No immunity: HIV/AIDS educator speaks at SWCC

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Small town folks aren’t safe from HIV and AIDS. Just ask HIV/AIDS Educator and Specialist Patrick Archer, who spoke at Southwestern Community College Friday afternoon. Archer contracted HIV while living in his home town of Free Soil, Mich., a town with a population of less than 200. While discussing HIV/AIDS prevention methods and recounting his more than 20-year battle with HIV, Archer stressed there is an inaccurate perception that these diseases are only found in urban areas or on the African continent. “I can guarantee there are cases right here in Creston,” said Archer, while giving the appearance of a perfectly healthy person. “You can’t tell by looking at people.” Listening to Archer’s story and learning about safer sex practices is the key to fighting HIV/AIDS, said Destiny Venard, who hosted the awareness event at SWCC. “People avoid HIV and AIDS discussion because it’s painful and it scares them,” she said, before introducing Archer. “We must educate people of all ages and all backgrounds on AIDS and HIV.” Test results In the mid 1980s, contracting HIV was thought of as a death sentence, Archer said. Archer admitted that, before he became infected with HIV, he knew very little about how it could be contracted. After finding out a recent sexual partner was infected with HIV, Archer knew he had to get tested, which was not an easy task in Free Soil. “When I found out that I had been exposed, that was bad enough,” he said. “In my small town, I couldn’t go to the local health department because my cousin worked at the front desk.” A two-hour drive and $200 testing fee later, Archer received a bit of false hope at a medical clinic in Grand Rapids, Mich. Although his initial test results were negative, Archer quickly learned the disease doesn’t always show up in the human body right away. At the time, doctors believed HIV could take six months to a year to show up on a test, he said. When Archer made the trek to Grand Rapids the following month he was informed of his positive HIV status on no uncertain terms. “This time, the doctor came in with rubber gloves and a mask,” Archer recalled as he said the doctor gave him only a year to live at best. Hostility Archer struggled with how to tell his friends and family he was HIV positive and even contemplated suicide as a way for them to never know. “I was on the highway and I started going about 100 miles an hour and saw a big oak tree and I thought ‘that’s the one,’” he said while describing the thought process he went through while considering several methods of suicide. “I though I’d veer off the road, smash into it, and I’d be dead, and that would be the end of it.” At the time of his diagnosis, Archer had held down a steady job with United Parcel Service for 15 years. Soon after discovering he had HIV, Archer told his coworker and best friend about it in what he thought was total confidence. By the following day, hostility and fear were in the air everywhere Archer went. His coworkers, longtime customers and local law enforcement immediately began to treat Archer like he could infect them with HIV just by breathing the same air as him. He was fired from UPS and refused service at a local grocery store and restaurant because people had become deathly afraid of contracting the disease from Archer. “I received death threats on my answering machine,” he said. Educated support Over the course of nearly two decades since being diagnosed with HIV, Archer has remained in relatively good health. Archer is unique because he has not developed AIDS from having HIV for an extended period of time. Archer is considered a “long-time” survivor of HIV, but has to take a lot of pills every day to keep his disease at bay. Today Archer lives in Redding, Calif., and has dedicated his life to educating as many people as he can about HIV/AIDS. Archer does not believe there will ever be a cure for HIV/AIDS, and said it is up to everyone to become educated on the diseases. He said taking preventative measures before engaging in “risk behaviors” is the responsibility of the individual. “It’s your body,” he said. “It’s your responsibility. You have to protect yourself.” —————— Andy Goodell can be reached at (641) 782-2141 ext. 242 or agoodell@crestonnews.com