2 to 4 arc valid, that will have major impact on the development of appropriate treatment options. What are the implications of these ideas for prevention and education programs? It is important to note that whichever of the hypotheses turns out to be correct, the prevention and health promotion messages dial have been put forth are still valid. Multiple infectious immunosuppressive agents arc implicated in hypotheses 2 to 4. Therefore, if we concentrate prevention efforts on the transmission routes of sexual activity and blood, we give individuals the information that can protect them from the range of possible infection sources. Although hypotheses 3 and 4 suggest it is possible to have AIDS without HIV, Rool-Bemstein says, "I believe Duesbcrg is wrong in ignoring the role of HIV in AIDS. It is certainly highly correlated with the syndrome....It is just as big a mistake to ignore the potential role of HIV in AIDS as it is to ignore the roles of all the other immunosuppressive agents that afflict AIDS patients."(p. 343) There is a continuing need for strong sal'er-sex and oilier prevention messages, based on a solid health promotion approach. While RETHINKING AIDS challenges much conventional ihoughi about AIDS, it also offers a valuable theoretical approach for research to improve our understanding of the processes that lead to AIDS. We hope that the medical and scientific research community pays attention to this book. The work being done by community-based AIDS groups already takes into account the uncertainties of science. We need to continue to be prepared to adapt as new knowledge and understanding becomes available. IN SUMMARY * The role of I LI V in AIDS is not clearly understood. * Research is needed to determine exactly the processes leading to AIDS. * Prevention programs must continue to stress safer sex and health promotion. David Belrose Education Coordinator ******************************* Root-Bemstein, Robert Scott RETHINKING AIDS: the tragic cost of premature consensus. New York: The Free Press, 1993. 512 p. gay/bisexual men’s ADVISORY GROUP A Gay and Bisexual Men’s Advisory Group has been established to provide advice and assistance to ACT-B on work with the gay/bisexual male community, including the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of prcvention/education programs Meetings are usually held quarterly, to exchange information and provide a liaison to the community. Two meetings have been held thus far, and a productive brainstorming session, with follow up priority soiling, has helped to shape the focus cf planning. There was strong agreement on the need to develop initiatives aimed at supporting gay and bisexual youth. Additional participants on the advisory group are inviLcd. The next meeting is scheduled for March 9, 1994. Call the office if you are interested. BISEXUAL MEN’S SUPPORT GROUP A monthly support group for bisexual men has been meeting since September 1993. In a safe and confidential environment, bisexual men can meet, discuss issues of common interest, explore feelings, and share concerns, including issues around safer sex. Participation in the support group is open to bisexual men. While sponsored by ACT-B in the formative stages, it is hoped that the group will eventually be able to operate independently of this agency. MAINTAINING HEALTHY SEX In development since August 1993, this project will produce a next generation healthy sex brochure for gay/bisexual men. Addressing some of the continuing issues that work against consistent safer-sex behaviour, this brochure will replace the very successful "Healthy Sex for Gay and Bisexual Men" (limited quantities of this will continue to be available). Using exciting images and text, we expect this brochure will be an important contribution to the maintenance of consistent safer-sex behaviour among gay and bisexual men. Due in spring 1994, the publication date will be announced later. POSITIVELY WELL UPDATE Well, we are halfway through the Positively Well program. On January 6, 1993 Alex Highcrest will be in town from Toronto to speak with our members. Alex will be talking about safer sex after diagnosis of HIV/AIDS. In the works is a PH A retreat in March. For more information about these workshops and the retreat, please call Ian at 345-1516. page 5 �POSITIVELY WELL The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay is pleased to announce that Dr. Lark Lands and Dr. Chester Myers will be in Thunder Bay on Feb. 26 1994. They will give two presentations, one lu our members and one to health care workers in Thunder Bay. If you have any questions or wish more information, please contact Ian at 345-1516. Dr. Lark Lands, M.S., Ph.D. Dr. Lands, author of "Positively Well: AIDS as a Chronic, Manageable, Surviveable Disease (new edition to be published Winter, 1994), is a health educator and consultant to the Carl Vogel Center, a non-profit AIDS education and resource center. She worked as a scientist for a large Washington, DC area think tank, the MITRE Corporation, for six years, where she conducted research and designed experiments. She used her research expertise to investigate the area of health enhancement and worked with many hundreds of people living with HIV to develop complementary programs. For eight years, she has compiled information on a total, aggressive, complementary approach to HIV infection and authored numerous fact sheets and monographs summarising her findings. Her articles are widely reprinted in AIDS newsletters and are distributed throughout North America and Europe. Thousands of requests for her "Treatment Strategy" monographs are received annually at the Carl Vogel Center. Dr. Lands has given her "Positively Well" seminar worldwide and is a frequent speaker at AIDS conferences. In both her seminars and private health education practice, she attempts to provide a base of information to educate HIV+ people on the elements needed for a comprehensive health plan. She encourages all those with HIV disease to work closely with their primary care MOTHER’S CUPBOARD physicians who can best monitor their progress. Dr. Chester Myers, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. Dr. Chester Myers, holds both honours B.Sc and M.Sc. degrees in physical chemistry from Dalhousie