30 Years After First AIDS Cases, Hope Survives Dateline: June 5th, 2011 Location: New York, NY [Intro] First mentioned in a medical journal on June 5th, 1981, the HIV virus that causes AIDS was originally shrouded in mystery. Today, due to advances in retroviral drugs, HIV is a manageable chronic disease, albeit one without a cure. The AIDS Service Center (ASC) helps New York City's most vulnerable individuals and families to survive and thrive in the face of HIV/AIDS. [Voiceover] Today is a big day for Belinda and Terriell. [Voiceover] They are graduating from a specialized community outreach program here in New York City, and they both have the rest of their lives ahead of them. [Voiceover] There's only one problem. [soundbite Belinda] I was diagnosed in 2002 as HIV positive. I no longer have an HIV diagnosis, now I'm diagnosed with AIDS. [soundbite Terriell] I was diagnosed in 2002, I know exactly who I got it from, the person I was dating was infected and didn't tell me. [Voiceover] When HIV first appeared, many patients were shunned by friends and relatives. Customers avoided restaurants for fear that waiters would spread the virus. Parents kept their children out of school. [soundbite Terriell] It was a death sentence, and you were almost like a leper if you were diagnosed with the disease. [Voiceover] Thirty years later, someone who has already been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, can be an important source of inspiration for those just beginning to deal with their HIV status. The AIDS Service Center's Peer Recovery Education Program, or PREP, provides intensive training, including counseling, education, and crisis intervention to HIV-positive people. [soundbite Belinda] You can't even imagine how it was for me. At first I've never even been to a doctor more than once every five years, but I go once every three months now. It was hard for me. But I find it easier now because I want to live. I want to be able to help someone else. This is what PREP has prepared me fore. [Voiceover] Both Belinda and Terriell are PREP candidates. Previously, Belinda was an exotic dancer with a violent past. Terriell is a convicted felon, who went on a crime spree, when he first learned that he was HIV positive. Participating in the program has changed their lives for the better. [soundbite Belinda] I was an exotic dancer when I was 16. My household was very abusive and I had to leave my mother's house or I die. When I first got here, I learned to look at myself in a completely different way. There are also other that allow me to look at myself as a different type of woman than when I'm used to treating myself. [soundbite Terriell] The biggest thing is that I have a history of incarceration, I've been to prison before. I really felt like a second-class citizen. I felt like no matter how hard I try or what my work ethics were, no one will ever give me another opportunity. And PREP has taught me that you will have that opportunity, and you will be able to go out and show others from your mistakes and how you progress into the person you're today. [Voiceover] Upon successful completion of a ten-week PREP training course, they'll be able to perform various educational outreach activities, all of which will empower people in similar situations to take back control over their lives. Many graduates of PREP go on to become community leaders in the fight against AIDS. [soundbite Terriell] My hope is that by sharing my mistakes with someone else, it will prevent another person from making them. [soundbite Belinda] Life is an awesome thing. I want to help somebody else that has gone through, or is going through, about to go through, or at risk of embarking on this. This is not a pleasant adventure. [Voiceover] To date, the impact of PREP has been substantial. More than 1,800 clients come to AIDS Service Center for services each year; another 18,000 people are reached through peer education and community outreach initiatives. 　　 [Voiceover] Still, more than 60 million deaths and three decades later, people like Belinda and Terreill, working through organizations like ASC, are often still the only thing standing in between a potential victim and the scourge of HIV/AIDS. [soundbite Terriell] Even though today society is a lot more tolerant of it, there is still a long way to go. People need to continue to be educated, and since there is no cure for the actual virus as of yet, to be able to prevent anyone else from getting it means it that it will eventually die out.

• published: 02 Jun 2014
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