Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 12, 1993 TAG: 9310120067
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Michael Csollany
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Somewhat lightheartedly, some friends at Virginia Tech and I ventured to watch "And the Band Played On."
The ingredients were there for a blockbuster movie: stars (Matthew Modine, Lily Tomlin, Phil Collins, Richard Gere, Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston), a screenplay based on Randy Shilts' best-seller, and lots of hype.
While entertaining, the HBO movie on the discovery and early years of the AIDS virus once again reminded me of my own mortality.
This is a mortality that I had forgotten in the four years since my interview at Georgetown University.
In 1989, my mother and I strolled about the mall in Washington trying to kill a few hours before my precollege audition.
We stumbled past the Washington monument and saw a crowd mulling around the Ellipse. Curiosity got the best of us, and we followed.
It was the AIDS quilt.
Suddenly, everything was quiet, and it felt like the temperature had dropped 10 degrees. Walking from patch to patch, things became quite clear: The quilt wasn't about homosexuals or drug addicts; it was about people. There were patches for babies and 17-year-olds - my peers, at the time.
Something about AIDS continues to scare me. Maybe it's the finality of the virus. Maybe it's the obliviousness of my generation to address that AIDS is spreading quickly through its ranks.
One of the frustrating things made clear by "And the Band Played On" was the reluctance of the government and others to accept that a problem existed. People had the disease, and they didn't even know it because there was no test (not to mention the virus didn't have a name).
But there is a test now.
And Virginia Tech and the Montgomery County Health Department are doing something to see that young people will know if they are HIV-positive - anonymous AIDS testing on campus.
Hundreds of students visited the county's anonymous testing site in Christiansburg, said Ruth Wolford, a county Health Department representative.
Since testing is anonymous, she said nurses identified students by circumstantial evidence - bookbags, age, ZIP code or whether they traveled in groups.
Wolford said the county tests about 40 people each week. Usually, more than 20 of those - or about 60 percent - are students.
"Some even identified themselves as students in conversation . . . and asked about the feasibility of having some kind of clinic at Virginia Tech," she said.
Health Department officials approached Virginia Tech about a cooperative program using the county's materials and Tech's personnel.
In September, Student Health Services opened the free clinic - which operates on first and third Thursdays at 4 p.m.
The clinic offers pre- and post-test counseling. Students are given a number to identify themselves.
There is a catch, though. The clinic only tests the first 20 people who arrive.
Wolford said this number is probably not realistic given Tech's population and the demand for these kinds of tests, but she hopes the program will grow.
The first clinic at Tech, which had not been advertised, drew 16 students, according to Gwen Martens, nurse coordinator with Student Health Services.
"Tech has to make some adjustments with its staff to get qualified people trained. As time goes on and their staff becomes more comfortable, it's our hope that they will consider more students," Wolford said.
For now, all parties agree this is a good start.
"With what we're offering and what they're offering, it should help to meet the need," Wolford said.
In "And the Band Played On," the doctors kept a tally of those infected with AIDS. They called it the "butcher's count" - a crude term originally used to describe war casualties.
As of June 30, 1993, the "butcher's count" of reported cases for the New River Valley was 21 people who are HIV-positive and 33 people with full-blown AIDS.
Michael Csollany is a staff writer for the New River Valley Bureau.
by CNB