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AIDS
& HIV
BY:Marie Auyong
During the height of the AIDS epidemic in 1980’s America,
researchers identified the virus that causes Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV) and the AIDS virus itself. How to care for people
was another matter entirely—for although science is
remarkably effective at combating bodily illness, caring
for individuals requires an indefinite application of human
skills. A doctor should be able to treat a disease according
to a patient’s needs, and this encompasses religious,
cultural, and political values.
For this reason the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team
(APAIT) came into being in 1987. Founded as a project of
the Asian Pacific gay, lesbian, the project grew in response
to its members dying of the dreaded disease. However, not
all medical facilities were prepared to provide care services
sensitive enough or appropriate for individuals living with
AIDS. Doctors could administer drugs for the body, for example,
but who better to take care of the soul than one’s
own family?
Since then, APAIT has grown into a full-service AIDS service
organization (ASO). This means that not only does the agency
take care of people who have already been diagnosed with
HIV/AIDS, but it extends services to people at-risk for
or living with HIV/AIDS. Most importantly, APAIT specializes
in working with Asian and Pacific Islander (API) clients,
offering education and assistance in API languages. The
agency also works with a sexually and gender diverse API
clientele, including women, men, and transgenders.
For those who are HIV-positive, clients can seek help at
APAIT, including mental health support (counseling and peer
support groups), treatment education and advocacy, and case
management. Case management is a highly individualized way
of assisting individuals secure housing, medical treatment,
and financial aid, and to learn how to better cope with
the disease overall.
APAIT also targets people who are potentially at-risk for
HIV—which means most sexually active people not in
HIV-negative, sexually exclusive relationships. By offering
painless, bloodless HIV testing, the agency hopes to encourage
people to undergo testing for sexually transmitted infections
as a regular part of overall health care. Outreach specialists
also concentrate on HIVAIDS community education, which entails
going into venues, events, and businesses to pass out information.
They also sponsor socialization groups and support for those
coping with HIV risk.
Finally, although HIV/AIDS has been associated with gay
men and intravenous drug users since the early 1980’s,
the contemporary epidemic has been just as relentless with
communities that considered themselves protected: women,
children, and heterosexuals. Globally, the 6 million+ epidemic
has claimed women as half of those infected, and in areas
where HIV/AIDS has been or is projected to be a major public
health disaster—Asia especially—it is primarily
those who identify as straight or heterosexual who have
contracted HIV. This is perhaps APAIT’s most challenging
mission: to reduce the disease’s stigma, to educate
people about their choices and health, to empower them to
take care of each other with compassion. Ultimately this
is how APAIT complements the medical community. Doctors
prescribe medications and treat the body, but APAIT helps
the community to care for its people.
For more information, call (213) 553-1830 or go to www.apaitonline.org.
APAIT has two offices, one in downtown Los Angeles and another
in Garden Grove.
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