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INTERVIEW:

By ROB DAROFF

Gay Peoples Chronicle

June 1986

KEVIN BLANCHET

The city of Cleveland announced two months ago that Kevin Blanchet would fill the new position of AIDS Coordinator for the city's Department of Health. Blanchet is the former coordinator of research and development at the Cleveland Health and Education Museum and is currently completing a masters degree in community health.

Chronicle staff member Rob Daroff conducted the following interview of the new AIDS Coordinator after his first two months in office.

How did your position open up and are there similar positions in other cities Ohio and elsewhere?

in

The position came about due to the ever-increasing problem with AIDS in the Cleveland community. The mayor felt that the city wanted to demonstrate a committment to AIDS and because the work surrounding AIDS was overwhelming the staff of the Health Department, it was felt that we needed one individual to better coordiinate all the activities surrounding AIDS in Cleveland. The job was developed to place us in a position of strength and a position to pro-act rather than react to subsequent AIDS crises that may occur in Cleveland.

body. I will also be identifying service gaps in the community in AIDS education and helping to rectify those gaps by bringing people in to solve them.

Can you identify Some of those gaps?

One of the major tasks that will be under way is to identify service gaps. Up to this point AIDS education in the city of Cleveland and the surrounding communities has been offered here and there in a kind of shotgun approach. Now is the time to access who has received what education and where we need more of it.

What has the city been doing in terms of education?

Certainly one education program centers around the Alternative Testing Center at the McCafferty Health Clinic, where we provide preand post-test counselling for individuals utilizing that service. We also provide a speakers bureau for community groups who may wish to learn more about AIDS.

What kinds of audiences have been addressed?

The statistics show that 60% of all AIDS

cases in Cleveland are within the

Cleveland has taken the lead in Ohio by having an AIDS coordinator. We are the first city in Ohio to have one. There are other cities in the country with similar coordinators: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, among others.

What

are

your

responsibilities?

official

My chief responsibility is to be administrator of the Cleveland AIDS Task Force, which is a twenty-five member public health advisory

black population

the

They have really run gamut: we have spoken to PTA's, Lion's Clubs, physicians groups, and schools, among others.

What are some other service

gaps? Are there problems Locally with housing for people who have AIDS?

There are several other service gaps: Number one, people with AIDS aren't allowed to enter any nursing homes, not even the Sunny Acres facility run by the county. The Task Force is

couples & individual therapy

⚫ anxiety disorders

⚫ support to AIDS victims & families reimbursed by all major insurances

·

JAMES W. PRIESTER, ACSW psychotherapist

(216) 642-2287

KEVIN BLANCHET

resently closing the gap with Sunny Acres and their refusal to accept AIDS patients. We are also encouraging the county to open_a two-bedroom apartment for AIDS patients who may have nowhere else to go.

What are some other problem land? areas that you see in Cleve-

I think it is rather obvious that we are in a position right now where we can act accordingly in anticipation of a greater number of

Is the Sunny Acres case unAIDS cases in the not too usual?

No. If I'm not mistaken, not one nursing home in Ohio will accept an AIDS patient.

How much of a problem do you see that as ? Is there much need for nursing home care?

The Housing and Support Committee of the Cleveland AIDS Task Force did a study of that issue. Two to three local AIDS patients have needed housing of an interim nature, and about fifteen might requir some sort of long-term care facility with intermediate care.

One problem in Cleveland is that the cost of treating

AIDS patient is quité high and quite labor-intensive because they have to remain in the hospital while ill when, in fact, they could go to one of these intermediate care facilities [e.g., nursing homes].

What are the most recent statistics for Cleveland and the rest of Ohio?

of April 2, Ohio had 177 reported cases of AIDS, with 99 of those presently dead.

As of April 31, there have been 70 reported cases in Cleveland, with 23 dead.

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distant future. This is a golden opportunity to plan.

I think Cleveland could use legislation barring discrimination against people with AIDS, ARC, and HTLV-III infection.

Another problem is discovering how to reach the minority communities, particularly the black community. The statistics show that 60% of all AIDS cases in Cleveland are within the black population. We are in the process of forming a commission composed of black community leaders who will meet and brainstorm on this problem.

Any Roves toward getting some AIDS education going in Cleveland public schools?

level an AIDS curriculum has Apparently at the state been formulated whereby an individual teacher at each school is trained on this curriculum. One problem we have seen with this curriculum is that no reference is made to the word "homosexual." That is something we have been concerned with and have doubts about.

Are any changes_planned for the Alternative Testing Site at McCafferty?

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