Nonprofit groups and local officials brought together community members this weekend in Quilt City USA to honor victims of HIV/AIDS.
Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates of Indiana and Kentucky, LivWell and the City of Paducah are coordinating “A Tapestry of Remembrance,” a local program that will allow community members to create panels for The National AIDS Memorial Quilt, which is now touring the southern United States.
Change the Pattern – the organization and namesake motto of the group behind the Quilt – reports that people in the southern U.S. are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS. In 2020, the region comprised 38% of the nation’s population, but represented over half of those diagnosed with AIDS. The nonprofit connects the disparity with health inequalities, social injustice, racism, fear and social stigma.
A.J. Garnett is the early intervention services and prevention manager with LivWell. He said a majority of people who get tested don’t understand HIV or come in with outdated assumptions about the virus.
“I still get a lot of people who tell me they’ve never been tested for HIV because they’re not a man who has sex with men, and that has stuck around for 30 years, unfortunately,” Garnett said. “So a lot of the biggest barrier for testing, at least in finding out someone’s status, is just lack of knowledge and education on the subject.”
He also said his organization helps individuals overcome barriers to treatment and screenings like money and transportation.
“I lead an educational program that goes and speaks anywhere and everywhere,” he said. “We talk everywhere from churches, to bars, and everywhere in between and try to just let people know what can be done.”
Charlotte Goddard, a regional field organizer with Planned Parenthood, said she hopes the creation of quilt panels will be an opportunity to memorialize victims of the virus – including her father.
“It had a big impact on him and his work environment, on the way he was treated socially, the way he was treated by family,” Goddard said. “I just feel like it’s important that we speak about the history of HIV. We’ve made so many strides, and people can live fuller, healthier, happier lives now. But it’s been at the cost and the struggle of many decades of people.”
Goddard said she hopes her panel can be displayed nationally, in memory of her late father.
More events for “A Tapestry of Remembrance” will be held in Paducah leading up to World’s AIDS Day in December. LivWell and Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Kentucky representatives will offer classes about HIV/AIDS and free testing as a part of the program.
