Tim Barrus in the New York Times
AIDS in Appalachia
I live in the Blue Ridge in Appalachia where health care is a nightmare.
Public Health has waiting lists which means you cannot get an appointment for seven to eight months.
Public Health throws you around like you are just a carcass of meat. They sexually exploit adolescents.
I wore my ACT UP T-Shirt in there. You could have cut the animosity with a knife. Diapers get changed on the floor of the waiting room. Urine tests where you pee in a cup are in public. Humiliation is everywhere. African countries have better numbers than we do.
Staff is overworked and utterly abusive. Stigma. Suicide. That’s us. The Public Health pharmacy tells you to come back because they do not have the meds. Many people have to find rides. They can live 300 miles away. Coming back another day is more than most of us can do.
World AIDS day is a farce. How are we supposed to perceive being greeted with slick ads by people like Elton John who tells us what great progress has been made.
Not for us.
Bank of America has a big presence. They donate to approved institutions. We do not have accounts at Bank of America.
Public Health is all over the place at World AIDS Day. Public Health has failed.
Big Pharma smiles. Their messages tell us we must work together. Sounds good. But you will never defeat HIV. An AIDS-Free generation is a joke in Appalachia.
Government treats us with contempt. The head of the NIH giving a speech does not abrogate the fact that we have been lied to again. A cure is right around the corner or a vaccine trial show big promise. Patience. 35 years of lies. We don’t listen to it anymore. In one ear and out the other.
It’s all promises. If there ever is a cure, it will not mean us.
Our lives are connected to the system working. Platitudes abound on World AIDS Day. The rhetoric preaches inclusion.
This does not mean us. Addiction. Hopelessness.
Getting labs means another 300 mile drive. You get up at two in the morning to get there and then stand in line in the cold. Rain or shine. Snow of heat.
And then back again. There is no dental care whatsoever.
Many of us do not have cars that are going to make it 300 miles let alone 600 miles. Then, there’s gas. Most people just say: forget it.
Public Health tells us to get tested and that it’s easy. Easy for who. I give up, too. Again and again and again.
Care is for other people. It always has been.
Violent Sexual abuse. Again and again and again. Parents go to prison where HIV is epidemic. Foster care is another prison. Kids run away. I advise them to. Stop telling me to be nice. Depression. Death. Funerals. Hate at church. Institutional rape. Fentanyl. Heroin. Meth. Indifference. Extreme poverty. Hunger. No running water. You burn wood. Asthma. Allergic reaction to antiretrovirals. Alcoholism. Guns. School failure. Malnutrition. Food deserts. Prostitution. That’s us.
Fuck me.