Community comes together for World AIDS Day events

 By Jessica Williams / Times-News

Nov 28, 2016 

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Thursday marks World AIDS Day, and multiple Alamance organizations have partnered to host free testing, a dinner and speakers at Elon University.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Alamance Cares, in collaboration with the Red Ribbon Society of Burlington, will conduct free HIV and Hepatitis C testing at Moseley Center.

Billy Willis, founder and president of the Red Ribbon Society, says there’s been a big push to have baby boomers — those born from 1946 to 1964 — tested for Hepatitis C since they’re five times as likely to contract the disease than other adults.

The cause of the high rate of infection in that age group isn’t clear, but it’s believed that many boomers contracted Hepatitis C from the 1960s to the 1980s, when transmission was at its peak, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

No registration is required for testing. For those waiting in line, there will be information booths where students, staff and members of the community can learn about AIDS and prevention methods.

There will also be an AIDS quilt for people to sign with a fabric pen. Jason Greene, program director for Alamance Cares, says the quilt will be a dedication to fallen loved ones, and will offer support to those still fighting. Alamance Cares will keep the quilt afterward to use for future events.

AFTER TESTING, Alamance Pride and the Elon Gender and LGBTQIA Center are hosting a free dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the Moseley Center.

At 6 p.m., Burlington Mayor Ian Baltutis will lead a series of speakers that will include Carolyn McAllaster, a clinical law professor at Duke University and director of the HIV/AIDS Policy Clinic. She will speak about HIV and surrounding legal issues. Alamance NAACP President Barrett Brown also will speak. There will also be prize giveaways.

Willis says educating the community is an important part of prevention and awareness, especially in the South.

“North Carolina and the South in particular have the highest rates [of HIV] in the country, and I’m personally HIV positive, and before I was HIV positive, no one talked to me about it, so I think it’s important that people be informed. … HIV really affects a lot of younger people these days. I think 13 to 25 [has the highest] rate of new infections, but by 2020, 50 percent or more will be 50 or older, also, so the AIDS population is aging instead of dying younger like it used to be,” he said.

Alamance Cares conducts free HIV testing in the community and at Elon and Alamance Community College. The office is at 3025 S. Church St., Burlington.

The Red Ribbon Society of Burlington aims to provide a safe environment for HIV/AIDS-affected persons by combating the stigma through knowledge and promoting safer sexual practices.

To learn more about HIV and AIDS, visit https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/.

Reporter Jessica Williams can be reached at jessica.williams@thetimesnews.com or at 336-506-3046. Follow her on Twitter at @jessicawtn.

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