"Volunteers Fill Void for AIDS Patients"

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1992. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Volunteers Fill Void for AIDS Patients"

Los Angeles Times (12/27/92), P. B3
Dennison, Mike

Abstract: A program designed to provide "companion-advocates" for AIDS patients was started in Grand Junction, Colo. Many AIDS patients are shunned by society because they are homosexual or because of fears of transmission of the virus, and are often abandoned by their families and left with little or no money. Companion-advocates, such as those in the Colorado program, provide friendship and help. They take patients to doctor appointments, help them take their medication, take them out for meals, or even go camping with them. Most importantly, a program volunteer will remain with a patient until he or she dies. Program training sessions to become a companion-advocate often include listening to local attorneys explaining the legal implications of AIDS and doctors fielding questions about the disease. Robert Barone, the program organizer, speaks to school groups, churches, service clubs, or anyone who will listen. He frequently takes young HIV-positive patients with him when he speaks. Barone has organized four seminars that have trained 62 volunteers. A total of 18 people in Grand Junction who are infected with HIV have been assigned companion-advocates, and Barone wants to train enough volunteers so that at least three advocates can be assigned to each AIDS patient who needs help. While Barone has no shortage of volunteers, he says he still encounters ignorance and prejudice about the disease. He said, "There are still people I run into who have no idea we have an AIDS problem."

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