Pam's House Blend: South Carolina Says Zero For HIV/AIDS Funding

 Up to her usual excellent reporting, Pam Spaulding reveals that ever 'enlightened' House of Representatives of South Carolina has just cut off all funds for HIV/AIDS within its state borders. Folks, that means people will HIV/AIDS will get zip - zero - nada for treatment and care. This action is just astounding when you consider that South Carolina ranks 8th in newly diagnosed HIV cases in the nation! Makes you wonder if government can get any worse.

According to the article in Pams House Blend, there are 14,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in South Carolina and 22% of them depend on state funding for meds. Of course, the state that takes great pride in upholding the morals of their citizens,especially when it comes to homosexuality, seems to have no compassion for the sick and the poor.

Pam writes,

Let's be honest here. The elimination of HIV funding is the culmination of piss poor management by South Carolina's governing body. And worse, it shows where the state's priorities are. It's an ugly indictment on the hypocrisy of the supposed Bible belt region.

It is written that Jesus healed the sick, but I guess things have changed to the point that those who claim to be his followers have no problems with ignoring the sick.

Impressions ......by David Mixner

-Fell in love with Pink's high wire act at the Grammys this year. Have to say the first half of the program really knocked my socks off. Bravo to the producers.

-Hard to believe that in the President's new budget well over $192 billion will be alloted for Iraq and Afghanistan (including money for the surge) while only $100 billion has been budgeted to create jobs for millions and millions of unemployed Americans. As we used to say back home, "That just ain't right!"

-Alan Cumming celebrated his 45th birthday doing what he does best: helping others. Alan had people contribute to the American Red Cross for Haitian relief in honor of his birthday. Rumor has it that there was a wicked Tupperware party at his home with his partner artist Grant Schaffer.

-The Daily Kos poll in New York has incumbent Senator Kirsten Gillibrand leading former Congressman Harold Ford in the primary by 41% to 27%. Wonder how those Wall Street bonuses that Ford received will help finance his race? Did they use Tarp funds to pay him?

The New York Senator got a major boost when Empire State Pride Agenda's CoChair, Frank Selvaggi, gave Gillibrand his personal endorsement this past weekend. He joins almost every openly gay and lesbian elected official who endorsed her on Friday.

-Continuing with Gillibrand, she guested on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC program last night, charming and poised and forceful, talking about her personal drive for repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and the debate in Washington beginning today on the merits (and staggering lack thereof) of this horrific policy that has discharged over 13,000 imminently qualified gays and lesbians since 1993. As we all await with great anticipation the Defense Department's announcement,the Williams Institute estimates that there are 66,000 members of the gay, lesbian and bisexual community serving today in the United States Armed Forces. Since passing, DADT has cost the taxpayers up to a half a billion dollars.

-Building up to the announcement about DADT today, there have been a number of good pieces including Nathaniel Franks of the Palm Center calling the policy a "colossal failure." Also Jake Reitan wrote a stirring piece for The Huffington Post entitled "Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell This Year." Check them out.

-What were the worst movies of last year? Hollywood's "Razzies" came out which anoint the 'Worst Movie of the Year.' This year's collection of celluloid shame includes TRANSFORMERS 2, G.I.JOE, LAND OF THE LOST and ALL ABOUT STEVE. Measure them against the Oscar nominations which were to be announced early today.

-Speaking of lists, GQ magazine published their annual "Most Stylist Men" edition for this year singling out such dapper dressers as Anderson Cooper, Johnny Depp, David Beckham, Daniel Day-Lewis and Brad Pitt. A fine list, but where was Matt Lauer who is perfectly dressed everyday?

-Iceland has claimed the title of the best environmental nation in the world. The United States is 67th after dropping almost twenty positions from last year.

-Hard to believe we are already chatting about hurricane season! However, the forecasters are saying that El Nino is expected to decrease by summer and that means a major hurricane season. According to the Colorado State forecasters, the names used could go all the way to P for Paula.

-Smooth jazz legend Dave Koz was a judge at this past weekend's "Miss America" pageant. Lucky Dave got to spend an entire week with another judge...Rush Limbaugh!

