February 1999

Fall Board Meeting Covers the Bases

From prevention to HIV surveillance to the NEAC conference in 2000 honoring and building on the 1986 Episcopalian conference that set the pace for all religions in coping with the epidemic, the NEAC Fall Board meeting dealt with major issues facing all AIDS ministries today.

Forward in Faith: Celebrating the Past, Building the Future, the conference set for March 23-25, 2000, will have three tracks: Spirituality/Faith (Richard Younge, facilitator), Prevention (Elizabethe Payne, facilitator), and Social Justice/Ministry (Peter Lee, facilitator). Throughout the program, the emphasis will be on supporting AIDS ministries. Faith-based ministries among other denominations will be among the presentations. The 1997 General Convention concerns about racism, reflected in the work of the Commission on HIV/AIDS, will also be integrated into the program.

NEAC will be asking for sponsorship support for the conference from dioceses and provinces, among others. Any help members can give will be much appreciated.

Sue Scott at her last NEAC board meeting.

Sue Scott at her last NEAC board meeting.

The board also discussed ways to make Teen AIDS Prevention training more accessible to more people. Peer-to-peer training has been found to be one of the more effective methods of getting the

HIV/AIDS prevention message across. Though an interactive CD-ROM version of TAP is likely to be too expensive, NEAC will explore video training. We will also issue a supplement to the curriculum to adapt it for Sunday by Sunday use in shorter sessions, and look into the possibility of a one-day rather than a weekend training. TAP coordinator Elizabethe Payne is also working on a training-the-trainer program.

Many states and the District of Columbia are currently debating the format of HIV surveillance and whether it should include reporting the names of those infected with HIV or use alternative identifiers (codes instead of names). Recognizing the public health importance of surveillance for controlling the spread of HIV and ensuring access to treatment, the NEAC Board adopted a resolution in favor of alternative identifiers (see box below).

The Board also passed a resolution that (1) supports the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act for funding social services as well as medical care and drugs, and (2) adds to the 1999 NEAC goals: “To educate about the need for and to advocate for the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act.”

Among other actions, the Board:

Resolved that the terms on the Board of Bishop Rodney Michel, The Rev. Richard Younge, Bruce Garner, and Mary Ellen Honsaker be co-terminous with their appointments to the HIV/AIDS Commission

Accepted the PlanningWorks proposal for a second year as administrators of NEAC

Scheduled 1999 Board meetings for January 15-17 in Miami, June 4-6 in Seattle, and October 8-10 in Wyoming (pending further research)

Sue Scott expressed her deep personal sadness that she will be unable to continue on the Board beyond her current term. She will remain active as a member and in AIDS ministry with the AIDS Service Center in Pasadena, California.

After hearing discussions by the Georgia Task Force on HIV/AIDS, at its fall meeting the NEAC Board of Directors passed the following resolution:

Be it resolved that:

NEAC calls upon the Episcopal Church in the USA and the national community to pursue justice and respect the dignity of all persons as pledged in the baptismal covenant;

NEAC supports the important role which HIV surveillance can play in the control of HIV and increasing access to increasingly effective medical treatments for persons with HIV;

NEAC encourages the continuance of anonymous test sites as an option within any HIV surveillance system;

NEAC encourages the development and passage of legislation on state and federal levels which will secure effective protection from discrimination for persons with HIV and/or groups perceived to be at increased risk for HIV infection;

NEAC encourages the development and passage of legislation on state and federal levels which will protect the confidentiality of names maintained by state public health departments in states where name reporting is currently practiced;

And until such time as these legal and civil guarantees exist, NEAC encourages the development and implementation of HIV surveillance systems which incorporate the use of alternative identifiers rather than names.