WYOMING: Education Is Key in HIV Fight

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

WYOMING: Education Is Key in HIV Fight

Casper Star-Tribune (11.25.08) - Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Allison Rupp

In Natrona County and across Wyoming, many AIDS educators struggle with people who think of HIV as only a problem for gay men, a significant barrier to assessing personal risk and to making HIV testing routine.

"Some people have their heads buried," said Laurie Johnson, clinical director of Early Intervention Services for people with HIV/AIDS. "They think it's not in Wyoming, that it's a gay man's disease."

However, about 47 percent of Wyoming residents who have HIV/AIDS self-identify as heterosexual, and 25 percent are women, Johnson said.

"I try to find the people who no one else will talk to, like the person shooting up drugs on the street who thinks he's invincible," said Romona Baca-Garcia, a peer networker with the community-level Real AIDS Prevention Project (RAPP), which mainly targets women. "I used to think I was invincible," she said. "When you talk about AIDS, [hepatitis C] and how I have them, people tend to listen."

Wyoming needs to expand testing access and make screening routine in health care settings, said Anna Kinder, director of the Wyoming AIDS Education and Training Center. She has created a training module for health care providers on how to test and counsel someone wanting an HIV test. Testing is also the subject of her upcoming January teleconference for providers. "The thing that we get consistently from providers is, 'Why do we need to do this when there is such a low rate?'" she said.

Rapid testing has opened doors, said Rob Johnston, HIV prevention program manager with the state Department of Health. His program routinely offers screening at Wyoming Equality events for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
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