 |
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
|
||||
|
|
On the first day of class, I was asked to answer questions about the area in which we live. These questions were design for us to guess the number of AIDS cases in our hometown. My three questions were: how many cumulative AIDS cases have been reported for Trenton; how many cumulative AIDS cases have been reported for Princeton; and what percent of cases reported for Mercer County are female. I guessed that there were 800 cumulative AIDS cases in Trenton; Princeton had 100 cumulative AIDS cases and 30 percent of cases reported for Mercer County are female. I guessed these numbers because Trenton is a very urban city and AIDS is not really talked about. It seems to be a topic that is swept under the rug. When this subject comes up it normally deals with the state of New Jersey as a whole. I thought Princeton would have a number in the middle because it is very upscale with a lot of wealthy families and because there is an Ivy League college right in the heart of the town. My numbers were off completely except for the percent of female cases in Mercer County. The correct answers are: Trenton has 1251 cumulative AIDS cases; Princeton has 59 cumulative AIDS cases and 33 percent of the cases in Mercer County are female. These numbers took me by surprise because Trenton is not that big. After doing some research that I realized that Trenton has a population of 85, 403 people. This means that Trenton has a rate of 1464.8 AIDS cases per 100,000. Trenton is four times the national average of 339.7 cases per 100,000. I believe that Trenton has an AIDS problem.
I have heard about AIDS for as long as I can remember. My mother always told me that if someone is bleeding do not touch their blood you could catch AIDS. It was not until I was in the eighth grade that I truly understood what was meant by Acquired Immunodeficiency Virus. At that time I was very active in my church youth group. Every Sunday evening there was some type of activity plan so that the youth of the church could fellowship together. One this particular Sunday night, it was movie night. We watched the “Ryan White Story”. It was a very interesting movie and it was the first time that I had ever really learned about the virus. When I got home, that night, I told my mother about the movie. After I told her what it was about, I could sense that she was a little upset. I guess she thought I was too young to learn about such a deadly virus. As time went on I slowly learned more and more about the virus through television and the daily news. As I entered high school, AIDS was never discussed in my health class.
I attended a college preparatory school in Princeton, New Jersey. Most of the children who attend are from well to do families. My school had no gym classes because everyone was required to do some extracurricular activity whether it is a sport or the school play. Additionally, my school required everyone to take a health class every year for one marking period. Freshman year health class discussed sexual education; however, the teacher was the athletic trainer, who was young and figured that we all knew about the “birds and the bees” so he saw no reason to teach it. They only thing he said to us was if you are going to have sex, which I urge you not to do, make sure that you use protection. So it was basically another free period fit into our schedule. Sophomore year health class discussed driver’s education. Junior year health class was about different diseases and their effects on the human body. Everyone in the class was assigned a disease like cancer or Parkinson’s. No one was given AIDS because the teacher felt that everyone knew about it. Senior year health class was about CPR and First Aid certification. I think if I was to ask my teacher where should I go to get tested they would probably tell me to go to either planned parenthood or High-Tops, both our which are close to the school. I do not even remember my high school having an AIDS assembly; however there was an assembly on organ donating. My mother works in the healthcare field. She was assistant administrator for a few private nursing homes in New Jersey. Currently she works as a healthcare consultant for the state of New Jersey. My Godmother works in the HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) of the Health Resources and Services Administration. She works with grant money given to the State of New Jersey by the federal government. The money goes to research and helping people already living with the virus. My father is the youngest of seven children, five boys and two girls. Both of my aunts died within a three year span of each other. One of my aunts died of kidney failure and the other died because she had the AIDS virus. My Aunt Rita died when I was three years old. She left behind two sons that my grandmother raised as her own children. I do not remember my aunt. I am told that she was a very kind and loving lady. She was infected by sharing needles. My father never told me about it. My mother said it was because he felt as though I was too young too understand. It was not until recently that I found out what happened to them. I found out because I asked. I think that if I did not ask I still to this day would not know about their deaths.
|
