My Father
My father’s role in my formation of my ideas about AIDS is by far the largest and most extensive. Dr. Steven Gordon, my dad, is head of the department of Infectious Disease at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and has been working there since I was six. My dad never plagued me with statistics and rates about AIDS, but his presence and the ideas he stands for are forever engraved in my mind. His discussions with me on HIV/AIDS focused on prevention and, most importantly not to fear or judge those infected.
There is one event in particular that I will never forget. In eighth grade my dad brought home a package; he said it was from a beautiful, successful young lady, someone he knows I would become. I took out the small package of shower gel and unique soaps and didn’t notice the extensive letter enclosed until it dropped to the floor. I picked it up, all six pages, and began to read. Her name was Gina; her flawless handwriting reflected the letter’s cheerful and upbeat tone. She described her experiences in high school. Gina led a normal life, went to college and encountered her first lover: a beautiful guy with a kind smile. They went their separate ways and she found the man of her dreams, settled down, and had a family. It was only when Gina decided to train for nursing school that her world changed. She underwent numerous tests and background checks. The next week, she was called into an office and told that he had AIDS. This kind, beautiful, exceptionally bright women who had slept with three men in her entire life was infected with one of the most dangerous viruses known to man. What about her kids? Her husband? Did they have it too? As it turned out, she was the only one in her family who contracted the disease. She had gotten it from her first love, who happened to be bisexual (although she was unaware). The message of this letter will remain with me forever. The concept that anyone can contract a disease and that everyone is at risk is something that should not be ignored.
Representing twenty percent of all new cases in the U.S., women are the fastest growing of those infected with HIV/AIDS, according to an article in Cleveland’s Plain Dealer (1). In this article, titled The Changing Face of AIDS: More and More, those infected are Black, Female and Mothers, was published in 1997 and was featured on the front page of the Women’s section. My father included the article in a presentation I saw at age ten. It was the first time I heard him give a speech. We were at a black church on the West side of Cleveland and my dad was addressing a congregation on the risks of HIV/AIDS. This article was featured on one of the slides and from it I learned that AIDS is the third leading cause of death in white women and the leading cause of death in black women (1). I have always been aware that women are just as, if not more susceptible, if not more to being victims of STD’s than males. My dad never avoided reminding me of this, especially in my later years of adolescence. He emphasized the growing rates of AIDS in women, especially since many of his newer cases were female.
According to a study by the Center for Disease control in 2000, 25% of Clevelanders infected with HIV/AIDS are women, which is 4% higher than the percentage of people infected in Ohio who are women (7). When I was asked to give the percent infected with HIV/AIDS that were women, guessing 35%, I was 10% high. When considering gender, I am aware of the general layout of HIV/AIDS in the city of Cleveland, but the extra ten percent I believe was a push from the influence of my father, his presentation, and the letter I received from Gina. It is evident that the letter and my dad’s advice had a clear impact on my estimate, but my father’s influence does not end there.
Another contribution my dad made to my awareness about AIDS was participating with me in the Cleveland AIDS walk every year since about age nine. The 5 km Cleveland AIDS walk is a fundraiser usually held in late September (2) that raises money to help fund education, counseling and HIV/AIDS care services run by organizations such as the Free Clinic for Greater Cleveland. The walk itself is named for Dr. John Carey, who died in 1995 and was a medical director at University Hospital and cared for hundreds of HIV patients (6). In my first few years of walking, I was more concerned about the red balloon and free candy at the end of the race than the movement itself. However, by my last races I realized the importance of raising awareness about AIDS and that yet again anyone was at risk. The participants were from a variety of different economic and cultural backgrounds. I thought percent of people infected with HIV/AIDS in Cleveland who were white was a higher number then the actual amount.
Because the impression that everyone is at risk has been cemented in my mind, I thought that the rates of AIDS infection were evenly distributed across all races. With my guess of 20% that of those infected with HIV/AIDS were White, I was just under five percent of the correct 24% (7). Even though I was close I thought that since the black population had a lower rate then it actually did. I was even more surprised at the rate of those infected with HIV/AIDS per 100,000 when comparing Cleveland the U.S. The black rate in Cleveland is 590.72 per 100,000 where as the overall U.S. rate is 1,436 per 100,000. The white rate is significantly lower for the U.S. (217.441 per 100,000) when compared to Cleveland (302.25 per 100,000) (7). My approximation was close but I was still astounded at the discrepancy between the statistics of Cleveland and those of the U.S.
