NLAAD was established in 2003 by the Latino Commission on AIDS and the Hispanic Federation, in partnership with a variety of faith and community organizations.,”For the first time, Marquette took part in National Latino AIDS Awareness Day with a presentation in the Alumni Memorial Union yesterday.
NLAAD was established in 2003 by the Latino Commission on AIDS and the Hispanic Federation, in partnership with a variety of faith and community organizations.
Marquette's AIDS awareness group Watumishi: People of Service teamed up with Latino-based Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity and Sigma Lambda Gamma Sorority to bring the event to campus.
Luis Guevara, Sigma Lambda Beta president and sophomore in the College of Business Administration, kicked off Monday's presentation with a brief introduction.
"To fight HIV/AIDS among Latinos, as well as the stigma and silence that still surrounds it, Oct. 15 has been designated as National Latino AIDS Awareness Day," Guevara said.
Katherine Headley, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences and head of outreach and community service for Watumishi, then presented audience members with an icebreaker to get them thinking. Each person wrote down his or her name and three favorite hobbies. Four people that used a red marker represented HIV positive people and whoever they talked to contracted HIV as well.
"It's a way to show how easily HIV can be spread from person to person," Headley said.
Angie Melchor, a junior in the College of Nursing and vice president of Sigma Lambda Gamma, and Britney Sandino, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and secretary of Sigma Lambda Gamma, gave a presentation on HIV/AIDS facts and statistics.
About 1.2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, 200,000 of whom are Latinos. HIV/AIDS was the fourth leading cause of death for Latinos in 2004, according to the presentation.
Melchor said Latinos are more likely than whites to be tested for HIV, but that they usually don't get tested until the disease is at a late stage.
After the presentation, Brenda Auterman, prevention planning coordinator of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, gave a testing demonstration.
She explained three types of testing. The first is the urine test, which is similar to a pregnancy test and takes only 20 minutes. The second one is the conventional test, which takes a blood sample and takes two weeks for the results. The third test is the oral test that takes a special cotton swab to obtain an oral sample.
A person should get tested about three to six months after suspicions of contracting HIV/AIDS, Auterman said.
"I think a lot of people are scared to get tested," she said. "Some people never get symptoms until the day they die."
Guevara said he hopes audience members came away with a better awareness of HIV/AIDS.
"We hope that everyone took away something from this evening and can incorporate the information they have gained into their decision-making," Guevara said.
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