University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (biophysical chemistry) where he investigated the mechanism of action on one of the digestive enzymes. In addition to publishing in the scientific literature and authoring several patents, he has written extensively on topics regarding health and HIV. The latter include articles in The Positive Side, Canadian AIDS News, and monographs available from the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), the Community AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE), and various other organizations. WOW!!!! Mother’s "empty" Cupboard is starting to fill up. The support from our community is fantastic and overwhelming. For those of you who may be wondering what a "Mother’s Cupboard" is, I will explain. Mother’s Cupboard was the brain child of two former members Joyce and Ernie, who saw a need for a food bank to provide food for our members. In our last newsletter I asked our members and friends for donations of non-perishable food. A special thanks to Celia Gibbs who asked her church (Current River United) to donate food to Mother’s Cupboard. The AIDS Commiltee of Thunder Bay would like thank the following organizations and people: ComCare, Current River United Church, Celia Gibbs, Saan and all the anonymous donors. If you or your organization wish to make a donation of non pershible food, please either bring it down to our office or call Ian, at 3451516, and I will arrange a pick up. Letters to my Son Letters to my Son is a small book written by Anne Ciemny, who is a long time volunteer of ACT-B. After losing her son, Rick in a motor vehicle accident, Anne began a yearly ritual of writting a letter to him on the anniversary of his death. Letters to my Son, contains those letters from 1972 to 1992, a long journey of agony, memories and healing. Keenly aware that our clients, their friends and loved ones and the staff of this agency must deal with our grief, Anne has graciously donated 100 copies of the book to ACT-B. Proceeds from the sale of those books will go to the AIDS Committee. Copies can be obtained from our office or by calling 345-1516. Thank you, Anne for your generous gift. t rfiALffS JOWttrt page 6 �BOOK REVIEW "WHERE EAGLES DARE TO SOAR" Indians, Politics and Aids by Kevin White (Book and Video) available through NORAM Inc. Box 243 Kahnawake, PQ JOL I BO Kevin White is a 31 year old Chapleau Cree who is living with AIDS. He recently (October /93) launched his book and video entitled "Where Eagles Dare to Soar". The book and video have been promoted as "an education tool for health professionals in native communities." Kevin is an affable, feisty individual in person. This certainly is evident in his book, as well. However, the book is more an exjjose on the aboriginal and nonaboriginal elites in Canadian politics and business, than it is an educational tool on AIDS. In fact, there arc only a very few pages in which the virus itself is referred to. Further, there are some statements that actually contradict everything we know about how the virus is transmitted. For example, he states, "For all I know Indian Affairs could have put the virus in my coffee at The Junction’ to try to kill me off" (page 61). Further on in the book, in the one chapter that deals almost exclusively with the disease, he states, "Parents have to talk to the kids and warn them how AIDS is transmitted through sexual contact." This is an excellent message, but on the same page he states "Parents have to talk to their kids about sexuality. You can’t put it on the back burner. It is important now today. If not, this will kill our people. For all I know Indian Affairs invented this virus and gave it to me" (page 96.) Kevin does "his people" a disservice sending this kind of message. He knows as well as I do, that the virus is primarily spread through unprotected sex (anal or vaginal) with an infected person, or through sharing blood (frequently through intravenous drug use) with an infected individual. From evidence in the book, it is clear Kevin’s lifestyle led to his contracting HIV. His message that somehow Indian Affairs is responsible for his contracting the virus can only serve to instill hysteria... something we have had to battle against since day one. I am not without sympathy for Kevin’s plight. Certainly, the experiences he suffered as a child and youth have contributed to his present situation. The historical suppression of aboriginal Canadians (and everything that accompanies that, such as inadequate health care, substandard housing, etc.) has played a role in limiting Kevin’s (and any other native Canadian’s) choices later in life. AIDS, like cancer, is a disease that does not discriminate. It is affecting (and infecting) aboriginal, white, black and Asian people. It is now largely preventable, through practising safer sex (using a latex condom for intercourse) and not sharing needles and syringes with others. This is the message Kevin should be sending to other aboriginal Canadians. The corruption in Canadian business and politics, whether native or non-native is a separate message, and this is what the book is about. Daryle Dollan WI MEMBER THUNDER BAY LOTTERY COUP. SUPPORT o 10TTEIY IICINCI I 9 9 3 3 9 13 Presenting: Dr. Bill’s Waiting Room The Notorious Healthy Sex Cabaret ■Za doctoar vutt zee you tioozu Saturday March 12, 1994 Prince Arthur Hotel Doors open at 7PM Tickets: $15 available from the AIDS Committee in mid February Co-ordinated by Dr. Bill (William) Roberts page 7 �The Three Saving Graces: or fundraising before the fiscal year ends Since Iasi writing in the newsletter, the AIDS Committee has marked up a few modest fundraising efforts. However, fundraising revenues are lagging behind our goal. Our fiscal year, ends on March 31st, so a lot is riding on the fundraising events of February and March. But then, we’ve saved the best for last. In the next few months, there are three to watch for: our 2nd Lappe Ski Day, an art auction and the notorious Cabaret. Lappe Ski Day Tickets for the Ski Day (February 19th) are S10 and available from the office. The ticket is for one day of skiing at the Lappe Centre and food from die kitchen (perogies, hot sausage and hot drinks). Members of the Ski Centre need not pay the S10 fee but can purchase food from the kitchen. Dr. Bill’s Waiting