Miami Herald - Thursday, July 22, 1999
Stephen Smith - Herald Health Writer

It will be one part education forum, one part battle rally, aimed at the region's black communities, which have disproportionately borne the weight of this epidemic.

"People are dying in my community, people are getting sick every day in my community, and we have talked about it, and talked about it, and talked about it. But we've not done anything about it," says Henry Lewis, president of the Minority Health Professions Foundation, which is coordinating the meeting. "We need to do something more than talk about it."

So, for four hours at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami, a roster of leaders from the realms of health, politics and religion will inspire and exhort and draft plans for slowing the onslaught of the virus. Organizers predict at least 1,000 people will attend.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Gov. Jeb Bush, four members of Congress, two state senators, powerful clergy members and an array of health experts have all been invited to participate.

"We are making history, the mere fact we're bringing together all these various agencies and policymakers," says Evelyn Ullah, director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Services at the state health department's Miami-Dade branch. "It's come late, but I think the community is now ready to receive this information and to become involved."

Grim statistics

The town hall meeting is an outgrowth of last year's declaration of a state of emergency by the Congressional Black Caucus, alarmed by the continuing devastation wrought by AIDS in black communities across the nation. In Florida, the destruction -- and the disparity -- is especially stark. Last year, blacks in Florida accounted for nearly half of all the AIDS cases among men and three-quarters of the women -- even though only one in seven Floridians is black.

The South Florida session will be the prototype for 11 more slated from one edge of the country to the other. Next up: Atlanta in September, then New York in November.

Roughly $100,000 is being spent on the meeting, to pay for the space, travel, lunch for participants and other expenses. The money has come from pharmaceutical companies as well as federal agencies.

Lewis, who is also dean of the College of Pharmacy at Florida A & M University, says he hopes the town hall meeting yields these results:

A better-coordinated response to the AIDS epidemic in South Florida.

Improved sharing of information about services.

Enhanced sensitivity to the plight of people living with the virus.

Community makes difference

The ultimate challenge, though, will be whether the promises Saturday can be translated into lasting action.

"The potential is to build community involvement that hopefully can be sustained and can become self-sustaining," says Sam Dooley, a top executive in the HIV/AIDS prevention branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "From here in Atlanta and from the health department at the state level, there's a lot that we can do.

"But I think the real key to how this is going to turn out is in the hands of the community. And it's only if folks are informed and involved that we will see a positive outcome."

e-mail: sfsmith@herald.com
990722
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