By Dianne Anderson

To make up for hard state budget cuts to AIDS services, some health providers are getting creative about luring people in for tests that they’d rather not take.

Whether hungry for food or good entertainment, there are some advantages.

Kerry Brown, coordinator of the city's mobile HIV/AIDS unit, has been giving out incentives, either a $5 book of McDonald’s coupons or movie passes at the colleges, and there has been an increase in takers.

“That’s what drives a lot of people to get tested with us. Some places give out gift cards,” he said. “If we weren’t giving that, our numbers would probably be lower.”

Since it takes two weeks for the results, STD testing will get the tester a $5 coupon when they initially test, and $5 cash when they get their results.

Brown, health educator with the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, said that since the cuts have come down from the state, many services have suffered, such as the AIDS Drug Assistance program.

As a result, they have to think up better ways to reach a population that would rather stay hidden. In any given month, he typically hands out about 1,000 condoms, but changing long-term behavioral patterns is difficult.

A lot of the youths, adults and grandparents just do not see themselves at risk, because so much emphasis has been put on the gay males or drug users, which are the highest risk population, he said.

“Right now, we’re seeing a lot of people with other STDs [sexually transmitted diseases] and still having unprotected sex. It’s just going to be a matter of time before they run into HIV,” he said.

Still, referring to a recent HBO special, there are many young adults who are still virgins who were born with the disease. They’ve built up their own immunity, they are living strong, but they can still infect others.

And HIV/AIDS is also not showing any sign of letting up. Lately, more virulent forms of the disease have surfaced. Someone with AIDS may have one strain and partner up with someone who has another strain. The new disease they create together won’t respond to traditional medications.

But he thinks the biggest threat to the Black community is lack of fear. Besides an occasional billboard with a smiling face on the disease, public announcements on the dangers of AIDS have dimmed down in recent years.

“No one sees the importance of it anymore. I think that’s what happened with the state cutting,” he said.

For the Black community, it’s worse because they won’t go to the doctor until the disease has progressed and is life threatening.

“There’s people on the truck that told me they didn’t want to test because they thought we were injecting them with HIV. With African Americans, it’s still a trust issue,” he said, pointing to the government-sponsored Tuskegee syphilis experiments that killed so many Blacks.

The fear of stigma also leads to silence. Those who are infected don’t want to be treated like they have the plague.

“There’s all kinds of stuff that happens in the Black community. It’s not like there’s an open support system,” he said. “So, if they do test, they never tell. They never try to seek treatment.”

In Long Beach, the numbers appear to be holding steady, Brown said. Then again, everyone is not testing like they should. He gets a lot of repeat testers.

Soon, he said, the mobile unit will visit local churches in partnership with the Rand Corporation to address stigma and awareness, and start introducing messages that the church can use in Sunday service to encourage members to test privately.

In the past, they’ve tried churches but failed, mostly because members of the congregation are afraid to be seen going into the mobile units because of the implication of sexual activity, he said.

“Everybody in the church is looking at everybody else in the church--so nobody will get on the truck,” he said. “What they’ll do is find out where we will be testing and meet us somewhere else later.”

Studies show that about 30 million people are infected worldwide, with about half under the age of 25. One-third of all reported new infections in America are under the age of 30.  But grandparents are also not immune to the disease.

“The men have Viagra and [older] women aren’t concerned about getting pregnant,” he said. “They come in here at the STD clinic at all ages.”

Another issue that he’s coming across lately is that a lot of teens or youths don’t believe that oral sex is dangerous. He said that they legally can test 13-year-olds and older without parental consent.

“I’m surprised that no one talks to their kids anymore. I have to literally tell the girls and college students stuff. You would think their mother would have told them something,” he said.