So I decided not to write about the ER yet… got a bigger fish to fry (as my momma would say). A much more serious issue

I am spending the next month on a Women’s Health rotation. I really enjoy working with women (especially younger women). Men are a little more difficult for me, mostly because I get very little practice because most men hate to go to the doctor (please encourage the men in your life to take care of his health… duck tape and ‘tussin will not cure everything)

I spent yesterday in the Women’s HIV clinic. Enlightening to say the least. It’s sad that 25 years after the first cases of HIV, we are still operating on stereotypes and fear. If you are gay.. HIV is for you. If you do drugs.. HIV is for you. HIV is still the “other people’s” disease despite the fact that YOUNG MINORITY women are the fastest growing population contracting HIV.

Let me draw y’all some pictures:
1. Patient A: 27 year old PREGNANT African American woman who has had HIV for the past 5 years. She does not drink, does not smoke, has never used IV drugs. She was in a monogamous relationship for years when she found out as part of her pre-natal screening. She has all of her teeth, she is not skinny… in other words she does not look like “Pookie”.

2. Patient B: 16 year old African American woman who recently found out she has HIV. She too is pregnant. She was raped at age 14 but this does not seem to be the source of her infection. She has engaged in risky sexual behavior possibly as a reaction to her rape. She is a bright, vibrant young woman .. she does not look like “Pookie”

3. Patient C: 68 year old African American woman. The source of her infection is unknown. She is a grandmother living with HIV and raising her children.

I could go on and on and on about the beautiful young women I met in the clinic yesterday. But what I want you to take home from this is that HIV affects women like me, like my sisters, like my mother, like my grandmother. It is not a punishment, it is an INFECTION. Get tested and like we learned from Diva In Demand GO GET THE RESULTS. If you have someone in your life who is affected by this disease (and we probably all do, whether we know it or not), look out for them, encourage them, help to dispel the myths because you can’t look at a person and tell if they have HIV. If you are having sex with someone other than yourself… get regular STD testing (every 6 months) because you never know!