Snohomish County NewsHoliday Parlour Tour
Denise Cosgrove’s home, located at 828 Pine Ave., will be one of the homes open for the Snohomish Historical Society’s Holiday Parlour Tour Dec. 13.
Adults dig legos, too
Doug Ramsay photo
Lego robots built by Everett Community College engineering students battle each other Dec. 1. Jack Hart (right) cheers as his team’s robot knocks a competing robot out of the sumo ring. Also watching, from left to right,:are Hart’s father Tony, Patrick Doyle and Justin Maddox. The class learned how to program the robots to work autonomously.
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County residents recognize AIDS through walk, lecture
EVERETT - Snohomish County joined the world in commemorating World AIDS Day last week, holding several events honoring those who have lived and died with HIV and AIDS, even as the economic recession means less funding for testing and treatment programs.
“We are here to remember those who have lived and died with HIV and AIDS, to let them be the flame for us, reminding us the task is not done. There is more we need to do in the future,” said Gary Goldbaum, director of the Snohomish Health District.
More than one million Americans are living with HIV, including ten thousand in the state of Washington, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A group of about 30 people gathered flashlights and flowers before starting the fourth annual awareness walk to the AIDS memorial at Pacific and Wetmore avenues in Everett. The memorial is the first of its kind in Washington state.
“I’m a very goal oriented person, but it’s funny,” said Andrew Nichols, as he and his partner joined the walk. “When I am here, I don’t have a goal. I want to just be here and do what ever we’re doing in that moment.”
Nichols, who has been HIV positive for five years, said he joined the Snohomish County Gay Men’s Task Force’s annual walk to show Snohomish County there is still an active presence of residents who care about HIV and AIDS issues. Nichols said he hoped they were raising awareness, the first step to raising funds, finding a cure or giving people the knowledge they need to protect themselves and slow the spread of HIV.
“It’s fun, peaceful, coming together as a community,” he said.
Nichols celebrated his first World AIDS Day in Spain, just after he was diagnosed. “It really is a world day,” he said.
Nichols, his partner and several other participants had driven up from Seattle that day to join the walk, which they remarked was ironic since Seattle is seen to have a much larger gay community than Everett.
“I think Everett is a closer community,” said Chett Twitchell, an Everett resident who has joined the AIDS Day walk for the last three years. “Everybody knows everybody. You may not know their name, but you know their face.”
So when someone in Everett dies after living with HIV and AIDS, “everybody knows who it is,” Twitchell said. “It has made a big difference.”
Twitchell said the annual AIDS Day walk gave him a chance to remember the more than 30 people he has known who have died after being diagnosed with HIV and AIDS, including one who died about three weeks ago.
“I think it keeps people in memory,” he said. “We tend to forget, and it’s nice to take that moment to remember all those we’ve lost in this community.”
As they reached the memorial, Anna McCauley, of Snohomish, stepped forward to tell her own story of living with HIV and ask the crowd to remember others like her.
“If you know people who have it, don’t turn them away,” she said. “Help them out.”
After a moment of silence, the group walked back to the Snohomish Health District building, where they drank hot chocolate, met with advocates fighting for a cure for AIDS and heard talks from medical experts on the state of the HIV epidemic today.
“Tonight is special,” said health district director Goldbaum. “It’s a time for all of us to remember those who have lived and died with HIV and AIDS, a time for us to reflect on what has been accomplished in the last two decades.”
Goldbaum reminded the crowd of about 50 people that the economic recession hit the health district hard, including their HIV and AIDS diagnostic and treatment programs.
“We are facing a really challenging time in Washington state in the next year,” he said. “That means reduced funding for every program in public health.”
The number of HIV and AIDS cases in Snohomish County has held steady over the last several years, but the treatments for those living with the diseases has grown exponentially, said Christian Ramers, an HIV/AIDS specialist at the Madison Clinic.
“It’s an amazing time to work in the world of HIV and AIDS,” he said.
In the mid 1990’s, a 25-year-old diagnosed with HIV and AIDS could expect to live until age 33. Today, a 25-year-old person has a good chance to make it to age 65.
But even with better medicine, “it’s just a not a problem that is going away, unfortunately,” Ramers said. Instead, the disease seems to be following the “fault lines” of society, with more women and poor people diagnosed each year, Ramers said.
“In a lot of ways this effects the marginalized groups in our society,” he said. “I think we as a community can band together and end these things.”
Ramers said World AIDS Day brings him the “most hope and the most anxiety and the most sadness” of any other holiday during the winter holiday season.
“It’s a reflective time for all of us,” he said.
By LINDSAY TOLER
Published Dec. 9, 2009