On Friday, February 27, 2008, Project Success, the TRIO-Student Support Services program at Penn Valley, sponsored the HIV/AIDS Awareness Rap Session with Gerald Palmer, producer and host of A Closer Look radio broadcast and PVCC's newest advisor/counselor.

Palmer, a graduate of Penn Valley, spoke on what he said was "a very important issue but also a very draining issue." He began the rap session with a moment of silence as a way for those attending to clear their minds in preparation for the seriousness of the topic.

As an active member in the community, Palmer has worked with many who are afflicted with the HIV/AIDS virus. He began his work interning as a case manager for Swope Parkway Health Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Palmer worked for one year as an HIV/AIDS case manager at Kansas City's Guadalupe Center. He recalled his first experience as a case manager there: "I see my first client in intensive care, actually he is brain dead and the only thing keeping him alive is an oxygen machine."

Palmer was told that his client, a 19-year-old homosexual male, was found under a bridge passed out, abandoned by family and friends because he had full-blown AIDS. Palmer continued, "What I was thinking was, I'm going to help people. I didn't realize the stigma. I didn't realize that many people who look like you and me, people who are African American and Latino, don’t get treated for HIV until we get full-blown AIDS. And many times we don't know our status."

According to WebMD, the online medical web site, "When diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, a doctor checks your health status. He or she will ask questions about any current symptoms and past health to determine whether there have been any HIV-related illnesses, if immunizations are up-to-date, if there have been hospitalizations for illness or surgery and whether there are any allergies to medication."

WebMD further states, "A thorough physical exam will provide information about a person's present state of health. During later visits, the doctors will use this information to see whether the person's health status has or is changing."

As Palmer finished relaying the events of his first day, he told those in attendance about the moment his client was taken off life support. "They turned off the machine and he slowly took his last breath. I had never seen anybody die before... and as this young man is slipping away, I'm like so mad," he said.

Palmer continued, "I asked God, ‘Where is his family? Where is his church? Why me? I'm just a stranger. why am I spending this young man's last breathe with him?' That started a whole questioning and wondering why more people don't speak out about this disease."

Palmer spoke about how difficult it was to meet people infected with HIV/AIDS who would eventually, "drift off because they wouldn't take their medication right." Palmer also told of another experience that he stated was the reason he decided to stop working as a case manager for HIV/AIDS clients.

"There was a young man who all the other case managers in the city didn't want because he was angry. He was a young black man with full-blown AIDS; so, of course, I was the only black male case manager, and they gave him to me because I could relate to him. That's what they said."

Palmer continued the account and explained that, at that time, he imagined himself in this man's place. "I'm thinking, 'I’m 30 years old, I have kids.' I wondered how I would feel if I couldn't see my kids and if I was dying."

Palmer also said, "He [the client] contracted HIV when he was 18. He was not gay. The first thing he said to me was, 'Naw man, I ain't gay.' He was selling drugs, so he traded drugs for sex... not knowing she was infected.... Later in his life he developed a drug habit and, because of his habit, he was unable to take the medication. When I came into his life he had already went through a drug treatment program and wanted to change his life."

Palmer related his experience with community members as he tried to help his client. "I called all these different churches in the community and, with his permission, I shared his status. I would say, 'This young man is changing his life, he has AIDS... Hello? Hello?' Some were just quiet. Some would pause. One pastor told me, 'We don't support that kind of stuff.' So that led me to continue to help the young man but the drug habit was stronger that his desire to change. He used again, and later he died."

As part of the rap session, Palmer played a 30 minute DVD about HIV/AIDS, entitled "Who Will Speak for Me" by the African Americans Reach and Teach Health Ministry (AARTH), based in Seattle Washington.

According to AARTH's website (link below), "approximately 50% of the new HIV infections that take place every year in the US are amid African Americans, though they symbolize only 13 percent of the population." And according to Palmer, "Black women make up 75% of the new HIV cases here in Kansas City.... So we're in crisis."

The video presented both professional and ordinary citizens with HIV/AIDS, discussing personal experiences dealing with the stigma of their affliction.

One man in the video said "It feels as if we're disposable." Another person said, "My son is sick and he can't tell his pastor, or he can’t tell the church. There would be no understanding or acceptance."

A woman spoke of the humiliation she felt once her church found out she and her family had HIV/AIDS. "They used to come pick us up every Sunday, but not when they found out, they stopped coming to pick us up... It just really broke my heart."

Palmer continues to make the public more aware by speaking to people as an HIV/AIDS educator for the Red Cross.

For more information on HIV/AIDS visit the following websites:

http://www.aarth.org
http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/medical-history-and-physical-exam-for-hiv-infection
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets

Copyright 2008 Metropolitan Community College