Students reach out to community for AIDS Day
By Vanessa Raba
Contributing Reporter

In recognition of World AIDS Day, a group of university students spent Dec. 1 visiting with the residents of the Holly Haven home of AIDS Care Service. This care facility, located in downtown Winston-Salem, meets the basic needs of those with HIV and AIDS and provides a supportive home-like environment conducive to rehabilitation.

Accompanied by Natascha Romeo, the university health educator, five students spent the afternoon decorating Christmas ornaments, cleaning the outside of the house, playing cards and chatting with the residents.

They also helped prepare the dinner that they provided for the Holly Haven residents and donated items to the kitchen.

Freshman Liz Lewis heard of the trip through a classmate, and took the initiative to help out after reading Angels in America, a play about individuals with HIV and AIDS.

“It’s amazing to enter the world (of Holly Haven) after being here at Wake Forest,” Lewis said. “Around here it’s all about getting myself to classes and watching out for myself.
This was the first thing I had done for (the center), but they made me feel really welcome. I played Spades with one resident, cooked some green beans and sat in a girl’s room and watched a Lifetime movie with her. Just did everyday things. I really don’t see them as being any different from any of us. It’s just that they have these real problems that we don’t really see at Wake.”

When it opened in 1999, Holly Haven was a hospice, a quiet place for those with the disease to spend their last days. Holly Haven’s activity director recalls a time when the six-bed facility “was a final peaceful resting place. But luckily, we found out that doesn’t always happen. Now some come to Holly Haven and go on to live on their own.”

Due to changes in treatment and rehabilitation that have occurred with respect to AIDS, the mission of Holly Haven has changed since it opened its doors. The home operates under the AIDS Care Mission Statement: “To help our brothers and sisters living with the AIDS disease improve their quality of life by responding to health needs and providing a home-like environment.”

Associate Director Christine Jolly, envisions the program as providing a home for those who need extra support.

“Many of our residents have been homeless, they have been without food, they have been out of compliance with their medication, and morale is very beat up,” she said.

“They haven’t had an environment that allows them to get well. At Holly Haven we become family.”

Jolly said a typical patient stays at Holly Haven for six to seven months – which includes 24-hour holistic care, social interaction and emotional support.

“Some come to Holly Haven to get well, and we are here to help with their rehabilitation in any way we can. Some come to Holly Haven to die comfortably surrounded by family, loved ones, and we’re here for them in their hour,” she said.

The student-organized visit was a part of the international effort on Dec. 1 for World AIDS Day.

This year marks the 13th anniversary of World AIDS Day; the theme was, “I care. Do you?”

World AIDS Day began after the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. The mission of those involved is to bring compassion, hope, solidarity and understanding about AIDS to every country in the world.

This year also marks the 20th year since the first case of AIDS was officially recorded.

There are currently 40 million people living with the HIV virus. World AIDS Day is the only international day of coordinated action against the disease.