-Kate Michelman with Frances Kissling penned "What Tim Tebow's Super Bowl Ad Can Teach Us" for The Washington Post. They wrote:

"So here's our Super Bowl strategy for the choice movement. We'd go with a 30-second spot, too. The camera focuses on one woman after another, posed in the situations of daily life: rushing out the door in the morning for work, flipping through a magazine, washing dishes, teaching a class of sixth-graders, wheeling a baby stroller. Each woman looks calmly into the camera and describes her different and successful choice: having a baby and giving it up for adoption, having an abortion, having a baby and raising it lovingly. Each one being clear that making choices isn't easy, but that life without tough choices doesn't exist. "

-Richard Branson is once again on the cutting edge and this time not in space but in the deep blue sea. Luxist.com reports that the entrepreneur as created a new submarine! This modern day Jules Verne "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" contraction is available on Branson's "Necker Island" for $25,000 a week.

-Author Larry Kramer has sent out an important email asking his friends to support the Gheskio Clinic in Haiti which does outstanding work in HIV/AIDS. You can make your donation by clicking here.

-Openly gay candidate Steve Pougnet held a very successful fundraiser at the ever so hot Ace Hotel in downtown Manhattan. Mayor Pougnet of Palm Springs, CA is challenging Republican incumbent Mary Bono for Congress. If you haven't seen the Ace Hotel's happening bar and restaurant you have missed a real event.

-Dare we hope? Researchers are claiming a major breakthrough in the battle against HIV/AIDS. See the Reuters article to get the entire story.

-Life continues to get harder for Florida Governor Charlie 'is he or isn't he' Crist. The moderate Republican governor is facing a hard tea party right wing challenge from former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio for United States Senate Crist is now behind Rubio by 12% according the new Rasmussen Reports Poll.

- Speaking of Florida, a majority of its citizens don't want more refugees coming to their shores by 55% to 43% according to the Quinnipiac University poll.

-Just when you thought the rich couldn't be any more obscene, along comes the world's largest yacht which is being designed by Emocean Yacht Design. At 656 feet it surpasses the current record holder of 541 feet called the Eclipse. Here is how Luxist.com describes the yacht:

"The monstrous but attractively styled vessel features a drive-in garage, two 98-foot day boats, helipad and hanger, a 100-ft. swimming pool, nightclub, casino, games room, two-level cinema, three beach clubs, a health spa, and 10 VIP rooms, 22 guest suites and a private owners deck accommodating a total of 45 passengers, along with 70 crew. Even at that size she'll be impressively fast, with a planned maximum speed of 28 knots, a cruising speed of 20 knots and a range of 6,500 nautical miles at cruising speed. No price has been mentioned yet but expect it to clock in at well over $500 million."

Obama's AIDS Program Grave Disappointment

When President Obama campaigned for the Presidency he pledged to increasing PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) by over one billion dollars. He pledged to end the social politics that have haunted effective prevention, treatment and care around the issue of HIV/AIDS including such 'hot button' items as needle exchange, condom distribution, sex workers and other issues. Now it seems none of these efforts will become a reality soon in his presidency.

In a very disturbing article in The New York Times on Wednesday, it was revealed that the funding increase was much less than than pledged - in fact, $835 million less. The number of people who will receive promising antiretrovirals will drop by almost 180,000 a year with over a 30% decrease in assistance! Obama will be getting drugs to less people than in President Bush's last years in office! As the Times said,

"Right now, the problem is outrunning the solution; globally, for every two people put on treatment each year, five are newly infected."

Now the rational for this dramatic decrease is that important funds are needed elsewhere in the battle for a healthy environment for others around the world. My reaction is that the reduction could most likely be made up in one month of the war in Afghanistan! So as we pour troops into yet one more war, we are again asking patient groups and medical teams to compete against one and another for funds.

Even more disturbing in The New York Times article is what the Obama team HIV/AIDS plan refused to deal with:

"It is nearly silent on several controversial issues: how much Pepfar will emphasize abstinence, whether and how it will get condoms to patients of the many missionary hospitals that refuse to issue them, whether it will support women’s health clinics that also do abortions, whether it will support giving clean needles or methadone to drug addicts, whether it will require groups working with prostitutes to oppose prostitution, and whether it will cut off countries that criminalize homosexual sex."

You can read into that last line the continued silence by the Administration on the situation in Uganda. Will the disappointments ever end with this team?

World AIDS Day: Steven Guy Reports from Africa

This World AIDS Day has taken on a new meaning after spending my year in Cape Town working with mothers2mothers. This astonishing organization which supports and integrates women living with HIV is at the frontlines fighting this scourge. I merely support their work, and I work for them.

