March 2005

NO/AIDS Fights the Disease in Louisiana

by Brother Robert L’Esperance

New Orleans is a city of strong contrasts and contradictions. There is New Orleans steeped in the tradition of the Old South: staid neighborhoods with palmetto-shaded homes complete with large wrap-around porches. In contrast to so much of the South, New Orleans reflects the pervasive French ethnic culture of its original settlers and their Acadian cousins; it is a Southern stronghold of traditional Catholic culture and faith.

There is also the New Orleans of the French Quarter, where Mardi Gras revelers mix alcohol (and drugs?) in a sexualized atmosphere seemingly intent on pushing the limits. New Orleans, not surprisingly, is also the center of the AIDS epidemic in Louisiana.

NO/AIDS facility photo

(l to r) Kreshawn Williams, data coordinator, and Alfred Hill, chef, No AIDS Food for Friends with NEAC Board member Lyn Headley-Deavours and Sherry Denton, member of the Standing Committee on HIV/AIDS.

The NEAC Board makes site visits to local AIDS-related organizations whenever it gathers for meetings. During their January meetings in New Orleans, board members, joined by members of the Standing Committee on HIV, visited the NO/AIDS Task Force. NO/AIDS Task Force Executive Director Noel Twilbeck was joined by Enrico Morosco, director of operations, and Brian Shur, director of peer support, in explaining how this AIDS service organization has been fighting the spread and effects of HIV for the past 21 years. Operating from six different locations with a staff of 65 and close to 1,000 volunteers, the Task Force operates a variety of services: HIV counseling and testing, primary medical care, including early intervention services, case management, mental health services, home delivery, food pantry, medication support, peer support, housing assistance, prevention education, volunteer training, and support groups for some of the estimated 3,000 persons living with AIDS in New Orleans. The agency also operates a statewide HIV/AIDS hotline. The board also toured the agency’s food pantry and meal preparation center, which serves over 58,000 meals each year to persons with HIV disease.

Twilbeck said that Louisiana, like so many other parts of the country, is seeing HIV rates rising especially among women of color and men who have sex with men. Statewide an estimated 24,000 persons are infected with HIV, about 12,000 of them in New Orleans. He said that fully 47 percent of Louisiana cases receive no care. Because of the number of cases, New Orleans has qualified for Title I grants under the Ryan White Care Act. This year NO/AIDS will spend about $4.5 million to provide care for infected persons and to continue the fight to prevent others from becoming infected. Rural Louisiana, which is also served by the NO/AIDS Task Force, receives little or no funding. Louisiana state funding is limited to the matching funds required for state participation in the ADAP program.

A tradition of conservatism in both religion and politics adds to the many challenges faced by NO/AIDS. The Catholic Church still strongly opposes condom distribution as a means of preventing sexually transmitted diseases. Louisiana law forbids discussion of condoms or their distribution to students although it is readily acknowledged that many students are sexually active. Not surprisingly, HIV carries a particularly heavy burden of social isolation, marginalization, shame, and lack of understanding.