SACO — Although AIDS has largely fallen off the radar as a national health threat due to the development of life-prolonging medicines, it’s still an ongoing scourge around the world and a very present issue for the afflicted, their families and friends.
More than 1,300 people are infected with HIV/AIDS in Maine, according to the Maine Centers for Disease Control, and an estimated 300 more who have yet to be diagnosed. Today ”“ the 21st World AIDS Day ”“ gatherings will be held around the globe to remember those who have lost their lives to the disease and to support HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
“We need to remain vigilant about prevention and education for the generations to come,” said Kristin Klein, development director of the Frannie Peabody Center in Portland, in a statement. “HIV/AIDS has not gone by the wayside.”
In Saco, an interfaith service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Saco-Biddeford, 60 School St., at 7 p.m. A speaker from the Peabody Center will be featured, as will parishioner Kathleen Sheehan-Tart, who lost her brother Timothy to the virus in 1994.
Speaking out about AIDS was a promise that Kathleen made to her brother, said Gloria Sheehan, Timothy’s mother.
The Saco-Biddeford Unitarian Universalist church has been hosting a World AIDS Day service for the past 14 years, said Sheehan, and was the first in the area to do so. That first year, she recalled, it started it with a candlelight walk from Rapid Ray’s to the church.
“It was not very pleasant,” Sheehan said. “At the time, we had people call out different cruel and ignorant sayings as we were walking. Now it is different.”
Although the climate for those with AIDS has improved, Sheehand said she’s concerned that the virus is being “swept under the carpet” today and that young people are not being made aware of the health threat.
“Death is much less the outcome now, but AIDS/HIV have not gone away,” said the Rev. David Chandler. “It’s important not to forget that AIDS is still a worldwide disease, affecting the lives of millions of people.”
Worldwide, 33.4 million people were estimated to be living with HIV at the end of 2008, according to the World Health Organization, two-thirds of whom reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Also in 2008, about 2.7 million people became infected, and 2 million died of AIDS ”“ including 280,000 children, according to the WHO.
Tonight’s interfaith service in Saco will not be a typical service, but rather a way for people to “gather and be together” to remember those affected by AIDS, said Chandler. Joining him to preside over the service will be the Rev. Marilyn Glavin of Second Congregational Church in Biddeford and the Rev. Doug Nielsen of First Parish United Church of Christ in Saco. People from all faiths are welcome to attend to share in the music, prayers and readings, he said.
“I’ve lost several friends (to HIV/AIDS), and I think of those people often,” said Chandler. “Their lives were tragically cut short.”
Forty-six Maine residents were newly diagnosed with HIV infection in 2008, along with 37 new AIDS diagnoses, according to the Maine Centers for Disease Control 2009 Epidemiologic AIDS Profile. Of those, Cumberland County had the most diagnoses reported with 16, followed by York County with 11. Twenty-four deaths among those infected with HIV were reported in 2008.
“Each year, since 1985, there have been more new AIDS diagnoses than deaths in Maine, meaning that the overall number of people living with AIDS has continued to increase over time,” the CDC report states.
“We do not hear much about HIV anymore,” said Patti Capouch, executive director of the Peabody Center, which provides services to people with HIV and AIDS. “Some people may have tired of hearing about AIDS. The truth is, here in Maine, more people are living with HIV than ever before.”
The Peabody Center, which has locations in Portland and York, is serving 342 clients and has tested 480 high-risk residents so far this year, said Capouch. The center has also provided housing assistance to 267 people living with HIV/AIDS statewide, she said. Funding for AIDS treatment and prevention was not affected in the recent state budget curtailment plans, she said, but cuts are expected. Capouch noted that much of the funding for AIDS treatment and prevention in Maine is federal money, but the state designates about $300,000 annually.
A delegation from the Maine AIDS Alliance, of which the Peabody Center is a member, was expected to meet with Gov. John Baldacci in Augusta today to lobby for support.
“We just want to show as many lawmakers as we can that we really need to support people with HIV/AIDS,” said Capouch. “The number of clients is growing, as are new infections.”
Statistics from 2004-08 show that 64 percent of new diagnoses in Maine were attributed to male-to-male unprotected sexual contact, 4 percent to intravenous drug use and 9 percent to heterosexual unprotected sexual contact.
Walk-in rapid anonymous HIV testing is available at the Peabody Center’s York office, located in Meadowbrook Plaza, Route 1, on Tuesdays from 1 to 6 p.m. or by appointment. Testing is free for those who meet risk criteria. For more information about testing times and places, call 749-6818. The York County Peabody Center AIDS crisis line is (800) 660-8500.
— City Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 322 or kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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