Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald; Thursday, THU December 2, 1993
Manny Garcia; Herald Staff Writer
The candle was in memory of her son Michael. Two years ago, AIDS killed him. He was 34.
"I didn't know anything about AIDS until he got sick," said Vandenberge, now a volunteer at Health Crisis Network, a nonprofit support group that offers AIDS counseling and education.
As a stiff breeze blew off Biscayne Bay, several hundred people gathered at Bayfront Park to remember the men, women and children who have died from AIDS on World AIDS Day.
Wednesday's memorial began with a candlelight march from the Torch of Friendship to the AT & T Amphitheater. On the way, members of the procession collapsed on the sidewalk and others outlined their bodies with chalk.
Names of dead friends were written in the outline and topped with white flowers. The list read: Sebastian, Betty, David, Sonia, Ross . . .
"Easily, I've had 70 friends die," said Scott Miller, 30, who said he's HIV positive.
For Miller, the body count continues. Another friend, 32, died last week.
Lori Jordahl, coordinator of HIV counseling and testing for the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, scanned the mostly male crowd and warned that people shouldn't think AIDS is a gay problem. In fact, it seems to be the opposite.
The number of heterosexual AIDS cases reported in Dade and Monroe counties has increased 6 percent since 1991 -- in line with the national trend. The number of reported gay-related AIDS cases has decreased 31 percent since 1991, HRS figures show.
"We really have to let people know that it can affect anybody," Jordahl said.
Aaron Unger, 17, a senior at Ransom Everglades School, doesn't have any close friends who died of AIDS, but that didn't stop him and some friends from attending the memorial service.
"We have to make other people aware," said Unger, who belongs to a counseling group at the Coconut Grove school that teaches students about AIDS.
CAPTION: PHOTO Oscar Loynaz of the Health Crisis Network joins a candlelight march Wednesday to Bayfront Park (AIDS)
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