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Teens Spread HIV Message: Get Tested
by Melinda Tuhus | Aug 9, 2010 12:10 pm
(1) Comment | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author
Posted to: Health Care
Vincenza Brantle thought the only worry in having unprotected sex was pregnancy. Now she knows better.
Brantle (pictured) was one of two dozen teens in the city summer-job Youth@Work program who were assigned to AIDS Interfaith Network . The students have been educating other teens about sexually transmitted diseases and urging them to get tested. She and several other teens presented a skit they developed at a community celebration on Whalley Avenue Sunday afternoon.
The teens also developed a PowerPoint presentation and a rap they presented to other teens about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. And the need—in descending order of protection—for abstinence, safer sex, or being tested to prevent passing on any STDs to their partners.
Brantle, a rising sophomore at Career High School, said she learned a lot in five weeks. “I thought HIV and AIDS were the same thing. I found out that AIDS is the last stage of HIV, so if you don’t treat HIV, that’s what happens.”
She also learned a lot about chlamydia, herpes, genital warts and more. When they presented to middle school and high school audiences, not everyone was receptive, but those who were wanted to know how to protect themselves, she said. “Abstinence probably is the safest way.”.
The skit delved into the problems that result from unsanitary tattoo parlors and unprotected sex. The surprise ending had audience members gasping and laughing in appreciation. Brantle said learning about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) has made her “real hesitant” to have sex.
The party featured dozens of kids and adults jamming along with Michael Mills and Drums No Guns. It was cosponsored by AIDS Interfaith Network and the two side-by-side businesses in whose parking lot it took place: Headz Up barber shop and Tatted Up tattoo parlor. Both offer free condoms to their clients (at least one basket held female as well as male condoms) and promote behavior in other ways urging young people to take responsibility for their actions.
Barber shop owner Greg “Chanz” Simpkins (pictured) said the party was a delayed grand opening for him and a way to give back to the community for support his business, which he promotes as a “family friendly” place. (“No profanity please” signs are posted on the walls.) “We want to get these young kids educated and let them know it’s [AIDS] real, it’s still here and we need to know how to protect ourselves and how to get tested,” he said.
Jonrique Mullings Rivera moved from Waterbury and opened his Tatted Up parlor eight months ago. (He designed the more than 100 tattoos covering his body.) Unlike the tattoo parlor depicted in the skit—where dirty needles transmitted HIV, just like dirty hypodermic needles used for shooting up drugs can transmit the virus—at his parlor, he said, “I use disposables, so everything is brand new” and not used on more than one client, even though some parlors sterilize and reuse their equipment. He also shared some data about tattooing: His clients include people of all races and backgrounds, from neighborhood residents to college students; many are over 50; and the majority are women.
Bonnye Cofield (pictured), executive director of AIDS Interfaith (and daughter of co-founder and president Elsie Cofield), said the young people connected with their peers. She said they’ll be coming back in the fall to work with Michael Mills on videotaping an “infomercial” using the resources they developed over the summer, and they’ll also develop a “training the trainers” module, working with more young people to extend the outreach.
It’s needed, she said, because 13- to 24-year-olds are among those contracting HIV at the fastest rate. For those in the 30-39-year-old and 40-49-year-old demographics, rates are dropping, while they’re up for those 50-59.
The teens wore T-shirts with the slogan they created, “Divided by race, united to be safe.” That was a reference to the fact that African Americans suffer the highest proportion of HIV infections; they are 50 percent of cases in New Haven, while constituting just 37 percent of the population. But they made presentations to all kinds of kids, Brantle noted, because, in a real sense, “AIDS doesn’t discriminate.”
The Obama administration last month released its national HIV/AIDSstrategy, which, among others things, calls for “reducing HIV-related health disparities.” http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/onap/nhas