Room The 6lh Annual Healdiy Sex Cabaret, a night of surprises, adult humour and all round fine entertainment will be on March 12th at the Prince Arthur Hotel. Tickets are $15 this year and will be available from the office. Get your tickets early for this sellout, popular event. The Doctor is wailing! "The Answer To AIDS Is A Caring Community" On February 26th, the AIDS Committee will hold its first art auction. ART AIDS; Put Yourself in the Picture will be at the Valhalla Inn. Tickets are $25 (for which you will get a charitable receipt of S10). The response from the local craft and artistic community has been very gratifying. We have easily met our goal of donated craft and art work. Put Yourself in the Picture will be a slightly different auction; shorter, jazzier, with an eclectic mix of some of the finest craft and fine art work produced in Thunder Bay. Before the auction begins at RPM, meet die artists who have generously donated their work to this cause. This is an opportunity for arusts and patrons to get acquainted. Jamie Philps will be at the piano, adding jazz compositions to the start of the evening. "Whenever, we take time from our busy schedules to contribute whatever we arc able, we add meaning to our lives", David Ramsay. Plan on attending this event, an evening of colour, warm music and community support in the midst of Winter. How can we thank all of you enough? 1 want you to know how much we need your help, and how deeply, deeply we appreciate what you have given to ACT-B. I recently received a charitable receipt for a small donation 1 made to ACCESS; The AIDS Committee of Sudbury. Their thank you card contains the words dial are die title of diis column. 1 share that sentiment with all of you who have helped us during the past year. Again and again you have responded to our requests, from the simple need of an extra volunteer on a community bingo night, to your willingness to participate in our first agency Public Service television commercial, to direct contributions of dollars in support of our services. We are struggling in very difficult economic and emotional limes. Your generosity, be it your time or skills or dollars, has buoyed us up on many a needy occasion. Thank you. Each one of you is helping provide ail answer to AIDS. Each one of you is proving this is, indeed, a very caring community. Michael Sobola Executive Director A benefit art auction Saturday, February 26th from 7PM to 11PM at the Valhalla Inn ca» S45'15 ART AIDS Put yourself in the picture. Tickets are $25 available from the AIDS Committee Cash bar complimentary hors d’oeurves Over 50 of Thunder Bay's finest art and crafts will be up for bid, with prices ranging from under $100 to over $1,000. Raffle draw for Linda Lundstrom Laparka coat. ART AIDS sponsored by Thunder Bay Celluar and CBQ Radio. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 7 Issue 1 - Winter 1994 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/17/2678/1994_reACT-Believe_vol7no2_2.pdf 562be000bba3419f295b87946d3988cf PDF Text Text reACT-Believe AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Spring 1994, Volume 7, Issue n P.0. Box 24025, Downtown North Postal Outlet Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 (807)345-1516 AIDS Infoline 345-SAFE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE Boulevard is once again die sile lor the AIDS Commitlcc’s annual Fun Run/Plcdgc Walk. This will be the sixih time we’ve asked the residents of Thunder Bay to join us in a stroll or run and show their support for those affected by HIV/AIDS. In the past, we have been blessed by good weather and if that holds true for this year, we expect our largest turnout ever. The 5 kilometer course will start and finish at Birch Point which was very popular last year. There is not a nicer place to test your time or walk with friends than Boulevard. Sponsoring From All Walks of Life, in 1994 are: Molson Companies, Lakehead Travel and Canadian Airlines. Prizes will be awarded for best times in all age categories and for preselected mystery times. There will be refreshments afterwards, plus a chance to add your artistic touch to the Big Picture Project. From All Walks of Li fe is an appeal to recognise that HIV/AIDS has already affected all of us. We have lost many and it has changed our society. From All Walks of Life is also an appeal for your financial support. This agency depends more and more on local fundraising to maintain the level of service, it offers. We hope that all of our volunteers and members will take up the challenge and collect as much as they can. Small donations do add up to grand totals. If you collected pledges last year, we hope you will again. In 1993, thirty-four people collected over $3800. This year our goal is $5000. The person who returns with the most pledge money will receive airline tickets for two to Toronto. Pledge sheets are available with the registration forms and from our offices, call 345-1516. "One dollar at a time." Jennifer collected pledges going door to door in her neighbourhood, asking friends and strangers for whatever they wanted to give, one or two dollars maybe five and somtimes even more. She raised S600 in this way. You may have a different approach. It doesn’t matter. Whatever is comfortable and works for you. The funds collected help directly on the front lines of the fight against AIDS in Northwestern Ontario. So help make this year’s Fun Run/Pledgc Walk an unprccendented success. Join with your friends and neighbours on June 11th at Boulevard Lake. And help us prove, " The answer to AIDS is a caring community." Your registrarion form is on the last page of this newsletter. Under the BINGO! Play. Work. Play. Win. Everybody wins. Once a month, ACT-B hosts a community bingo at the Diamond Bingo hall (570 South Syndicate Avenue). Over the years, this once monthly night has generated thousands of dollars for ACT-B services. It is a crucial part of our regular fundraising. We invite you to participate. Come out and play (every night there are over fifty winners and somebody goes away with $ 1,000). So come out and play. That helps our attendence figures. Or come on down and be a volunteer for a night. Tasks are simple (if you can make accurate change, you are already well trained as a bingo volunteer!). Volunteers