Miami Herald - December 10, 2006
Helen Berggren, hberggren@MiamiHerald.com

La Femme Enterprises, 580 NW 183rd St., was among businesses donating their time to provide dream makeovers for people living with AIDS or the HIV virus.

Schwartz and Jackson, who have AIDS and are clients of The Village South, 9400 NW 12th Ave., earned a beauty treatment for going "above and beyond" in their journey to recovery from drug and alcohol abuse.

That -- and an invitation to the World AIDS Day Unity Awards gala.

"My gown is midnight blue with beautiful dark beads on it," said Jackson, 44. "It is long with a slit on the side that goes up and shows off my legs."

Concerned about an old gunshot wound on her left leg, Jackson pondered wearing dark hosiery "so no one could see it."

With a sweeping motion around her waist, Schwartz, 47, used her wrist with the tattoo "Poochie" scrawled across it to describe the gown she would wear for the awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Miami hotel in downtown Miami on Dec. 1.

"It goes way out to there," she said. "It's pink and has pearls on it. I feel way special and this event is very special to me because I have full-blown AIDS. I haven't worn a dress like this in 25 years."

It would not be the only number Schwartz was excited about that day.

"This week my doctor told me my T-cell count was 562," she said. 'When I heard that number, I started to cry. It's never been over 200. My doctor told me, 'You are a miracle and a success.' "

Schwartz and Jackson were not shy about telling others that they have AIDS.

"Having AIDS saved my life," Schwartz said. "I'd probably still be doing drugs and be dead by now."

Jackson put it another way: "I live with AIDS, AIDS doesn't live with me," she said. "I never had the chance to be a child. My purpose in telling my story is if I say something to keep them from going down some dark roads, that will be a blessing to me."

Dr. Cheryl Holder, medical director of the North Dade Health Center in Miami Gardens and a speaker at the awards event, said AIDS treatment has improved considerably since the 1980s. With proper treatment, "now people live for 20 years," Holder said.

Dr. Steven Santiago, medical director of Care Resource, who also spoke at the event, talked about the importance of getting tested annually for HIV.

"There are 250,000 people worldwide who do not know they have HIV," Santiago said. "They are probably more likely to get advanced HIV because they are not being treated."

And, unknowingly, they can transmit the HIV virus through unprotected sex, sharing needles or other high-risk behavior, he said.

"Testing used to take two weeks to get results," Santiago said. "Back then, people might not have come back for the results. Today, with rapid testing, the results are back in 20 minutes."

Florida ranks third in the nation in the number of persons living with HIV/AIDS according, to the website of Care Resource -- the state's largest AIDS service agency which replaced the Health Crisis Network. Some 45 percent of all Floridians who have AIDS live in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

The two counties account for 44 percent of the state's HIV cases.

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