Every day they are meeting women who have just received information that is beyond life altering. Try to imagine the feeling of going in for pre-natal care with the suspicion that you are pregnant and also be told that you are HIV-positive.

New clients arrive at our door confused, scared, and vulnerable---with a million questions swirling around their heads. Am I going to die? Will my child die? Did my partner give this to me? Will I be ostracized from my community? How will I live? How will I go on?

To meet another mother who can simply say “I’m HIV-positive, I am healthy, my child is negative and we are going to get through this. Please come in” is a powerful and magic interaction that begins a new life.

For people to believe the fight against HIV is over is wrong. Here, it has only just begun.

Treatments are available and distributed but moving a person from a diagnosis to a pill requires much more space than allowed on a medicine bottle. To effectively treat our clients requires dialogue, communication and trust. Every year 1 million people globally go on treatment, but another 2 million die from AIDS. There’s no way to “treat” ourselves out of this disease. We must prevent new infections at every step. And a newborn child is a great start.

Further compounding issues in resource poor countries is the fact that the incredibly overburdened healthcare system cannot cope with treatment demands. Today the WHO released guidelines stating the appropriate time to put people on ARV treatment is earlier than at present. People with CD4 counts of 350 will now be instructed to start medications for life, up from 250 in the past. What does this mean? There are even more people to reach for treatment and integrate into the system, that is already under delivering on previous guidelines.

To reach these standards requires us to mobilize in ways we never thought possible. Using innovative thinking to prevent every new infection and also to connect in a meaningful way with those already infected is truly the only way we will see our way out.

mothers2mothers is focused on reaching the 1.4 million women living with HIV who will give birth in a year.  Through mother-to-child transmission of HIV, 340,000 new infections occur every year and 91% are based in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly all of these incidences can be reduced to less than 2% as it has in the US and Europe by simple doses of medications and proper feeding and education. The resources are available but the resource mobilization and effective implementation are what is missing. And this is where mothers2mothers comes in.

The program is simple and replicable. At the frontline of care, mothers2mothers has organized, trained, employed and integrated an amazing workforce of over 1500 women living with HIV, into the health care system to deliver life-saving education and support. There, daily work for everyone involved becomes not only life-saving but life-changing.

The women simply come and gather in a place where they meet other HIV-positive mothers and mothers-to-be. They talk about disclosure techniques, treatment options, exclusive feeding methods, safer sex practices, healthy living and through this empowerment learn how to live a life of positive living.

It’s no secret that to save a mother is to save a family. Giving a place to replenish and learn allows these women to navigate the daunting gauntlet of their diagnosises. Imagine the joy and fulfillment of giving birth to an HIV-negative child. This is the magic that creates a ripple effect of change. A mother is bolstered to maintain her health so she can raise her family. She is sustained by a newfound belief that she can dream again, and give guidance to ensure her child stays healthy for life.

Every mother dreams of a better life for her child and its no different here in Africa. Finding a dream again of hope and moving on is what makes these women different. Courage through adversity, fierce determination to create a better world for their child and themselves and collective perseverance to find a place again in a world that has written them off.

I proudly work for these women. If they have taught me anything it is that any problem, no matter how huge, can be solved when we reach out to someone. The trick is finding the right place to reach out, and in mothers2mothers our clients have found a place to create their new life amongst a sisterhood of mothers.

This WORLD AIDS DAY, I will remember the 21 million who have died from this disease, I will salute the 33 million living with HIV. I will take hope in the 300,000 clients enrolled this year at mothers2mothers who have met our Mentor Mothers and together are creating a better life for themselves and their child.

I will remember my friends who are no longer here. And in their memory, I have hope for the women of Africa.