arc asked for five hours of time. Bingo volunteers arc special. ACT-B hosts an annual appreciation event just for our bingo helpers. We need your help. Come on down to play or to help die players. We’ll all win. �DEAR DIARY I went to the doctor a few months ago. I quizzed him about some blood work that I had done in October of last year. He said I probably didn’t want to know the results. For posterity sake I enquired about my dreaded T4 count. It was a meagre "10". What is the norm? "1400". Who cares I say! In 1993.1 can remember at least 16 people who died of some AIDS Related Horror. I wonder what their T4 counts were. T4 counts are something that doctors use to gauge how well our immune system is at fighting infections. Three weeks ago I changed my entire drug regime. Lets sec, I quit AZT. Aeylovir, Hypericum, Keloconazole and those wonderful Monostat 7 suppositories. You might ask, wliat is keeping the "girl" alive? The magical properties of prescription drugs and Ativan. Although in the past and present, I have identified myself as a recovering addict, so resorting to Ativan takes a lot of thought. After five years of supporting the nice people at Wellcome Burroughs I found that I was still alive after taking AZT. I can think of at least 20 friends that have succumb to the toxicity of AZT alone since 1986. About a year and a half ago, I started using Aeylovir (200mgX3). Having found out recently that this dose contains lactose, to which I am intolerant, I decided to cease this too. This was replaced by Acyclovir 300mg X3 which are lactose free. Ketoconazole and Monostat 7 go together and were replaced with Fluconazole. I should have been using this well over a year ago. My doctor at the lime was cost conscious. So what if my entire digestive tract was being eaten away by Candida. Save the government a few bucks, he’s expendable, he’s going to die anyway. Oh, if I were only someone important. Say the nephew of one of those provincial plugs who are in power presently. Or even better, a distant relative of that Chretien fellow, or "Brian". Remember him, he made our drugs cost more. He probably got a kickback from the drug companies on the way. Most recently I have considered amputation of part of a finger on my right hand. I could mail it to one of tliose provincial plugs 1 was talking about earlier. There is only one drug that will arrest this infection and it’s not covered. The doctor informs me that it could take 3 months to get this on a section 8 of the ODBP. Meanwhile tire pharmacist says it will take 6 weeks to 6 months for this medication to take effect anyway. Maybe my whole arm will fall off and I can bang on the door at the War Amp Society and get a replacement or two. While for the winter and tanned for the summer. Maybe they will even install accessories. You know, a cigarette lighter in the index finger, a cordless screwdriver in another, or maybe they could give me retractable eating utensils (Swiss Arm;y Knife etc.). Oh, well none of this seems to apply anyhow. 1 have strikes against me from the start. I’m just another poor fag that those moralistic fanatics would like to toss into die fire anyhow. Oh, and my attitude has gotten me into trouble in the past. Years ago they used to look at me and say "you’re Angry". Come back when you have a handle on things. Well everyone, wake up and smell the roses. What you see is what you get! I didn’t ask to have AIDS, it happened before the world knew about AIDS. People in my age group never had a chance. That doesn’t make us any different than those poor innocent victims dial got HIV from a Blood Transfusion. You know, the acceptable way of acquiring HIV. There will be no memorial service for me when I’m gone. I have stipulated that in my will. If people don’t like my attitude while I’m alive I’ll be dammed if I want diem at a memorial service when I’m gone. page 2 So if you want to know me you will have to start soon, for time wails for no man. And be aware that Iggy and Pooh(my partner) take the majority of my time as it is. How to pul a lifetime into an 8 year relationship? Perhaps I’ll be around for the cure. Some days 1 feel like I’m holding my breadi for nothing. Today I’m alive so don’t treat me like a corpse. I’m so sick of "hows Ron doing". Ask me yourself for god sake. My brain cells are still intact. But don’t ask unless you want to know. For 1 just might tell you how it really is, without the candy coadng. Time to go, Poohs getting hungry and life goes on for another day. Sincerely Yours Ronald H. Rogers Person (Having, With, Living with) AIDS Thunder Bay, Ontario. GLOSSARY A l l VAN used to treat anxiety and tension. May be addictive and create dependence. AZT (also known as Retrovir or Zidovudine) This is a Nucleoside Analog, that is suppose to kill or stop the rcplicauon of HIV in the body but will not kill chronically infected cells. ACYCLOVIR (also known as Zovirax) This is a prophylactic against recurrent herpes simplex virus. HYPERICUM (also known as St. John’s Wort) is derived from the St. John’s Wort plant and has shown to have anii-HIV activity in the test tube, a synthetic form is now in clinical trials. KETOCONAZOLE (also known as Nizoral) used as a prophylactic for candidal infections. MONOSTAT 7 a vaginal suppository to treat yeast infections, has been used by some people orally. �ACT-B ADVISORY COUNCIL Fred Rail Belli Huston Vivian Johnston Dr. (Jordon Milne Bob Richardson Nicky Titllcy Derek Zulesky Director, Public Health Laboratory Director of Administration, Kinna-weya Legal ClinicPublic Health Nurse, Thunder Bay District Health U nit Family Physician Co-chair, Businessman Supervisor or Infection Control, Port Arthur General Hospital Co-chair, Health & Safety Officer, Lakehe3d Board of F.ducation Join us. Become a member! Members set our course at Annual Meetings. They are kept up-to-date about our work. They elect the Board of Directors who keep that work on track. Membership form. Name: ACT-B BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rick Atkinson Sarah Bunn A. Downcy-Baxler Mahlon Inkster Gail Linklaler Ed Prinselaur Bob Richardson Diane Roberts Ron Rodgers Pius White Derek Zulesky Address: Treasurer Director Director Director Postal Code: Telephone^ Enclosed is: President Director Director Vice President Director Director