HIV/AIDS Awareness at MCC
On November 7, 2007 Student Life and the Gay Straight Alliance had a presentation on HIV/AIDS Awareness. Sanford Gaylord, HIV/AIDS Regional Resource Coordinator for the U.S. Public Health Service, Region V in Chicago, Illinois presented.
Mr. Gaylord did not present this as a lecture, but rather as a series of interesting, perhaps lifesaving, facts. He invited questions and discussed many things. We learned that African American women are at an extremely high risk for HIV right now and learned some techniques on how to avoid HIV.
Mr. Gaylord also shattered the image of someone that is HIV positive as being "sick". Most people don't even show signs of illness, you can't tell by looking at them. Not all HIV positive people have AIDS, HIV can be latent for years. You cannot become infected with HIV through day-to-day contact with an HIV positive person.
An HIV-infected mother can have children that are not HIV-positive. I didn't know this! If the mother simply follows medical guidelines and is careful, her child may be born without HIV.
The bottom line is that you have to take care of yourself, you can't just believe when a potential partner tells you they are not HIV-positive or that they've taken a test and are not positive. The best alternative is abstinence. Failing that: be careful! As Mr. Gaylord says, "If you don't love yourself, why the hell should anyone else?"