Bring Needle Exchange Front and Center

In a 'must read' article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, writer Tina Rosenberg brings the urgency of passing substantive needle exchange legislation home. In "The Needle Nexus" Rosenberg vividly reminds us that President Obama still has not taken leadership on this life and death issue. She illustrates the lack of political will in America to provide needle exchange:

"All over the world, however, solid evidence in support of needle exchange is trumped by its risky politics. Harm reduction is thought by politicians to muddy the message that drug use is bad; to have authorities handing out needles puts an official stamp of approval on dangerous behavior. Consider the United States. In 1988, Congress passed a ban on the use of federal money for needle exchange; President Clinton said he supported needle exchange but never lifted the ban, and it remains in effect. It not only applies to programs inside the United States but also prohibits the U.S. Agency for International Development from financing needle-exchange programs in its AIDS prevention work anywhere in the world. The administration of George W. Bush made the policy more aggressive, pressuring United Nations agencies to retract their support for needle exchange and excise statements about its efficacy from their literature. (Today, U.N. agencies again recommend that needle exchange be part of H.I.V.-prevention services for drug users.) Despite Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to overturn the ban, his first budget retained it. The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would lift the ban — but it includes a provision that would make using federal money for needle exchange virtually impossible in cities"

This lack of will stubbornly remains despite evidence that needle exchange works:

"Needle exchange is AIDS prevention that works. While no one wants to have to put on a condom, every drug user prefers injecting with a clean needle. In 2003, an academic review of 99 cities around the world found that cities with needle exchange saw their H.I.V. rates among injecting drug users drop 19 percent a year; cities without needle exchange had an 8 percent increase per year. Contrary to popular fears, needle exchange has not led to more drug use or higher crime rates. Studies have also found that drug addicts participating in needle ­exchanges are more likely to enter rehabilitation programs. Using needle exchange as part of a comprehensive attack on H.I.V. is endorsed by virtually every relevant United Nations and United States-government agency. "

This excerpt is just the tip of the iceberg of Rosenberg's argument. She presents a detailed look at needle exchange around the globe and the urgency to change our policies both domestically and in our foreign policy. Take some time and read her article today.

Freedom and The Arts

Without fail, every epic struggle for freedom and justice has inspired our writers, actors, artists and poets. With great passion, they have reached into their own souls and discovered the power to express the most abstract question of freedom. Sometimes they have become historians tracing the long journey of suffering. Other times they have created enticing visions of how a future can appear without shackles.

With the battle for LGBT freedom at full speed, more than ever we need those in the arts to step forward to create, teach and record. The LGBT community especially is begging to hear of its journey having lost so much of our history because thousands of their story tellers have died of HIV/AIDS. Often upon their death, their families systematically destroyed any trace of their existence as members of the LGBT community. While we can never recover that enormous loss of stories, papers, photographs and records, we can recreate historical moments like the filmmakers, especially director Gus Van Sant, who made the brilliant and moving film, "Milk." Never have I seen an artistic expression of a man's life create so much passion and action.

Straight or gay, we need our artists, writers, poets and actors to come to the fore and provide hope for those in forgotten places. They need to recreate our history before it is lost to the ages. They need to paint, write and act out our epic battle so they can educate this nation. Their presence at our rallies and by our side in the struggle only inspires us to give more. The arts have always been there, sometimes literally, often symbolically. Yet now is the time for them to rally like they did in the 1960's civil rights and anti-war movements. Artists are truth tellers and they operate free of the constrictions of a society that demands conformity. Many have stepped forward to meet the challenge but so many more need to answer the call.

President Kennedy, shortly before he died in 1963, gave a speech at Amherst College and said this about the role of the arts:

"If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth. And as Mr. MacLeish once remarked of poets, there is nothing worse for our trade than to be in style. In free society art is not a weapon and it does not belong to the spheres of polemic and ideology. Artists are not engineers of the soul. It may be different elsewhere. But democratic society--in it, the highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may. In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation. And the nation which disdains the mission of art invites the fate of Robert Frost's hired man, the fate of having 'nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope'."

Words of solace, words of inspiration, words that resonate even more vibrantly than they did when first delivered.

David France: "Another Kind of AIDS Crisis"

One of my favorite writers, David France, has written an important and urgent article on an emerging crisis in the HIV/AIDS community. France's "Another Kind of AIDS Crisis" appeared in New York Magazine and for anyone interested in the epidemic it is a must read. In a time of a broadening HIV/AIDS epidemic and increasing complications for those on medications, the press is writing less instead of more about the worsening situation.