Secretary Mail to: AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY P.O. Box 24025 Downtown North Postal Outlet Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 410 ACT-B STAFF Chrisla Alsch David Relrose Sheila Berry John Books Darylc Dollan Lawrence Korhonen Ian Ritchie Michael Sobol a $ 10 Membership Fee S 25 Supporting Membership S Donation Secretary Education Coordinator Volunteer Coordinator Fundraising/Communicauons Support Service Coordinator Office Manager Support Worker/Health Promoter Executive Director To be eligible to vote at the Annual General Meeting, your membership must be up-to-date (30 days prior to the meeting). The A.G.M. Is In November. Please renew your membership now. Please address any comments on rcACT-Believe to: P.O. Box 24025 Doniow-n North Postal Outlet Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0 The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay acknowledges and thanks our various funders: (807) 345-1516 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 pan. : Ontario Ministry of Health : Health Promotion and Social Development Office, Ontario Branch, Health Canada : Ontario Trillium Foundation : All of the people involved in general fundraising and the support of many local businesses and individuals. John Books, Editor Mary-I.ynn Bragg, Assistant Edit Ian Ritchie, Editor of Treatment Pages The opinions and medical information offered by rcACTBelieve are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the stalf or Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. Medical information offered by reACT Believe should be used with your own discretion. Please consult your doctor. Wc especially would like to acknowledge all those who contributed Art AIDS: in particular the many artists. Bearskin Airlines and McEachem Marketing also our thanks to W. Bowers for donating a fridge to the office. page 3 �CONDOMS, SAFER SEX AND ABSTINENCE Over the past couple of years there has been a growing assault on HIV/AIDS prevention education (hat stresses safer sex and the use of condoms. These attacks, from such groups as "Focus on the Family" suggest the unreliability of condoms, stale that there is no such thing as "safe sex", and promote abstinence as the only solution. It is important to address these issues, and offer a different perspective. First of all, in HIV/AIDS prevention work we do not presume to tell people what to do. We try to offer up-to-date, accurate information that will allow individuals to make their own behavioral choices, based on clear understanding of potential risk. We use the term "safer sex" to talk about a series of sexual options that reduce the risk of transmission of HIV and other STDs. In suggesting a range of choices for a person, we talk about abstinence as a viable option, especially for those who don’t feel ready for sex, or are not prepared to talk about it with their partners. For those who are sexually active, or may become sexually active, we do promote the correct and consistent use of condoms as the most effective way to reduce risk during intercourse. What follows arc facts about condoms, condensed from SIECUS Report, Oct/Nov. 1993. ARE THERE NEW STUDIES ABOUT CONDOM EFFICACY? Yes, good news about condoms was released in the summer of 1993 in die form of two clinical studies. The research shows that latex condoms are highly effective against the sexual transmission of HIV when used consistently and correctly during sexual intercourse. Both studies monitored people at extremely high risk for HIV infection, by studying heterosexual couples in which one person was HIV-positive and the other was uninfected. With repeated exposures to HIV, condoms proved to be highly effective for couples using condoms consistently and correctly. (For more detail on the studies and other references, contact ACT-B.) THF. TRUTH ABOUT LATEX CONDOMS The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention released an update report on the effectiveness of condoms in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on August 6, 1993 (Vol 42, No.30). The updated information confirms the federal government’s 1988 recommendations for using condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV and STDs, and provides new information about consistent and correct condom use. PEOPLE WHO ARE OPPOSED TO EDUCATION ABOUT SAFER SEX ARGUE THAT CONDOMS BREAK ALL THE TIME. IS THAT TRUE? Condoms rarely break. When they do break, it is almost always related to user error rather then condom quality. Using oul-ofdalc condoms is a leading cause of breakage. Other common reasons lor breakage include finger-nail tears, exposure to heal or sunlight, reusing condoms, or unrolling the condom before putting it on. Mineral oil, the WHAT ABOUT OTHER STUDIES THAT INDICATE CONDOMS HAVE A HIGH CONTRACEFI1VE FAILURE RATE? None of the studies which indicate a high condom failure rate distinguishes between consistent and inconsistent condom use. Additionally, the most recent study which considers the difference between consistent and inconsistent condom use shows that pregnancy rates are estimated to be as low as 2% for couples who use condoms consistently and correctly. page 4 leading ingredient in oil-based lubricants such as baby oil, petroleum jelly and hand cream can cause a 90% decrease in condom strength after as little as 60 seconds exposure. IS IT REALISTIC TO THINK THAT PEOPLE WILL USE CONDOMS CONSISTENTLY AND CORRECTLY? Yes. The two new studies and several others clearly demonstrate that consistent and correct condom use is possible if the couple is highly motivated. WHAT ABOUT MICROSCOPIC HOLES IN CONDOMS THAT MIGHT ALLOW HIV TO PASS THROUGH? Laboratory studies prove that sperm and disease-causing organisms cannot pass through intact latex condoms. Sperm has a diameter of 3 microns (.003 mm). STD-eausing organisms are much smaller - from 1/4 to 1/90 the size of sperm. Still, laboratory tests show dial none can penetrate an intact latex condom. This includes HIV. Condoms are required to undergo demanding tests, including tests for holes before they are sold. If any holes are found, the condoms are discarded. WHAT ABOUT THE USE OF NONOX YNOL-9? Laboratory studies indicate that while nonoxynol-9, a foam spermicide, kills HIV and other sexually transmitted pathogens, there