COMMUNITY GROUPS

Help researchers learn about living with HIV

by Hernon Valdez, M.D. Cleveland-The AIDS Clinical Trials Group, or ACTG, is a national organization made up of individual AIDS Clinical Trials Units (ACTUs) which are scattered around the United States at a few major medical institutions.

The ACTG studies the disease caused by HIV and seeks to discover newer, more effective treatments.

Early on it was realized that the national ACTG, headed by doctors and scientists, could not approach the problem of HIV infection without the active participation of those most intimately involved with the problem either people living with HIV or others whose lives have been deeply affected by HIV.

Each local ACTU now has a group of these people who make up a Community Advisory Board, or CAB, which advises the doctors and scientists about the very personal and non-medical aspects of living with HIV.

Ohio has two AIDS clinical trials units, in Cleveland and Columbus.

Cleveland's is at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University, and has a very active CAB. The CAB always welcomes new members to join.

Ohio State University's ACTU is at University Hospitals in Columbus.

How can a person with little medical background help research scientists learn about HIV? People whose lives have been affected by HIV know which treatment regiments are practical and those which are not, and they understand the other non-medical factors which can make life more difficult. This information helps researchers come up with new treatments, which are easier for patients to follow, and new services that help patients to live better. Everyone's goal at the CAB

is to help make HIV an illness that not only one can live with, but live more fully.

A second important role of CAB members is to help educate others living with HIV about clinical trials and the opportunities they can offer.

When many people hear about "clinical trials" they which that participants in these trials are just "guineapigs."But clinical trials offer their participants an opportunity to receive the newest, most advanced treatment against HIV at some of the best medical institutions in the country. Even better is the fact that these treatments, and all of the associated medical visits to the ACTU, are always free.

The CAB at University Hospitals of Cleveland meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm in the amphitheater on the ground floor at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital. Parking is free if you park in a University Hospitals lot and bring your ticket with you to the meeting.

The Columbus CAB meets the first Monday of the month in Room 1130 of Rhodes Hall at OSU University Hospitals. Meeting times vary; call CAB chair Michael McDonald for info at 614-445-9033.

If you like the thought of helping medical researchers develop clinical trails to treat HIV and AIDS which are more patient-friendly, and then helping to spread the word throughout the community about the AIDS clinical trials available, then come join the CAB. Everybody is invited to participate.

Call at the ACTU of University Hospitals of Cleveland, 216-844-8175; or at the ACTU at University Hospitals of Columbus, 614-293-8112; to find out how you can get involved. We need your help.

Dr. Valdez is an infectious disease specialist at the Special Immunology Unit of University Hospitals of Cleveland.

This is the year to work on council campaigns

by Richard Oldrieve Cleveland-Just over a month ago, I met with Cleveland councilmember Tim Melena to discuss what he could do for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community, and what the community could do for Tim Melena.

He recounted how he had pushed for Cleveland's Fair Housing law to end discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgendered. He suggested that he would be willing to help out on future pieces of legislation that might come before council.

Now, Melena wanted two things from our community. He wanted help educating councilmembers from the wards that are predominately African-American as to what are our community's needs are and to what extent we have a presence in their wards. He also wanted help getting councilmen and women elected who are friendly to our community: (Fortunately, both mayoral candidates, Michael White and Helen Smith, are pretty attentive to our needs. They might not be perfect, but they are better than most other politicians.)

Now, this year is an opportune time to get involved in Cleveland's city council races. There are plenty of new faces, there are plenty of contested seats, and there are plenty of quality candidates. In this column I can't and won't endorse any particular candidate (Melena is unopposed), but I suggest that gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered seek out some of these quality candidates and get involved in their campaigns. After being involved with Stonewall for three and a half years, I've come to realize the best time to become a member of a candidate's kitchen cabinet and be right in the thick of things when policy decisions are being made is very early in a candidate's career.

Take Rep. Dennis Kucinich, for example. Virtually every member of his local staff is someone who has been with him since his days as a city

council member. Certainly President Clinton's cabinet members, who are close enough to talk with him in the halls on a daily basis, have known him since he was a candidate for governor.

Cleveland City Council is experiencing rapid turnover. Now is the time to seek out good candidates, and help them throughout their careers. Today our community in Cleveland is not suffering many direct attacks. But becoming a friend of a council candidate now, when we don't need any immediate help, will help ensure that he or she will be our friend when we need them in the future.

Richard Oldrieve is executive secretary of Stonewall Cleveland.

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