France writes about long term persons with HIV/AIDS and the serious aliments that are beginning to appear in this population. New York Magazine accompanies this important article with stunning photographs of long term survivors of HIV/AIDS. In "Another Kind of AIDS Crisis", France writes:

"Some fifteen years into the era of protease inhibitors and drug cocktails, doctors are realizing that the miracles the drugs promised are not necessarily a lasting solution to the disease. Most news accounts today call HIV a chronic, manageable disease. But patients who contracted the virus just a few years back are showing signs of what’s being called premature or accelerated aging. Early senility turns out to be an increasingly common problem, though not nearly as extreme as James’s in every case. One large-scale multi-city study released its latest findings this summer that over half of the HIV-positive population is suffering some form of cognitive impairment. Doctors are also reporting a constellation of ailments in middle-aged patients that are more typically seen at geriatric practices, in patients 80 and older. They range from bone loss to organ failure to arthritis. Making matters worse, HIV patients are registering higher rates of insulin resistance and cholesterol imbalances, and they suffer elevated rates of melanoma and kidney cancers and seven times the rate of other non-HIV-related cancers.

Whether this is a result of the drugs or the disease itself, or some combination, is still an open question and certainly varies from patient to patient and condition to condition. Either way, it is now clear that even patients who respond well to medications by today’s standards are not out of the woods. Current life-expectancy charts show that people on HIV medications could live twenty fewer years on average than the general population. “It’s spooky,” says Mark Harrington, who heads Treatment Action Group, a New York–based HIV think tank. “It seems like the virus keeps finding new tricks to throw at us, and we’re just all left behind going, What’s going on? "

The compelling article continues:

"It is true that the clinical picture of life with treated HIV disease is only now beginning to come into focus. A study presented at a conference in February in Montreal showed that otherwise healthy people on HIV medications at about 56 years of age had immune systems comparable to HIV-negative subjects whose median age is 88. Perhaps as a result, many diseases that typically attack the very old are striking younger HIV-positive people disproportionately, like diseases of the liver, kidney, heart, and veins. One study found that 55-year-olds who are HIV-positive have all the telltale signs of late-life frailty—muscle loss, fatigue, and rheumatological disorders.

The newest data show that middle-aged patients have dramatically increased rates of bone loss and fractures for their age. Some 60 percent of HIV-positive men in their forties have osteoporosis or its predecessor condition, a problem that typically isn’t diagnosed in men until well into their eighties. Jules Levin, founder and executive director of the New York–based National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project, only found out about this two years ago, when he stumbled and shattered his wrist. He was 57 at the time and in exceptionally good shape, other than his undiagnosed osteoporosis. “This is what opened my eyes to all of this stuff,” he says. “Aging is the No. 1 problem in HIV today.”

Be sure to read France's entire article ASAP. It has an urgent message for us all

A Nation's Shame At Long Last Ended

Today, President Obama ended what has to be one of the most shameful laws in recent times. For years and years, it has been against the law for people with HIV/AIDS to travel to this country. Some actually have been detained at airports and forced back on planes to return to their departure point. International HIV/AIDS conferences have not been held in the United States since it has been illegal for many of the delegates to enter the United States.

Several years ago, I was with dear friends in Amsterdam. They had hosted me with a boat ride on the canals and then a splendid dinner with amazing conversation late into the night. The evening was special. As we were winding down, I offered to return the hospitality and urged them to visit me in the states. There was dead silence in the room. Finally one of my friends said in a low voice, "We won't travel to the United States as long as there is a ban on HIV people entering your nation." An overwhelming sense of shame came over me. There was simply nothing I could say in response.

With increasingly encouraging momentum, President Obama filled another one of his promises today and lifted the HIV/AIDS ban on visitors to this country. With a stroke of a pen, he ended this horrific and shame practice. Nice going Mr. President. We can all hold our heads a little higher today.

AIDS Rally and Candlelight Vigil To Be Held During National Equality March Weekend!

There will be an AIDS rally and candlelight vigil on Saturday night (October 10th) at the National Equality March. Realizing that the battle against HIV/AIDS is not over and the importance of remembering the hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters who have died from AIDS, the rally and vigil will be at the Ellipse across from the White House starting at 5:30PM.

An article by Mark Reed reveals the details and dozens of prominent speakers and entertainers who will participate in this moving event. He writes:

"Many of our most energized LGBT activists are too young to remember the devastating impact AIDS has had on the gay community. We must re-engage the larger LGBT community in AIDS activism,” said Charles King, President and CEO of Housing Works, which is the fiscal sponsor of the rally and vigil. “Ending the HIV pandemic is an issue of justice that must be their fight as well.”