is no evidence that using it without the use of a condom is effective for preventing sexual transmission of HIV. Further, one randomized controlled trial among women identified as sex workers in Kenya found no protection against HIV infection with the use of a vaginal sponge that has a high dose of nonoxynol-9. None of die other barrier methods used by women, such as a diaphragm, a cervical cap, or the sponge has been proven effective �TREATMENT PAGES VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS INFORMATION AND DOSAGES GATHERED FROM DR. LARK LANDS, DR. CHESTER MYERS, DAVID BAKER AND RICHARD COPELAND AND THE BULLETIN OF EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENTS FOR AIDS (BETA). COMPILED BY IAN RITCHIE - SUPPORT SERVICE WORKER/HEALTH PROMOTER FOR PHA’S. THE FOLLOWING SUPPLEMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FROM LOCAL HEALTH FOOD STORES. I AM CURRENTLY NEGOTIATING FOR A DISCOUNT ON BULK ORDERS WITH SUPPLEMENTS PLUS OF TORONTO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION. ALL VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD BF. FREE OF ADDITIVES AND PRESERVATIVES. ALL ADDITIONS TO YOUR PROGRAM SHOULD BE MADE IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN. THE AIDS COMMITTEE OF THUNDER BAY DOES NOT ENDORSE OR RECOMMEND ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SUPPLEMENTS. ALL ADDITIONS SHOULD BE MADE IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN. MULTIPLE VITAMIN- - SHOULD BE BIOAVAILABLE AND HYPOALLERGENIC - SHOULD CONTAIN CITRATES, PICOLINATES, ASCORBATE ETC. - SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE 50-100mg OF B6. B6 SHOULD BE IN FORM OF PYRIDOXAL PHOSPHATE RATHER THAN PYRIDOXINE. VITAMINS BETA-CAROTENE - 20 000-200 000/iuDAY - BETA CAROTENE IS CONVERTED INTO VITAMIN A IN THE BODY AS NEEDED. - NEEDED FOR WHITE BLOOD CELL PRODUCTION AND MATURATION. VITAMIN C - 5-20g/DAY - BOWEL INTOLERANCE VARIES BUT USUALLY WILL APPEAR AROUND 25-30g/DAY, IF THIS HAPPENS SIMPLY REDUCE INTAKE. - PROTECTS MACROPHAGES AND OTHER PHAGOCYTE FROM OXIDATIVE STRESS. ALSO MAY HAVE ANTIVIRAL EFFECT. VITAMIN A - POSSIBLY TOXIC AT MORE THAN 25 OUOiu DAY/LONG TERM. - SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN IF YOU ARE TAKING BETA CAROTENE. VITAMIN E - 800-1600 iu/DAY IMPORTANT IF ON AZT INCREASES DISEASE RESISTANCE. GREATER THAN 1200 iu/DAY CAN CAUSE �MINERALS SELENIUM - 50-200mcg/day - MORE THAN lOOOmcg/DAY CAN BE TOXIC - MORE THAN 200mcg/DAY MAY SUPPRESS IMMUNE FUNCTION. ZINC - 25-75mg/DAY - CONTRIBUTES TO FUNCTIONING OF IMMUNE SYSTEM KILLER CELLS. - EXCESS ZINC MAY PROMOTE YEAST AND BACTERIAL INFECTIONS. - SHOULD BE TAKEN WITH 2-4mg/DAY OF COOPER. OTHER SUPPLEMENTS GLUTATHIONE - 150 mg 3xDAY NAC - 1800-2000mg/DAY SHOULD BE DIVIDED UP TO 3x DAY CONVERTS INTO CYSTEINE. MAY CAUSE IMMUNOSUPPRESSION ABOVE 2g/DAY. COENZYME Q10 - 30-300mg/DAY IMPORTANT IN ENERGY FUNCTION. MAY FACILITATE NORMAL IMMUNE FUNCTIONING. GENERALLY CONSIDERED NONTOXIC. L-CARN1TINE - 3-6g/DAY - POSSIBLY REDUCES WASTING AND IMPROVES IMMUNE CELL PROLIFERATION. - GENERALLY CONSIDERED NONTOXIC. B12 - lOOOmcg 3xDAY (IM) SHOT. - COVERED BY ONTARIO DRUG BENEFIT PLAN (ODB). BE WARY OF TAKING ACETAMINOPHEN-CONTAINING MEDICATIONS SUCH AS TYLENOL TOXIC TO THE LIVER AND REVERSES THE EFFECT OF NAC. ALTERNATIVES INCLUDE ASPIRIN AND IBUPROFEN. REFERENCES: BAKER, DAVID RN MSN AND RICHARD COPELAND: "STAYING HEALTHY WITH HIV” 1993. G1LDEN, DAVID: "NUTRITIONAL INTERVENTION IN HIV DISEASE" BULLETIN OF EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENTS FOR AIDS , SAN FRANCISCO AIDS FOUNDATION, MARCH 1994. LANDS, LARK, DR: "NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENTATION NEEDS IN HIV INFECTION" 1994. MYERS, CHESTER, DR: "THE POSITIVE SIDE" WINTER 1993/94. �against HIV. ISN’T ABSTINENCE THE ONLY FOOLPROOF WAY TO PREVENT HIV INFECTION? Refraining from intercourse with infected partners is the most effective HIV prevention strategy. This is an especially important message lor young people. Periodic abstinence, however, carries risk for HIV infection. A 1988 National Survey of Family Growth found that 26% of people who believed they practised abstinence did not actually practice it consistently (i.e. they had intercourse). This fact has been interpreted as meaning that even abstinence has a 26% failure rate. Like condoms, for effective protection by using abstinence as a method, consistency is key. SO CONDOMS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE AN EFFECTIVE FORM OF PROTECTION? The Centers for Disease Control strongly support condom use for the prevention of pregnancy, STD and HIV infection. partners and the frequency of intercourse. Having received education was also associated wiLh more consistent condom use. Unfortunately, most programs are not very comprehensive and need to be improved gready. WHY WOULD GOVERNMENT PROMOTE CONDOMS WHEN THEY ARE NOT 100% FOOL PROOF? The CDCP states that consistent and correct condom use substantially reduces the risk of HIV infection during vaginal, anal, and oral sexual activity. The government promotes many other health behaviours that significantly reduce risk, but may not entirely eliminate it. Additionally, research has provided definitive evidence that using a condom is 10,000 times safer than not using a condom. WHY DID THE U.S. GOVERNMENT RECENTLY RELEASE RENEWED COMMITMENT TO ITS RECOMMENDATION FOR CONDOM USE? AREN'T PEOPLE ALREADY USING CONDOMS? Actually most sexually active people are not using latex condoms every time they have sexual intercourse. For example, a U.S. national study of heterosexual adults with multiple sexual partners found that only 17% of those surveyed reported using condoms all the time. WHAT ABOUT EDUCATION PROGRAMS ABOUT CONDOMS? A 1992 study reported in Family Planning Perspectives found that AIDS education and sexuality education for adolescents results in decreases in the number of sexual page 5 WHAT DOES "CONSISTENT USE" OF CONDOMS MEAN? Consistent use of condoms means using a condom with every act of sexual Intercourse from start to finish. WHAT DOES "CORRECT USE" OF CONDOMS MEAN? Correct use of condoms means the following: 1) A new condom is used every time a person has sexual intercourse, whether it is anal, oral, or vaginal Intercourse. 