The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Kenneth Hendrix

Stephen Waldron said he always remembers the faces of the HIV-positive people who came to him for help.

"Many people I've come to know are no longer here. They died pretty quickly," said Waldron, a coordinator of Central New York HIV Care Network. 

To raise awareness for HIV and AIDS prevention, the Central New York HIV Care Network is hosting an exhibition of a portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt until Wednesday at the Goldstein Auditorium in Schine Student Center.

Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor invited the network to come to the university after speaking at an exhibition at the Oncenter Complex in Syracuse last year, Waldron said.

The portion of the quilt was assembled by the Syracuse NAMES Project, a local branch of the national NAMES Project Foundation that created the quilt.

The panel measures 12 feet by 12 feet and features artful tributes to friends, family and loved ones who died from HIV and AIDS, said Carol Warren, chairwoman of Syracuse NAMES Project. 

"We don't want these people to be forgotten," Warren said. "Each panel shows a little bit of their life and what was important to them." 

There are more than 44,000 individual panels that make up the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The panel on display is composed of eight sections, representing the diversity of those who died from the epidemic in Central New York, Waldron said. 

Waldron said he thinks seeing the quilt is a powerful experience. It helps people understand those who have been lost, and how important it is to convey the virus' devastating power.

"It's important to show the quilt panels because the epidemic still continues to affect almost every community in our country," he said. "These days, because we have medical treatments, I think people are less aware of the continuing epidemic."

Waldron said when the virus was first discovered in the early 1980s, people could only think of the number of deaths associated with AIDS. He said people have forgotten the HIV epidemic continues to affect people today, as more than 56,000 new cases of HIV are diagnosed every year in the United States.

"The one thing we know is transmission of HIV is preventable," he said. "It takes a lot of sustained focus, but we can prevent transmission of the virus if everyone is careful." 

John Wikiera, co-chair of Central New York HIV Care Network, said the exhibition on SU's campus should help people be more aware of how to prevent HIV and AIDS.

A silent auction will be held during the exhibition in support of the Central New York HIV Care Network's Community Awareness Initiative, Waldron said.

"The auction will raise a little bit of money, which helps us support some HIV-positive people when they have needs that are not able to be addressed by existing programs," he said. 

Waldron added people should learn from the exhibition and the universality of the disease.

"AIDS steals some of the most creative people, and it's preventable," he said. "Everyone should understand how to prevent it, and we should be doing better."

csu07@syr.edu

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