Speakers and entertainers at the rally will include singer/actress Sherri Lewis, former Mis s America Kate Shindle, members of the Diva League and Inner Light Ministries Choir, Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, San Francisco Human Rights Commission Chairperson Cecilia Chung, Shawn Decker’s Synthetic Division, poet Brandon Plain, gospel rap artist Desencé, singer/songwriter Dudley Sanders, POZ Magazine founder Sean Strub, Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson and Bishop Rainey Cheeks. Many of the speakers and performers are people living with HIV.

In Memoriam: Dr. Joel Weisman

Dr. Joel Weisman, one of the great pioneers and heroes of the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, passed away last week. In his practice in Sherman Oaks, California in 1980 Joel was among the first to notice a disturbing pattern among his patients. Speaking with his friend Dr. Michael Gottlieb, they realized they both were experiencing the same pattern. The two co-authored a report to the CDC about this strange new illness among gay men and often that report is regarded as the official beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America. Thus began an epic struggle, especially in the gay men's community, for survival in the midst of a nation's indifference.

However, for me, Joel was my doctor and dear personal friend. The real heroism in Joel was not being among the first to identify the emerging epidemic, it was for holding so many of us together in a time of need, constantly being available for his patients and fighting like hell for the approval of new promising drug therapies. This is a man who day in and day out treated hundreds of young gay men dying from AIDS and never ceased to have a smile and a comforting word. Without giving us false hope, he allowed to hope. No matter what time of day or night, Joel was there for us. Armed with a wicked dry sense of humor, he taught us all about grace in the face of adversity.

Joel was a ordinary doctor - albeit a very good one - when suddenly he was thrust into the national limelight. In that rapid rise to fame, he never lost those personal touches that made us love him and he was never too busy for his patients.

When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1977, all my buddies said to go see Joel as a doctor. He was an openly gay man and totally aware of the issues facing the gay men's community. Joel was the first doctor in my life who offered me the opportunity to be open, talk about personal health issues and feel no shame. What a gift! We became friends as well as patient and doctor. As the AIDS epidemic unfolded we also became partners in the struggle to find a cure, end discrimination and take care of the massive number of our friends that were sick and dying.

In 1980, I will never forget Joel saying to Peter Scott and I over dinner that there was this new disease that seemed to affecting only gay men. There really was no way to grasp the enormity of what he was saying. Then about a month later a friend of mine went into the hospital on Friday and died on Tuesday. He was a stunning 26 year old, in perfect physical shape. Up until he went into the hospital, we had not the slightest clue of what was coming. He called a day or two before he entered Sherman Oaks and said he had a bad case of the flu. Then he was gone.

Suddenly we were thrust into the dark and horrible world of AIDS. As it unfolded in those early years, most doctors or nurses wouldn't treat us, undertakers wouldn't bury us, dentists refused us service, home healthcare workers shunned us and our health insurance refused to cover us. Joel, however, was never hampered in the treatment of his patients by the anger and hate outside. He found the doctors and nurses that would treat us and created one of the first wards in any hospital dedicated to the treatment of people with AIDS filled with loving, caring medical personal. Dr. Weisman worked side by side with Peter Scott, Matt Redman, Diane Abbitt and others to create AIDS Project Los Angeles to provide the services that others were denying people with AIDS. Where he found the time and strength I will never know. He never ceased to inspire me to do more in a kind and gentle way.

The Pacific Oaks Medical Practice became one of the largest in the world for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Dozens of my friends made that their medical home before they died. The most dreaded phone call was when a friend would phone to say, "I am in Sherman Oaks". No other explanation was needed and we knew immediately their time on earth was limited. The agony is almost impossible to describe.

Once I was taking a break from visiting a friend in the Sherman Oaks AIDS Ward and ran into Dr. Weisman. He could see the weariness on my face. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Let's get a cup of coffee." We went down to the cafe in the hospital and he took my hand and said, "David you are going to have to pace yourself or none of us will through this horror." I got a new grip on myself and said to him, "Joel, history will write about you forever for what you have done for us." He looked down and then looked up at me and said, "I don't want to be known in history for this horror. I just want someday to get away from it and be known as an incredible friend."

Well, today, Dr. Joel Weisman gets both accolades. Not only will he will be remembered by history as a great man, but everyone of us whose life he touched will remember him as a good friend and a good man.