2) The condom Is put on after the penis Is erect and before it touches any part of a partner’s mouth, anus, or vagina. (If the penis Is uncircumcised, the foreskin is pulled back before putting on the condom). 3) The condom Is put on by pinching the reservoir tip, then unrolling It all the way up the shaft of the penis from head to base. (If the condom does not have a reservoir tip, pinch the tip enough to leave a half-inch space for the semen to collect after ejaculation. Air must not be allowed In the tip, otherwise the condom might break). 4) If the condom breaks during sexual Intercourse, the penis should be withdrawn Immediately, and a new condom should be put on the penis. 5) After the ejaculation and while the penis is still erect, the rim of the condom should be grasped between the fingers, and the penis with the condom on should be removed carefully so no semen Is spilled. 6) Water-based lubrication should be used to prevent condoms from breaking, oil-based lubricants such as Vaseline, baby oil, cooking oil or vegetable jelly should never be used with latex condoms. They can cause the condom to break. 7) Condoms should be stored in a drawer or closet, somewhere cool, dry, and out of direct sunlight. Changes In temperature, rough handling or age can make the latex brittle or gummy. Never use condoms that are damaged or discoloured, brittle, or sticky. Do not store them In a wallet or car glove compartment for a long time. �PFLAG - Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays Is someone you love gay or lesbian? A group is forming to support families and friends of gays and lesbians. This is a self-help group designed to promote understanding and foster a more supportive community environment. For more information, please contact Ian at 345-1516 or Brooke at 344-8834. 1 -800-268- Y O UT H Beginning May 1, the Lesbian, Gay, Bi Youth Line will provide toll-free peer support and information services within Ontario to, and concerning, youth of all cultures and abilities who may identify as lesbian/gay/bisexual/qucer/twospirited/transgendered. The lack of support for such youth is well-known, and is particularly pronounced in the isolation of Noriwestem Ontario. This service will not only provide peer support but be able to make referrals to appropriate local resources. The development of self-worth and esteem is vital to HIV/AIDS prevention work. Please help promote this service in your area, and contribute to the health of our youth. Call toll-free 1-800-268YOUTH. An Open Message... ...To Gay Men and Lesbians in Northwestern Ontario: With courage and compossion, gay men and lesbians have contributed to the community response to AIDS in Northwestern Ontario.Your efforts are making a difference, here at home and around the world. Take care of each other .take pride in yourself. Everyone Can Help You, your friends, neighbours, co-workers all of us together have been affected in some way by this global epidemic We can continue to care for each other in many ways, assist someone who is HIV positive, or work to increase awareness and understanding in our community To find out how you can help, contact the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay, the resource centre you can rely on. We share your concerns about AIDS. We are proud of the work we've done together. Call us or write: AIDS Committee of Thunder Bey (ACTB) P.O.Box 24025 Downtown North Postal Outlet thunder Boy. Ontario, P7A 4T0 (807) 345 1516 Krcvrd'Vtg msmirce?, and hi No1 In western Qrtorio Working Group ACTIVE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Education Committee (ACTBED) In order to better move into the coming months and years, the Education Committee has been revived. With emphasis on social marketing, community development, and continuing outreach, we expect to use the committee to be a major part of the development of ACT-B education programs. Our target audiences include gay/bisexual men, youth, injection drug users, women, aboriginals among others. Immediate priorities are the first two, in line with the Ontario HIV/AIDS Plan to the year 2000. My hope is that the committee will develop and lake on prevention and education projects using a health promotion approach. This is your chance to get involved and make a difference. Call for details. Food Bank Well our Mother’s Cupboard food bank is gelling low again. If you wish to make donations to our food bank, please call lan or drop off your donations at the office. Thanks, Ian. This is a call for PHA’s to form a working group to organize this years "Positively Well Project". We hope to have 4 to 6 sessions this year. If you have an interest in this, please contact Ian at 345-1516. Women and HIV Project OAN Grants for PH A Projects Congratulations to Liz Walker, who has been named key contact person in Northwestern Ontario for the National Women and HIV Project. Liz invites all those women who are infected or affected to contact her for more information at (807) 345-4687. Or you can contact the project co­ ordinator Karen Potts of Edmonton at (403) 488-5742, fax (403) 488-3735. The Ontario AIDS Network is facilitating funding for regional PHA projects. There arc guidelines for how these grants are awared as well as application forms. Guidelines, forms and the application process were all reviewed and approved by the PHA caucus of the OAN. Information and materials are available at the ACT-B office. Phone 345-1516 and ask for lan. page 6 �The Shape of the Future At a board and staff retreat, held for a full day on January 29 and an additional evening on February 16, the possible future for ACT-B began to lake shape. Working with facilitator Karen Maki, the board and staff reviewed the strengths and challenges presented by the agencies current goals and objectives. This was followed by imagining what ACT-B should look like three years down the road. This lead to an exercise listing what actions/directions the agency should move toward. At the follow-up evening "sequel", facilitated by Keith Nymark, board and staff voted on what they believed the priorities should be for the coming three years. Top priorities were "Social Marketing and Self Promotion" and "Care For The Caregivers". These were followed by "Balancing the Budget", "Expanding Client Services", "Diversifying the Financial Base", "Community