Dr. Marjorie Hill recalls a moment when the difficult lifestyle of HIV/AIDS patients truly affected her.

‘Three out of the eight women in my group had not told their sisters they were HIV positive,’ she said.

Hill went on to say that one woman would not reveal she was HIV positive because if her family knew, she wouldn’t get to have her nieces and nephews come over for dinner.

‘Stigma,’ Hill said, ‘has not gone away.’

Hill, the CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), shared many stories like this Tuesday during her discussion at Hendricks Chapel as part of the University Lecture Series. Her speech provided a retrospective on the AIDS epidemic, as well as thoughts about current issues surrounding the disease.

A Brooklyn native, Hill graduated from Adelphi University with a passion for social justice activism and clinical psychology. In her career, she has provided oversight for more than 400 care programs, worked under former New York City Mayor Dave Dinkins and served on the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Today, she works with the GMHC, an organization committed to national leadership in the fight against AIDS, according to the GMHC Web site.

These credentials have made Hill a well-known member in the HIV/AIDS community and a respected authority figure in the matter.

Paula Johnson, a Syracuse University College of Law professor, praised Hill for her knowledge and commitment.

‘Do racism, sexism and poverty still have the same impact (on AIDS) 25 years later, and where do we go from here? Dr. Hill can answer that question,’ she said.

One of the main issues Hill addressed was the disparities between the progress made by the AIDS community and what still needs to be done.

To introduce the topic, Hill told a story about the last time she saw her friend Lorraine, who had been suffering from AIDS, alive at the hospital.

‘(Lorraine) said, ‘the technicians won’t come into my room to turn on the TV,” Hill said. ‘TV technicians refused to go into a room with an AIDS patient.’

Hill also said that, in fear of catching the virus, food services workers would not drop hot meals into her friend’s room.

Although Hill admitted times have changed since Lorraine was in the hospital, she said more progress needs to be made.

An area largely in need of improvement is the allocation of federal founding regarding sexual education, she said.

Instead of promoting safe-sex practices and the use of protection, some schools are promoting abstinence-only programs, Hill said.

Alexander Vessels, a sophomore and communication and rhetorical studies major, said he was taken aback by the difference in sex-ed programs after hearing Hill speak.

‘Just to hear that schools are doing that abstinence-only program and to come from a school that did safe-sex education really surprises me,’ he said.

Another battle AIDS awareness groups face is the rapidly increasing infection rates occurring today.

In 2006, 4.3 million people were infected with HIV/AIDS, and 3 million died from an AIDS-related illness.

Hill also said a quarter of people living with HIV do not know they are infected.

‘Until we provide the young, old, women and all individuals access, we will never reach that ‘one in four.’ We will never catch up.’

Josh Cook, a freshman health and wellness major, said he was startled most by those statistics.

‘The thing that left the most impression was the video that mentioned the crisis is actually worse than ever, and it’s been kind of hidden in new ways,’ he said. ‘It’s been disguised.

‘The statistic she gave later, as many as one in four Americans may be infected and not even know it, is kind of spooky,’ Cook said.

Hill’s initiative seems to be moving forward despite the overwhelming statistics.

‘How we meet this challenge will be the determining factor in how we as a community, society and world are judged,’ she said.

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on February 26, 2008 at 12:00 pm