July 2003

Patricia Swett, a Winner on All Counts

At its conferences, NEAC honors those who embody the spirit of NEAC’s vision: to educate others about HIV/AIDS; to advocate for the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of all people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS; and to promote pastoral care for all persons affected by HIV/AIDS. Pat Swett won the individual award in 2002.

Pat Swett came to AIDS ministry the hard way: In 1987 one of her four sons, David, tested positive for HIV, who has since died of AIDS. The journey together became a learning experience for the whole family.

Pat joined a support group at the VA hospital for those affected and infected with AIDS. She also joined a support group sponsored by her church, Holy Trinity Episcopal, in Gainesville. Soon, in 1991, young men who like her son were HIV positive asked her and two other mothers to start a drop-in center, which became the Gainesville Area AIDS Project (GAAP). The church gave them rent money to get started; though the need to raise money has always been there, GAAP is still going strong more than 10 years later.

In Gainesville, there is a large state prison. A group of prisoners with AIDS saw an article about GAAP and mothers who had children with AIDS, and asked that the Mothers of GAAP visit them in the prison. With that invitation, gaap took its AIDS ministry into the prison, where the administration was welcoming.

Pat spent five years as a volunteer with the University of Florida’s Shands Memorial Hospital Pediatric Department, which drew children with HIV/AIDS from almost everywhere in Florida, working with AIDS patients and their parents. She looked for other ways to be useful; after the Swetts moved to Ft. Myers in 1997, she and Father John Adler went to the Muslim community, with the help of a friendly imam who met with them and three other traditional preachers. In the prison she spoke with about 50 young people. A number of them did sign up to be tested. “As a mother,” Pat said, “I can bring a special point of view.”

In Ft. Myers, Pat promptly volunteered with the Lee County AIDS Task Force. The area, which has a more conservative cast, is not as welcoming to her mission as Gainesville was. For instance, she has only been able to speak once to inmates of the Sheriff’s Stockade about being tested for HIV. “There were four Baptist preachers listening to my talk, and my tongue carried me away,” she said. “I said, “For God’s sake, please use condoms if you have sex.” I knew I had cut my own throat and sure enough they never would answer a call from me again.”

Nominated for the NEAC Award by the Rev. Valerie Thomas, with whom she worked at Shands, Pat repeatedly downplays her own role. “I just go where I’m asked, and where people want to hear,” she said. “To begin with, I was really trying to help myself.”

“People here are working many, many hours on this virus, but it still is the silent killer here, for it is not spoken of in public areas,” she added.

“All in all, my life has been most interesting,” Pat said. “I could never have imagined doing the thing I have joined in. I thank God for everything he has given me. I now realize what a lesson it was. When you stand up for someone, you get courage.”