Development" "Maintaining Existing Services to Clients" and establishing a "Committee to Look At Physical Plant and Equipment Needs". These broad categories will be developed into more specific detail by the board and/or appropriate committees. These priorities will guide our practical evolution over the coming years. Michael Sobota THANKS The AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay would like to thank all those who made Art AIDS: Put Yourself in the Picture, our first annual art auction, the success it was. We salute the assistance of Bearskin Airlines, CBQ Radio, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, MacEachem Marketing, the many local businesses which contributed to the silent auction and our loyal and hardworking volunteers. We are especially indebted to over 50 of Thunder Bay’s finest artists and craftspeople who gave so Final Positively Well Session Dr. L. Lands and C. Myers The final session of the positively well program finished with a bang. Dr. Lark Lands and Dr.Chcstcr Myers gave a fantastic presentation on HIV and Nutrition. The pace was fast and a lot of information was shared. One of the most interesting pieces of information dial was reported was that for people who arc on Acyclovir 200mg tablets, as a prophylaxis and lactose intolerant you should switch to the 800mg tablets because the 200mg tablets of Acyclovir contain lactose but the 800mg do not. Dr. Lands also recommended: - a prophylaxis dose Acyclovir of 2400mg/day (consult physician). - B12 shot (Intramuscular 2cc). - Fluconazole for the treatment and prophylaxis of thrush instead of Kctoconazole. - a low fat diet instead of a high fat diet - use of Pcplimine or Nutrin 1.0 instead of Boost or Ensure, which contain sugar which in turn feeds Candidiasis. - recommends NAC 1500mg/day. All of the above treatments should all be done in consultation with your primary care physician. This presentation was extremely practical and full of useful information, we hope to bring them back again next year. Ian Ritchie generously of themselves. With a net revenue of $6,200, the auction was our most successful fundraising event ever. The winner of the Linda Lundstrom LaParka raffle was Sheclagh Lehmberg. Thanks also to Karen Ferland for organizing the Lappe Ski day in February. Doctor Double Bill and his talented staff need to be commended for another superb evening of entertainment in his tropical waiting room. This year’s Cabaret was irreverent, steamy and enjoyed by all. page 7 Volunteers and the STARS!! Our volunteers are as varied as grains of sand, patterns on snowfalkes, stars in the universe, each wonderfully unique. And I suppose, if I could count all llie volunteers throughout lime, they would number as many as the stars. Their deeds shine as tiny beacons in a world so busy, complex and sometimes dark. If I run the risk of sounding a little soppy about these special people, I mean to. For they are most valued and appreciated: by staff, and some arc staff, by clients, and some are clients, and by the Board, and all Board members are volunteers. Without our volunteers we could not keep up with increased demands on services and fundraising. We would not have seen our Buddy Program become a reality. We could not do so many things so well. So, in case you forget to stop and know how important you are and how brigliLly you shine in confronting HIV and AIDS in our community and area, lei me remind you and thank you for your support. You are special, very special. Thank you so very much. Sheila, Volunteer Coordinator Wi MEMBER O F T I I E THUNDER BAY LOTTERY COKP. SUPPORT Q lOJIfIT tICINCf * f 9 J J M S �L akehead T r avel A gency L td . Canadian molson © FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE Things you need to know: When: The race starts at 10 a.m. sharp, Saturday June 11. 1994. Registration Form Where: Boulevard Lake (Birch Point) Age (As of June 11)_____ Registration: To register, mall in your registration to the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay, P.O. Box 24025, Downtown North Postal Outlet, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7A 4T0. (Please do not send money through the mail.) Or, at the AIDS Committee office at 217 S. Algoma Street. Remember to sign the Liability Waiver and to indicate whether you would like a T-shirt or baseball cap. Race Kits: Race Kits can be picked up at the AIDS Committee office, on Thursday & Friday, June 9 & 10, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. They will also be available on race day at 9:00 a.m. at Boulevard Lake. Divisions: Men and Women Junior under 20 Open 20 - 29 Senior 30 - 39 Master 40 - 49 Veteran 50+ Entry Fee: $ 15.00 - non-refundable. $2.00 for those under age 16 (no T-shirt or cap with lower fee). The Course: 5K course at Boulevard Lake. For more information, contact the ACT-B office at 345-1516. Name__________ Address_________________ City_____________________ Province/State__________ Postal/Zip Code _________ Phone ( )_____________ Club/School_____________ Gender: Male Female_ T-Shirt Size: Large_____ X-Large_____ or Cap:___ Liability Waiverplease read and sign In consideration of the acceptance of my entry. I for myself, my executors, administrators and assignees, do hereby release and discharge the race sponsors, promoters and organizers including all claims of damages, demands, and action whatsoever in any manner arising from my participation in the FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE 5K Fun Run/Walk. I attest and verify that I have full knowledge of the risks Involved in this event and I am physically fit to participate. Entry Deadline: Applications must be received no later than 5 p.m., Friday. June 9. 1994. No late registrations will be accepted. Signature (of parent or guardian if under 18) Sponsors: Make cheque payable to: AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Molson Companies, Lakehead Travel Sc Canadian Airlines. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource David Belrose fonds Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource reACT-Believe Vol 7 Issue 2 - Spring 1994 Subject The topic of the resource Organizations Health and Medicine Description An account of the resource Newsletter of the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English